Making Healthy Families explains the elements required to make and sustain healthy, functional families. This timely book describes the family life stages, from "Becoming a Couple," to "Becoming Parents," to "Raising Adolescents" and "Launching Children." It educates about the predictable stresses of each stage of development, and offers guidelines and hands-on exercises for achieving a healthy adjustment in each stage of family life. A chapter on "Trouble Shooting" offers couples an opportunity to plot their own predictable stress points on the family journey, thereby allowing them to better master their particular life struggles. A chapter on "Divorce: Crisis and Transformation" offers advice to parents for helping their children and themselves through trying times. A chapter on "Stepfamilies" provides wisdom about the stages of stepfamily development that make remarriage rewarding, helping families avoid the pitfalls that cause over half of second marriages to fail. Learn what makes families work-from structure and communication to family style and characteristics of healthy marital relationships. Cutting edge research is enlivened through real-life questions about marriage, family, and parenting that have been answered by Dr. Peterson at www.makinghealthyfamilies.com
Gayle Peterson, MSSW, LCSW, PhD is an international expert specializing in prenatal and family development. She is the founder of: www.makinghealthyfamilies.com, an online resource that has won acclaim from the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy for guidance about what contributes to healthy family relationships. Her articles on family relationships appear in professional journals and she is an oft-quoted expert in popular magazines such as Woman's Day, Mothering, Fit Pregnancy and Parenting. She is also the author of "An Easier Childbirth: A Guide to Birthing Normally"" and "Making Healthy Families: A Guide for Parents, Spouses and Stepparents".
Dr Peterson trains professionals in her prenatal counseling model, available online at www.makinghealthyfamilies.com and has produced a CD for helping women prepare for giving birth, "Body-Centered Hypnosis for an Easier Pregnancy and Childbirth", and a Training DVD for professionals in her method, "Body-Centered Hypnosis for Childbirth: A Training DVD".
She is a clinical member of The Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and a Diplomate with the National Association of Social Work. She also serves on the advisory board for Fit Pregnancy magazine.
Gayle has written a monthly family column for the San Francisco Bay Area's Parents Press and is an expert on numerous parenting websites. She has also hosted a live Internet radio show, "Ask Dr. Gayle", answering questions on family relationships and parenting, as well as appearing on numerous radio and television interviews, including The Today Show and the Canadian Broadcast documentary "Baby's Best Chance". Dr. Peterson is also a former clinical director of the Holistic Health Program at John F. Kennedy University and has served as adjunct faculty at the California Institute for Integral Studies in San Francisco.
Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, Gayle currently lives with her husband in the California Sierra Foothills and enjoys playing music, writing, attending yoga classes and being a grandparent. She and her husband are parents of two adult children and proud grandparents to three lively boys, and one sparkly granddaughter!
