Shelter from Our Secrets, Silence & Shame: How Our Stories Can Keep Us Stuck or Set Us Free by Rebecca Brown, MSW, RSW - Book Tour - Guest Post - TWO Giveaways!! - Enter Daily!!

Hello, lovelies!!  It gives me great pleasure today to host Rebecca Brown, MSW, RSW, and her new book, “Shelter from Our Secrets, Silence & Shame: How Our Stories Can Keep Us Stuck or Set Us Free,” here on FAB!!  For other stops on her Goddess Fish Promotions Book Tour, please click on the banner above or any of the images in this post.

Be sure to make it to the end of this post to enter to win a $15 Amazon OR Barnes and Noble Gift Card!!  In addition, not ONLY is there this fabulous giveaway, BUT there is a SECOND fabulous giveaway!!  Rebecca has teamed up with Goodreads to give 100 lucky readers an eBook copy of her featured book!!  See below for more details.

Also, come back daily to interact with Rebecca and to increase your chances of winning!!

Thanks for stopping by!!  Wishing you all lots of good luck in this fabulous giveaway!!

Please note that Giveaway #2 is ONLY open to US residents.  Sorry INTL – please check out Giveaway #1 and the other giveaways on this blog!!

Shelter from Our Secrets, Silence & Shame:

How Our Stories Can Keep Us Stuck or Set Us Free

by Rebecca Brown, MSW, RSW

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GENRE: Self-Help / Personal Growth / Self-Esteem

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BLURB:

As a mental health clinician, Rebecca Brown has been a safe place for many to seek shelter from their secrets, silence and shame. Inspired to finally slow down, stop running from herself and share her own story, she found ways to seek and savour her own shelter.

Rebecca's personal journey takes us through sadness, tragedy, self-sabotage, the impossible pursuit of perfection, distorted thinking and eating, engaging with her shadow self, divorce, and numbing with alcohol, all in an attempt to avoid the story needing to be shared.

Dispelling the limiting beliefs we hold about ourselves can unlock our limitless potential to reach goals we never dared to dream. From the Boston Marathon to working with horses, Rebecca sets out to prove to herself that anything is possible when you don't listen to the negative stories you tell yourself.

Everyone has a story. We become who we are because of what has happened to us, and because of the stories we tell ourselves. But do our stories continue to serve us well, or keep us stuck? Are our stories fact or fiction? Is it time to rewrite the versions we have been telling ourselves?

Shelter provides strategies to help reframe the thinking patterns we have developed, and offers tools to recognize when we are suffering from our own thoughts, feelings and actions. Resilience-building techniques are woven through the pages, and encouragement for the lifelong journey of collecting moments of awe and happiness.

Seeking and reading Shelter is a gift of self-compassion and self-discovery. Rebecca's hope is that it will be read with a highlighter in hand, pages folded down, re-read, recommended to a friend, and used as a guide to start sharing our own stories with those we love.

We may not have written our beginnings, but we have the ability to write every word from this point forward and just imagine where our stories can take us when we are free of secrets, silence and shame.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

EXCERPT TWO:

My back story begins with a career in medical social work, my dream job. I knew from the time I was sixteen years old that I wanted to help people with the challenges life puts in our paths. I was a pretty good student, and in my last few years of high school I really buckled down because I’d set my mind on exactly what I wanted to do. I knew which university I needed to go to, and I worked hard to get there. It was also the farthest university in the province from where I lived, which was exactly where I wanted to be at that time. As far away from home as I could get.

I also knew that I didn’t want just any social work career. I wanted to work in a hospital with people who had experienced trauma. This felt comfortable to me. I could stay calm in a crisis and understood the impact of life-changing traumatic events on a person and their family. I worked hard through my undergrad program, and in my fourth-year internship, I was accepted to work in a hospital rehabilitation program for patients with spinal cord injuries.

I was exactly where I needed to be.

I knew that I could help people here.

I loved this job.

My patients were primarily sixteen-to-thirty-year-old males who were injured while engaging in high-risk behaviours, like cliff diving, drunk driving, or contact sports, or in vehicular accidents. Some had attempted suicide. Others had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time and had broken their necks, backs, or seriously damaged their spinal cords.

My patients were beautiful young men, full of life and often the life of their parties.

Until the accident. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GUEST POST:

Five Reasons You Should Read My Book

Hi Fabulous Readers & Bloggers, I am thrilled to be part of this blog tour and will try to answer the following questions, in hopes of giving you an inside glimpse of my book and my reasons for writing it.

1.) I have been a mental health clinician for over 35 years, and I would never have imagined that a person who spends her career helping others make sense of their lives, can feel like a complete mess on the inside herself, at times! Too often we assume that people in the mental health world have it all figured out, and therefore must be experts on this stuff.  Well, spoiler alert, we don’t!  We are as human, flawed, imperfect, scared, anxious, depressed, traumatized and feel all of the feels that you do!

2.) I have struggled, stumbled and staggered along my path in life which has taken me through peaks and valleys and I have searched for meaning and understanding, which I have often found in books and words of others who have been on similar paths, just a few steps ahead of me.  I wrote this book for a younger version of myself, twenty years ago.  Part of my reason for writing my story, is to share the wisdom that I have collected along my journey, to share with readers, who are a few steps behind me, to serve as a road map if you find yourself similarly lost or stuck.

3.) My book is written with you, the reader, in mind as my co-pilot.  I wanted to create a feeling that you are traveling with me and seeing life from the perspective that I was.  It made sense to me as a child, a teenager, a young woman, a mother, wife and daughter.  The stories I was told, or told myself became the beliefs I held onto.  It took decades to understand that they were not always true, and that I had the power to rewrite them.  And when we are empowered to write our own story, the possibilities are limitless as to where we can go (the Boston Marathon) or what we can do (working with horses in a mental health setting) or having the courage to end a 23 year marriage.

4.) Uncovering buried secrets, can lead to discovering painful pasts, but also to unlocking new understanding and compassion for ourselves and others.  We cannot heal what we keep hidden, and by stirring up history, my own and others within my family has led to a deep compassion and understanding of who people are beneath their surfaces.  We all have a story.  I hope that sharing mine, encourages you, dear readers, to have the courage to share yours, and discover your own buried treasures and gifts.

5.) I wrote my book and divided some pretty important life events into the chapters.  Then I had to go back and check in with the people in my life, and share with them what I wrote.  My parents, my husband, my sisters, my kids (now adults) my ex-husband, and several other important people.  This was a terrifying process, hitting send on my manuscript, and then waiting, and waiting, and waiting for their responses.  Well, I’m happy to say that everyone (almost) has completely supported and encouraged me to go through with publishing my story. I now spend my time sharing my book and all my stories with total strangers, and everyone who knows me. It has been the most courageous and authentic thing I have ever done in my life. And I am honored and humbled to share it with you too, in hopes that you will enjoy it, and find your courage. It’s there, buried beneath the secrets, silence and shame.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AUTHOR BIO:

REBECCA BROWN is a clinical social worker with over 35 years in practice ranging from medical social work, childhood trauma, vicarious trauma for first responders, international psychological first aid, and Equine Assisted Therapy. She is honoured to hold a faculty appointment with the Department of Family Medicine at Western University in London, Ontario. She teaches extensively on the topics of trauma and resilience and has delivered keynote presentations throughout North America. She shares her life and career with her husband, a family physician and trailblazer in the field of Lifestyle Medicine. Together they live and work on the shores of the Great Lake Huron, where they seek and share shelter with their six adult children, four grandchildren, extended family and friends, two dogs, two cats and one horse.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CONNECT WITH REBECCA:

Website:

https://rebeccabrown.ca

Email:

rebecca@rebeccabrown.ca

Phone Number:

(519) 280-1969

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/rebeccabrown.ca

Goodreads Author Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22150115.Rebecca_L_Brown

Goodreads Book Page:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60105705-shelter-from-our-secrets-silence-and-shame

Amazon Author Page:

https://amzn.to/3M497vM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

BOOK BUY LINKS:

Amazon US Kindle eBook:

https://amzn.to/3C23Znd

Amazon US Paperback:

https://amzn.to/3Ma6HM6

Amazon CA Kindle eBook:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B09PZKW5VK

Amazon CA Paperback:

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0228859417

Barnes and Noble NOOK eBook:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shelter-from-our-secrets-silence-and-shame-rebecca-l-brown-msw-rsw/1140873633

Barnes and Noble Paperback:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/shelter-from-our-secrets-silence-and-shame-msw-rsw-brown/1140865116

Book Depository Paperback:

https://www.bookdepository.com/Shelter-from-Our-Secrets-Silence-Shame-Msw-Rsw-Brown/9780228859413

Bookshop Paperback:

https://bookshop.org/books/shelter-from-our-secrets-silence-and-shame-how-our-stories-can-keep-us-stuck-or-set-us-free/9780228859413

Indigo Chapters CA eBook:

https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/shelter-from-our-secrets-silence/9780228859420-item.html

Kobo US eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/shelter-from-our-secrets-silence-and-shame

Kobo CA eBook:

https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/shelter-from-our-secrets-silence-and-shame

Smashwords eBook:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/1125515

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY #1 INFO:

Rebecca will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes and Noble Gift Card (Winner’s Choice!!!) to a randomly drawn winner via Rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And why have ONE giveaway when you can have TWO!!  Yep – that’s right!!  There is a SECOND Giveaway!!  Check it out below!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

GIVEAWAY #2 INFO:

Enter for a chance to win ONE of 100 eBook copies of Rebecca’s intriguing new book, “Shelter from Our Secrets, Silence & Shame: How Our Stories Can Keep Us Keep Stuck or Set Us Free.”  Seeking and reading Shelter is a gift of self-compassion and self-discovery.

Enter to Win Here:

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/show/339258-shelter-from-our-secrets-silence-and-shame-how-our-stories-can-keep-u

Giveaway #2 ENDS on March 31st, 2022

**Please note that Giveaway #2 is ONLY open to US residents**

**This post contains affiliate links and if clicked and a purchase is made, I may receive a small commission to help support this blog.  This does not cost you anything, it just helps pay for all those awesome giveaways on here**

Giveaway #1 is sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author and Goddess Fish Promotions are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.

Giveaway #2 is also sponsored by a third party. Fabulous and Brunette is a registered host of Goddess Fish Promotions.  Prizes are given away by the sponsors and not Fabulous and Brunette. The featured author, Rebecca Brown; Tellwell Publishing; and Goodreads are solely responsible for the giveaway prize.