Waking Up Alone

New Book Helps Readers Cope with Loss of Life Companion
GIG HARBOR, Wash., Aug. 2, 2007 -- Julie K. Cicero, MSW, addresses the complex issues surrounding the loss of a loved one in her new book, Waking Up Alone: Grief & Healing (published by AuthorHouse: http://www.authorhouse.com).

When Cicero lost her husband in a snowmobile accident, she and her two sons were propelled into a state of grief, confusion and shock. As they embarked on a journey through counseling to deal with their profound loss, they were forced to live a new life that was completely different from the one they had known. Through her book, she hopes to provide a resource to help readers in similar circumstances understand the various aspects of grief and loss. "There are few books with specific focus on the death of a companion," she writes. "My reason for writing this book was to provide the information that I was seeking when my husband died."

Waking Up Alone examines the cultural disconnect Cicero has observed in America regarding the subjects of death and dying. "Many Americans are poorly informed, unprepared and often in denial about these issues," she says. "This denial creates a paradox because if we do not accept death as a natural progression of life, believing that death happens only to other people, we cannot be in the presence of death or the associated grief because being there makes it real. As a result, this denial frequently manifests as a lack of support and compassion for the dying and their families."

Though Cicero acknowledges that people can never fully be prepared for a death, whether it is sudden or anticipated, she believes that healthy ways of managing grief can help survivors reconcile their current and future lives with the past. To facilitate the healing process, she discusses several issues surrounding grief, such as holidays and celebrations, raising children after the death of a parent, grief support, spirituality and the different ways men and women react to loss. "It is important to identify the complex aspects of the resultant grief, addressing both the death (the primary loss) and what the death means to you on a psychological and social level (the secondary losses)," she writes.

Cicero was born in Yakima, Wash. She holds a degree in police science from Yakima Valley College and a degree in criminal justice from Central Washington University. She worked in the insurance industry and criminal and legal fields for 22 years. After her husband died in 2001, she interned at Hospice of Kitsap County and MultiCare Health Systems and earned her Master of Social Work from the University of Washington at Tacoma. She currently works as a grief counselor at Hospice of Kitsap County and resides in Gig Harbor, Wash., with her family. More information can be found at http://www.wakingupalonethebook.com.