Growing Yourself Up (2nd Edition)

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Also available in Audiobook | eBook


One of only a few resources based on Bowen family systems theory, the bestselling Growing Yourself Up examines the importance of increasing self-awareness and maturity in order to improve and bring your best to all of life’s relationships.

Jenny Brown, who holds a doctorate in social science and brings to this thoughtful book her many years of counselling experience, discusses the integral role of personal growth and increasing emotional maturity in maintaining healthy connections. We can’t control how people behave, but by understanding and changing our own interactions we can influence the behaviour of others and promote positive, balanced relationships for ourselves.

SPECIFICATIONS: Paperback | 234 x 152 mm / 9 ¼ x 6 Inches | Black & White | 296 Pages |

Jenny Brown is the founder and executive director of the Family Systems Institute and the Family Systems Practice in Sydney, Australia, where she has a counselling practice and trains mental health professionals and organizations. Jenny has a Ph.D. in Social Science from the University of New South Wales. She has trained and earned academic awards at the University of Sydney and Columbia University, New York. Additionally, Jenny has completed many years of postgraduate education in systems approaches to counselling at Relationships Australia, Sydney; the Family Institute of Westchester, New York; and the Tavistock and Portman in London. Jenny lives in Sydney with her husband (and cocker spaniel) and enjoys the richness of her important relationships, in particular as a wife, mother to adult children and grandmother.

To be human is to be in relationships. We can’t survive without them but it’s in relationships that we can so easily get unravelled. Some relationships just seem to do us in. Either we feel like we lose ourselves or feel burnt out from futile efforts to make things right for another. In our relationships we can experience the very best of ourselves and the very worst.

The message of Growing Yourself Up is that you can’t separate understanding the individual from understanding relationships. All of life’s relationships are integral to increasing self-awareness and maturity. And it’s not necessarily the comfortable relationships that promote personal growth. In this 2nd edition of the bestselling book, Jenny examines how to help others without fostering dependency, and how to determine what kind of help you or others want from therapists. This is in response to the many lay and professional people who have found this book valuable personally and want to know how to help others grow.

Drawing from Bowen family systems theory, the book takes you on a journey through each stage of life to see predictable patterns of relationships and to show how to use this knowledge to make purposeful adjustments in yourself; as well as lending a mature helping hand to others. The result is a sturdier self, sturdier relationships and a refreshing new way to view life’s challenges and opportunities.

Nine To Noon, November 2017
A handy checklist for aspiring grown-ups:
Don’t let your feelings dominate, refrain from blame, accept people have different views, be responsible for solving your own problems, hold onto your principles and see the bigger picture. – Click here to listen. 

Naturally Australia
Growing Yourself Up is a great read for anyone feeling like they’re about to lose themselves or feeling burnt out by trying to make things right for others.

 

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