MY BOOKS
Surviving: Finding Hope After Suicide Loss
Surviving is a first-of-its-kind survival guide for the more than 94 million people worldwide impacted by suicide loss. Written by author, mental health advocate, crisis counselor, and 3x suicide loss survivor Lisa Sugarman, this book weaves together storytelling, resources, and practical tools into a lifeline for anyone struggling to rebuild life after loss.
Unlike other books in the suicide loss space, Surviving is built on three interconnected pillars that meet survivors where they are:
Memoir: Lisa shares her own story of losing her father at just 10 years old, only to discover, 35 years later, that he had died by suicide. She also talks openly about losing two more loved ones, and the lifelong ripple effects of grief. Her candid, heartfelt narrative validates the complexity of suicide loss and reminds readers that even in the darkest moments, they’re not alone.
Resources: A comprehensive mental health directory/field guide right in your hands offers immediate access to crisis lines, treatment providers, survivor networks, and specialized support organizations. Integrated QR codes connect readers to The HelpHUB™, Lisa’s trauma-informed mental health platform, where free tools, stories, and resources are just one click away.
Tools: From coping strategies to guided exercises and conversation tips, this section provides approachable, easy-to-integrate practices to help survivors process emotions, honor their grief, and find pathways toward hope.
More than just a book, Surviving is designed as a companion—something readers can return to again and again. It speaks to survivors of all kinds: those grieving a parent, child, sibling, friend, or colleague; those supporting someone who’s lost; and even those navigating their own mental health struggles.
At its core, Surviving is both deeply personal and universally relatable—part memoir, part survival guide, and part resource hub. It empowers readers to take small, manageable steps toward healing, while also inviting them into a broader community of support and understanding.
“Surviving is my way of turning a lifetime of personal loss into something that might make someone else’s path a little less lonely,” says Sugarman.
How to Raise Perfectly Imperfect Kids And Be Ok With It: Real Tips & Strategies for Parents of Today’s Gen Z Kids
How to Raise Perfectly Imperfect Kids And Be Ok With It is a unique blend of practical, real-life parenting advice from deep inside the trenches with proven clinical strategies, language, and tips from my childhood friend and contributing author Debra Fox Gansenberg, MSW, LICSW, Founder & President of New Beginnings Counseling Service, P.C.
Today’s kids are cracking under the pressure of their parents’ unrealistic expectations—expectations that they outdo the kids around them in every conceivable way. And that’s created a toxic subculture of stressed-out kids and stressed-out parents who are focusing on everyone else rather than themselves.
As a result, kids are seeing specialists in record numbers and being medicated to control everything from anxiety disorders and depression to social phobias and panic attacks.
With How to Raise Perfectly Imperfect Kids And Be Ok With It, you’ll have a bookful of proven suggestions & strategies & approaches that’ll help you dial down your stress level while you juggle the challenges of parenthood. Because the more pressure we put on our kids to be perfect, the quicker they’re going to crack.
So, turn to How to Raise Perfectly Imperfect Kids And Be Ok With It as an everyday reminder that you’re not the only one out there with a hormonal, impulsive, immature, lunatic for a kid. Reach for it whenever your son or daughter pushes you to the brink. Grab it when you need someone to relate when you’re questioning yourself as a parent. Read it when you just need to bond with someone who’s gone through it all before and come out the other side. Or just hang onto it so it keeps you from falling over the edge and into the abyss. Most of all, read it to reinforce that none of us are perfect and neither are our kids! Join the new parenting revolution!
Untying Parent Anxiety (Ages 5-8): 18 Myths That Have You in Knots—And How to Get Free
Untying Parent Anxiety (Ages 5-8): 18 Myths That Have You in Knots—And How to Get Free, my first book with Familius Publishing, is available in bookstores everywhere.
Designed to be like a walking stick and give parents a little extra stability and support as they travel through the most challenging stages of raising kids, Untying Parent Anxiety reminds us that our kids aren’t supposed to be perfect. (And neither are we.) They’re going to screw up, make mistakes, and lose their way. And as soon as we embrace the idea that parenthood is not a straight line, we unlock everyone’s full potential. Through tips and strategies straight from deep in the trenches, Untying Parent Anxiety reinforces that parenthood is a beautiful, imperfect work in progress and the best job any of us will ever have.
LIFE: It Is What It Is
Looking for a quick, easy, relatable, thought-provoking, funny, inspiring read? Good, cause I’ve got one for you. My debut book, LIFE: It Is What It Is, is exactly what you’re looking for. And just to give it a little street cred, it spent three weeks on the Boston Globe Local Bestseller List, so it’s legit.
In a nutshell, LIFE: It Is What It Is is a collection of my syndicated opinion columns from 2009-2013. Each chapter (and there are about fifty of them) is one of my It Is What It Is humor columns. And each column is basically a random stream of consciousness about all the stuff that I go through as a mom and a wife and a friend and all the other people that I am. The stuff I deal with at work… the stuff that inspires me and scares me… and the stuff that totally freaks me out. Some columns are about family, some are about relationships, some are about kids. You get the idea. Oh, and since each chapter is a stand-alone vignette, they’re quick, easy to digest, and good for you, like brown rice.
And regardless of what I might be talking about in any given chapter, all my writing is infused with the idea that attitude is everything—that we can’t control everything that’s happening around us, but we can absolutely control how we react to it.
So stop reading this and go buy LIFE: It Is What It Is. Like, now. Go.