Books
The Audacity to Be You: Learning to Love Your Horrible, Rotten Self (buy here)
Expanding on his first book, The Journey of the Heroic Parent, Reedy talks about how all our relationships are connected to the relationship we have with ourselves. He shows how the foundation for intimacy with partners, our ability to parent effectively, and the meaningfulness of our lives can be tied to how well we have unraveled our unique childhood history.
Brad's book The Audacity to Be You: Learning to Love Your Horrible, Rotten, Self is a simple but bold exploration into what makes us human and why happiness and connection are elusive for so many. Reedy's work is counter-intuitive, but the reader will often have the experience of being found and understood as they make their way through his work. Many readers say that reading Brad's work is like you are hearing something for the first time that you already knew but just didn't have the words for it. Dr. Reedy is a renowned author, therapist, podcaster, and public speaker and his approach is accessible and non-threatening. He is a prolific keynote speaker, T.V. and radio guest, and he travels the world presenting to audiences and training therapists. Through stories gathered from decades as a therapist, co-founder, and clinical director of Evoke Therapy Programs, Reedy gives the reader an intimate picture of mental health and healing.
The Audacity to Be You explains how our personalities are built, brick by brick. From what it means to be a Self, we learn how to authentically love others. Readers will learn the essence of mental health and with that understanding the stigma of mental illness evaporates. Reedy debunks toxic myths so common in our culture, including “You are only as happy as your least happy child” and how good therapy goes beyond problem solving. Reedy teaches, “In this way of thinking, you don't get to be right anymore. But you get to be a Self. And that is so much better. That is The Audacity to Be You.
The Journey of the Heroic Parent: Your Child's Struggle and the Road Home (buy here)
Raising children struggling with mental health issues, addictions, or just the normal angst of growing up can be frightening and overwhelming. While each family is unique, patterns of anxiety and confusion are often present. As a therapist and parent educator for thousands of families enrolled in his popular wilderness programs, Dr. Brad Reedy’s had a unique vantage point watching parents move away from anxiety and confusion towards empowerment and clarity.
Rather than offering expert advice on how to raise your child, Brad outlines a process that provides parents with an enduring source of truth—themselves. There is not one right way to raise a child—there are thousands of right ways to raise a child. In this book, Brad shares principles from his experience as a wilderness therapist that can be applied to all families and to all of our relationships. In the process of attempting to save our children from their seemingly impending self-destruction, we can be transformed. This transformation includes the development of greater compassion for others and ourselves. Brad’s message allows us to break through our shame and guilt, replace control with influence, understand our intent, and develop a greater capacity to truly see our children.
There is deep wisdom hidden beneath the symptoms our children are exhibiting. If we don’t embrace our journey, we might miss it. It is a call to stretch yourself, to feel things, to walk the road less traveled. Through this process we learn of the world beyond the limits we previously believed were the edges of our lives.
For effective parenting, the question is not “What do I do with my child?” but “Who am I?” and “What is my relationship with my child and what is my relationship with my child’s problems?” Parenting principles and skills are not for changing children, but rather for changing parents. And this change can have powerful, long-lasting, positive effects on our children. The concepts we learn from parenting children who struggle apply to all our relationships. Becoming a better parent means becoming a better person.
Dr. Reedy and his team are available for professional trainings for programs.
Some of Our Favorite Books
- The Drama of the Gifted Child: The Search for the True Self, Alice Miller
- The Middle Passage: From Misery to Meaning in Midlife, James Hollis
- The Eden Project: In Search of the Magical Other, James Hollis
- Parenting From the Inside-Out, Daniel Siegel and Mary Hartzell
- The Dance of Anger, Harriet Lerner
- The Knight in Rusty Armor, Robert Fisher
- Letters of Juliet to The Knight in Rusty Armor, J.D. Gill
- The Misery of the Good Child, J.D. Gill
- The Power of Myth, Josheph Campbell
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, Yuval Noah Harari
- Immortal Diamond: The Search for Our True Self, Richard Rohr
- The Language of Letting Go (a daily meditation reader), Melody Beattie
- Finding Joe: A Film by Patrick Solomon