The Resilience Workbook for Women (Review)

This post is a review of The Resilience Workbook for Women, a transformative guide to discover your inner strength, conquer adversity, and achieve your goals. Read what I think about Hope Kelaher’s work.  

Disclosure: Ad. The book entitled “The Resilience Workbook for Women” written by Hope Kelaher and published by Ulysses Press is a sample of my choice from Pacific Court. The post is not endorsed by them. I wrote it entirely myself and it represents my own 100% honest opinion.

What Is the Central Argument of the Book?

The book’s main ideas are that all women possess a natural inner resilience, and that you can use it to improve your quality of life. Consequently, the goal of the workbook is to unlock its power to create purpose and joy in your life.

Topics Addressed

The topics addressed in this 128 pages guide are:

• Break ups and/or divorce,
• Mental and physical illness,
• Career challenges,
• Physical and sexual trauma,
• Loss,
• Childbearing challenges, and
• Natural disasters.

Furthermore, the book covers accepting, adaptation to and making meanings of new situations, connecting with healing communities, as well as cultivating gratitude, optimism and friendships.

The Author Supports Her Arguments with Relatable Examples

These case studies are well chosen because any woman can relate to them, or knows someone who faces something similar. While not all topics are directly relevant for every woman, the provided coping methods, problem-solving skills, and self-confidence boosting tips help any women to navigate their day-to-day challenges in a more sufficient – read less stressful – way.

The Book Delivers Guidance Thru Analysis, Work-Sheets, and Relatable Examples

The book encompasses seven chapters. The introduction explains why a book on resilience particularly written for women is beneficial for them. The second chapter lays out the roadmap to adaptation. The third chapter speaks to writing and revising of your life plans/dreams. In chapter 4, the author illuminates how connections of various kinds can help in healing from adverse life events/situations. Practicing optimism, positivity and resilient thinking skills as well as mindfulness and gratitude are addressed in chapters 5 and 6, respectively. The last chapter is about looking forward to the future.

Chapters 2 thru 6 encompass discussions of theoretical concepts and coping/resilience skills relevant for the respective chapter’s subject, several case studies related to one of the aforementioned topics within the framework of the chapter’s subject, plus exercises, and worksheets for self-reflection.

All visual illustrations are value added to the written text, i.e. not distracting.

My Take-Aways from the Review of The Resilience Workbook for Women

Before reading the book, I thought of resilience only in terms of humankind or groups thereof adapting to changes of their natural environment. For instance, how an off-the-road-network community adapts to changes in Cariboo migration, or river flow, etc.

I never thought of me having resilience or being resilient. However, working thru the book I detected not only when I had been resilient in the past, but also became more conscious about the concepts I had used in the past. It was eye-opening also in so far because I also realized they were only a small fraction of what you can do to be(come more) resilient.

In my opinion, “The Resilience Workbook for Women” is a great read for every woman who is interested in self-improvement and living her best life.

Where to Buy The Resilience Workbook for Women?

The list price is $16.95. You can buy the book online on Amazon. It is available both online and in brick-and-mortar stores at Barnes & Noble. You can also find the book at Blackwell for $15.72, and Better World for $16.63.

Tip: Compare the shipping costs to get the best deal.

You can also buy an eBook version for $11.99 on the above mentioned websites.

About Hope Kelaher, LCSW

Hope Kelaher works as a relational and systemic therapist in New York City. Hope earned her degree in public health from The Johns Hopkins University, her clinical social work degree from Columbia University, and received her post-graduate training from The Ackerman Institute for the Family. She is also the author of Here to Make Friends.

Her passion is to help those people find healing, who are struggling with anxiety and depression. Currently, Hope lives in Manhattan with her dog, Luna, where she enjoys long walks, making new and nurturing old friendships, training for half-marathons, cooking, fishing, and rowing.

Photos: N. Mölders

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