When Sally McQuillen’s grown 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 aftershocks of acute grief, through the lens of her 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 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.


For more on Sally and her practice, visit sallymcquillen.com. Please share, rate, or review this poddcast!

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