January 29, 2014 — Bruce Feiler

with Louise Kuo Habakus and Alison MacNeil

Six-time New York Times bestselling author
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Personal medical crisis
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Happy family expert
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Bruce Feiler

on parenting after something bad happens

Across the country, families are already struggling with financial worries, time strain, and emotional stress.

What happens to families when a health crisis hits?

Are there parenting lessons about coping?

Can we find grace and wisdom on a road filled with pain and heartache?

We’ll be interviewing author, television personality, and dad of two Bruce Feiler about parenting through his “lost year” fighting life-threatening cancer, anticipating fatherhood in absentia via his inspired Council of Dads, and how the experience informed his new book The Secrets of Happy Families.

Bruce writes the “This Life” column about today’s families for the Sunday New York Times, including the recent Together at Home and at Work, which offers conflict resolution advice for spouses who are working together. He is talking about professional projects but I think there’s potential applicability to any kind of shared, intense, goal-specific undertaking (including research and treatment options during a medical crisis).

He is the author of six consecutive New York Times bestsellers, including Council of Dads, which was the subject of a one-hour documentary on CNN and Walking the Bible, which has been translated into fifteen languages and inspired a PBS series by the same name.

Louise Kuo Habakus is Executive Director of Fearless Parent, lead host and producer of Fearless Parent Radio, and mom of two. She is a published author, runs the non-profit Center for Personal Rights, lectures widely, and has appeared in numerous media outlets, including ABC World News Tonight, Fox & Friends, and The New York Times. Louise was a Bain consultant and a C-level executive in the financial services industry. She holds two degrees from Stanford University. She is an advisory board member of GreenMedInfo.

Alison MacNeil, MSW, LICSW is a social worker and psychotherapist with more than 15 years of clinical experience. She holds degrees from Trinity College and the Smith College School for Social Work. Her professional background includes positions with a community mental health center in southeastern Massachusetts, Family Services of Greater Boston, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center’s Healthcare Associates. Alison is a published author and a co-founder of the Thinking Moms’ Revolution.

Photo credit: Ministry Feeds