MARI

“ Dear Aya, Over one year ago, I found you, and since that time, you have helped my son, and my husband and me in innumerable ways. At that time, my son had been diagnosed by four separate psychiatrists as deeply depressed. He could not get up in the morning. He had been arrested for shoplifting, and had committed other thefts. He had lost all his close friends. He was smoking weed constantly and experimenting with other drugs. His father was living in Europe. My husband, his step-father, and his brother, my other son, had a tumultuous relationship. All he had was me. He did not believe me that he was worthwhile in any way. He had not connected with any of the psychiatrsts as therapists. Then he met you. You listened. You reflected back to him his worth as a person. You connected him with his grief, his hopes, his goals. He began to be able to get up in the morning, and to take classes at a local college. He stopped smoking weed or taking any drugs at all. He reached out to a girl he liked, and tried to have a relationship. Even though the relationship did not flower as he wished, you walked beside him, and helped him see that all his steps were noble and true. His long standing arrest for burglary hit him in the face on New Year’s Eve. All day long, as he sat in the County Jail, I wished for him to be able to talk to you. Now, as we face attorneys and whatever may come, I know that his inner core, his new found confidence that he is worthy to live and to accomplish all he desires is there. You have helped my husband, work with my son in sessions with you, and you have helped them to see each other as people with needs and desires. You have gotten them to open up to each other, and we hope this process can continue, as it seems to be a place from which both men will begin to grow. You have helped me as a person to see that I can reach into my grief and express it, and you are there to hold it and to listen. You open your heart to us, and we open ours to you. Thank you, Aya. I need to thank you again for the class you facilitated in Truckee a few weeks ago. I got so much out of it and have seen amazing results putting it all into practice with my family. The information and understanding I took away from your class was so valuable and life-enriching for me, and is a gift I would love to be able to give my family so we can all work together to promote NVC and connection within our family and our world. ”