Book targets grief from recession losses

SANDPOINT — Health coach and author Catherine Thompson-Lidster has published a self-help guide for the millions of Americans facing foreclosure, job loss and economic crisis.

 “Economic Stimulus Package: Your Guide to Re-creating the American Dream” uses personal stories of real people to show that everyone must experience the seven stages of grief when dealing with a personal, financial and economic crisis if they are to successfully move on and re-create their personal American dream.

The Sandpoint resident wrote the book from personal experience, along with her five co-authors and partners in The Lemonade Network, all of whom are also health coaches scattered across the U.S.

“Our intention was to share real stories of people in various stages of grief and loss so that readers would understand we are all on this journey together” Lidster said.

“Economic Stimulus Package” uses quotes, questions and introspective exercises to help  individuals identify their stage of grief and begin the healing process. Gentle, encouraging and caring in tone, the book was written by six coaches who have used the stages of grief to help themselves and clients recover from personal and/or financial trauma and loss. It offers deep and lasting help through the current economic turmoil, and is destined to become a classic for troubled times.

Lidster and The Lemonade Network will be offering workshops, teleseminars and group coaching classes using the stages of grief outlined in the book.

“The actual process of writing this book helped me work through grief when my own dreams were shattered with the ending of a 30-year marriage and the sudden financial insecurity that followed,” Lidster said. “Since both financial and marital stress are truly epidemic in our society, it seemed appropriate to reach out to others with similar life circumstances and perhaps provide some comfort and support.”

Lidster, who also lived in Bonners Ferry, and her partners in The Lemonade Network are an interesting story by themselves. The six authors, who formed a Mastermind group during their health-coach training program, have never met in person, yet they wrote the book in just 152 days using teleconference calls, e-mail and Google Groups technologies.

“Emotional Stimulus Package” is available for purchase at local area bookstores in Sandpoint, Bonners Ferry and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and online at http://www.lemonadenetwork.com,  www.Amazon.com and www.BarnesandNoble.com.

Thompson-Lidster is in private practice as Health & Nutrition Practitioner/Coach at Natural Health Improvement Center in Sandpoint. She teaches seminars and classes to the public and other health practitioners in the Pacific Northwest.