When Sally McQuillen’s twenty-one-year-old son died in a boat accident, her greatest fear was realized. Christopher was often drawn to risk and struggled with addiction. In her riveting memoir, Reaching for Beautiful: A Memoir of Loving and Losing a Wild Child, Sally captures the wild ride of his jam-packed life and her deep love for him while reflecting on her own childhood and family’s legacy of alcoholism.
McQuillen shares insights about what it’s like to experience the emotional aftershocks of acute grief, filtered through the dual lens of her personal experience as a mother and her professional vantage point as a psychotherapist. Even if they have not been touched by loss in this way, readers may see themselves in Sally’s bittersweet illusion of trying to keep her wild child safe, in how she is challenged to let go of her fear, guilt, and regret in order to forgive herself, and in the ways grief teaches her about the power of love.
Sally McQuillen, LCSW, CADC, is a psychotherapist in private practice specializing in addiction recovery, grief and trauma healing. Reaching for Beautiful is Sally's first book. She and her husband live on the north shore of Chicago where they raised their three children.
For more on Sally and her practice, visit sallymcquillen.com
Want to become more authentically you, in your emotions, your energy, or in your relationships? Schedule a session with our practitioners at radiatewellnesscommunity.com/appointment.
Support this podcast by going to radiatewellnesscommunity.com/podcast and clicking on "Support the Show," and be sure to follow and share on all the socials!
McQuillen shares insights about what it’s like to experience the emotional aftershocks of acute grief, filtered through the dual lens of her personal experience as a mother and her professional vantage point as a psychotherapist. Even if they have not been touched by loss in this way, readers may see themselves in Sally’s bittersweet illusion of trying to keep her wild child safe, in how she is challenged to let go of her fear, guilt, and regret in order to forgive herself, and in the ways grief teaches her about the power of love.
Sally McQuillen, LCSW, CADC, is a psychotherapist in private practice specializing in addiction recovery, grief and trauma healing. Reaching for Beautiful is Sally's first book. She and her husband live on the north shore of Chicago where they raised their three children.
For more on Sally and her practice, visit sallymcquillen.com
Want to become more authentically you, in your emotions, your energy, or in your relationships? Schedule a session with our practitioners at radiatewellnesscommunity.com/appointment.
Support this podcast by going to radiatewellnesscommunity.com/podcast and clicking on "Support the Show," and be sure to follow and share on all the socials!
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