Adding The E:
Perspectives of Grief Through Recounts, Letters, and Poetry
Summary
Here's the thing about grief: It doesn't take someone special to understand that you are going through pain. But unless you get it, you don't get it. Grief is harrowing, isolating, and all-encompassing. After experiencing a significant loss, it's not uncommon to adopt a narrative that we are alone, and that no one understands what we go through.
Grief and trauma therapist, Arielle Sokoll-Ward, LCSW, challenges those beliefs by uncovering her most honest form: Raw, abraded, unapologetic grief. Within these pages, you are invited to find the language that describes your own grief as Arielle shares her journey through the emotional havoc of surviving the death of her partner through ongoing narrative, letters, and poetry. She explores how the losses that are riding shotgun in our life can connect us closer to each other in familiar lived experiences, leading to our own resilience.
Pulling from a series of responses from her research on the lived experience of grief and anonymously sharing client experiences within the therapeutic space, Arielle provides explanations, common themes, and insights on the grieving process.
Loss goes far beyond death. Grief and love are a paired partnership; one does not exist without the other.
So, if you have felt either, this book is for you.
Reviews
“Look, this is a tough read. Talking honestly about raw, painful things is taboo. But that’s why this book is necessary. If you have ever felt alone in your grief, you’ll get words for what you’ve experienced here. Or if you want to understand what someone else is going through, you’ll get real insight here. You don’t have to read it in order if it’s too much. Arielle includes her own story throughout, but sometimes, the most impactful for me were the stories others trusted her enough to share.”
— IVY LE, HOST, WRITER, AND PRODUCER OF FOGO: FEAR OF GOING OUT
“Arielle Sokoll-Ward has done a remarkable job of using a devastating life experience to help others. She literally emerged from the depths of grief to become a healer who now guides others through their own adversity and trauma. In this book, Arielle uses narrative, poetry, first-hand accounts, and professional expertise to share insights and hope for those who have experienced loss and for those who will—which, by the way, is all of us.”
— RON CULBERSON, SPEAKER, AUTHOR, AND FORMER HOSPICE SOCIAL WORKER
“Profoundly raw and honest book about love, grief, and healing. In “Adding the E: Perspectives of Grief through Recounts, Letters, and Poetry,” Arielle extends a deeply personal invitation into her own life-altering loss and journey as well as the journey of others. The book eloquently captures the inexplicable pain that is born from loss. From a place of real vulnerability, Arielle shares how the process of healing from grief can come from moments of clarity - and sometimes even joy - to honor the life lost and those left behind.”
— SAMAN AKHTAR, MS/MBA
“Arielle’s raw and powerful sharing of her own grief journey gives us the courage to face our own challenging stories and really be here for ourselves with compassion. Feeling is the true lasting path to freedom from our wounds, and Arielle guides us there with grace, vulnerable honesty and skillful companionship.”
— ERIKA ALLISON, AUTHOR OF GAY THE PRAY AWAY: HEALING YOUR LIFE, LOVE, AND RELATIONSHIPS FROM THE HARMS OF LGBT CONVERSION THERAPY