ALEXANDER, Debra Whiting

PERSONAL:

Female; children: one daughter. Education: Ph.D.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Eugene, OR. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Licensed marriage and family therapist, certified trauma specialist, and educator. Northwest Christian College, Eugene, OR, professor in the graduate program for school counseling; trauma consultant for Oregon school districts; Center for Community Counseling, Eugene, former executive director. Consultant to video series, including Saving Our Schools from Hate and Violence, Heartland Media, 1999, and After Shock: The Emotional Impact of Providing Emergency Care, EMP International, 2000.

WRITINGS:

When I Remember: A Story for Teens Who Have Witnessed Crime or Trauma, Bureau for At-Risk Youth, 1993.

Children Changed by Trauma: A Healing Guide, New Harbinger (Oakland, CA), 1999.

Loving Your Teenage Daughter (Whether She Likes It or Not): The Complete Insider's Guide for Moms, New Harbinger (Oakland, CA), 2001.

The Emotional Recovery Resource Kit, Bureau for At-Risk Youth (Plainville, NY), 2002.

Also author of the "Something Bad Happened" and "The Way I Feel" series of creative healing books for children and young adults.

SIDELIGHTS:

Debra Whiting Alexander is the author of several books designed to help children and teenagers cope with traumatic events in their lives. One of her best-known works is Children Changed by Trauma: A Healing Guide, which is written for the parents of children who have witnessed violent events such as burglaries and suicides. Alexander begins by describing the experiences of some children whom she counseled, using these case studies as examples of reactions that children might have to traumatic events. Alexander then presents strategies that readers can use to help their own children. "This is an extremely helpful book, with a wealth of useful information presented in a warm supportive style," Margo McPhillips commented in a review for Metapsychology Online Reviews.

Alexander is also the author of Loving Your Teenage Daughter (Whether She Likes It or Not): The Complete Insider's Guide for Moms, a book written to help mothers through the challenging—but normal—conflicts and power struggles that parents frequently have with their teenage daughters. As in Children Changed by Trauma, the book focuses on practical advice delivered in a self-help style, with sample dialogues that mothers can use with their daughters and hands-on activities and exercises.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Adolescence, winter, 1999, review of Children Changed by Trauma: A Healing Guide, p. 799.

Library Journal, December, 1999, Paula N. Arnold, review of Children Changed by Trauma, p. 162.

ONLINE

Girl Prayers,http://www.girlprayers.com/ (November 9, 2001), review of Loving Your Teenage Daughter (Whether She Likes It or Not): The Complete Insider's Guide for Moms.

Guidance Channel Online,http://www.guidancechannel.com/ (September 26, 2006), "Debra Whiting Alexander."

Medic First Aid International Web site,http://www.medicfirstaid.us/ (September 26, 2006), review of After Shock: The Emotional Impact of Providing Emergency Care.

Metapsychology Online Reviews,http://www.mhnet.org/ (November 1, 2000), Margo McPhillips, review of Children Changed by Trauma.

New Harbinger Publishers Web site,http://www.newharbinger.com/ (September 8, 2006), author profile.*