Santa Barbara Therapist and Author

Dr. Rachel B. Aarons LCSW

Dr. Rachel B. Aarons LCSW

Click here to order Journey to Home

If you would like to add a comment on the book, Journey to Home, please send me an email at: rbaarons@yahoo.com. Include what name, if any, you would like to have listed with your remarks - ie. full name, first name only, initials, or anonymous. Also indicate your current (or previous) work status - eg. plumber, professor, homemaker, preschool teacher, therapist  etc. I hope you will understand that I may need to edit your comment for length or for content. Please feel free to express your personal reactions. I am definitely interested in what you have to say and am grateful for your interest in Journey to Home.     


Purchase Journey to Home on Amazon

Comments:

 Hi rachel, I read your book and liked it a lot.  i think it takes deep topics and makes them accessible to everyone. I especially liked how you kept bringing in hameed's work  [A.H. Almaas]... Good luck with the book.

David Richo, teacher and author of several books including How to Be an Adult in Relationships and Shadow Dance.

  Journey to Home captured and held my interest as it wove between presentation of therapeutic methods and illustrations from the author's own life experiences. I found the book to be full of "ah-ha" moments pertaining to my own journey, and along the way I learned about some ways that therapy works. The book contains many useful activities of self-discovery, my favorites being the five different ways to constructively express anger, and the methods to silence the superego. Particularly useful is the activity of questioning "why?" like a mole (you'll need to read the book to understand!) I highly recommend this book to any person who needs to clear away a bit of fog in his or her life. It's a great place to pick up some useful tools for living.
 
Heather, network engineer.


 Dear Rachel,  I just wanted you to know that I enjoyed reading your book, not only for the information, but because I can understand you better now. It reads very smoothly while being very informative and scientific. I like your style and the way that you wove the personal and the professional together. Congratulations!

Dr. Isabel Fredericson,  Gestalt therapist.

 I just finished your book and am just awestruck at your bravery for putting yourself so out there, but also at the beauty as to how you put yourself out there. I lost count how many times I said/screamed "Yes!" while reading it. It's like it was my journey too. Your personal stories are very heartfelt and incredible. To be where you are from where you came from is quite inspiring. I am able to connect with the book, and you, on so many levels. You really helped to solidify the fact that we are not alone; we really are one. I especially liked the individual chapters and explanations on anger and neediness. Reading those really resonated with my thoughts and feelings and experiences. I could go on and on and on about your book! Congratulations, really!!!! 
 
Nicole, nursing student.


 I am reading your book and find it so-o-o well done. You have clearly given much thought to the sources of fragmentation and roads to integration. Using your autobiography is especially powerful. I regret when it gets to be 11pm and I tear myself away in order to get a good night's sleep. You do engage the reader all the way through. It would take me more time than I have at this moment to tell you how positive I feel about your book. I think you did an outstanding job! What an impressive work!

Dr. Judith Brown, Gestalt therapist.

 An insightful first-person account of healing the wounds of abuse. Dr. Aarons provides a road map for the difficult task of developing deep and honest self-awareness. I recommend this book for anyone seeking to illuminate the dark twists and turns of rejection and betrayal in relationships. She describes the path from hopelessness to stability, from naive denial to maturity from the uncompromising perspective of the determined seeker of truth and health. As she tells her own story, she provides a clinical framework for the psychotherapist as well as the lay person. Her references and diagrams are useful. Her attention to detail reveals a patience that is characteristic of a healer.

Alice Esbenshade, MFT

 Your book is fantastic. I read it each night and learn something new about myself. I reflect on what I read and I see myself. So much valuable information that applies to me and I’m sure it applies to many people.

 I finished reading your book.Your book is AMAZING!! It gave me a lot of food for thought. I learned a lot about myself and why I am the way I am, but capable of changing to actually becoming me and going home at the same time. I don’t see myself as I did before. I have a stronger sense of confidence.

It’s a must read book for people going into the field of education, sociology, counseling, even law. One gets a better insight into oneself and the people we deal with, with the end result of being a better person.

Thank you for writing the book.

Rudy Lopez,  Law Enforcement

 In Journey to Home, Dr. Rachel B. Aarons leads us through the structural underpinnings of different therapy methods, demonstrating that they all guide the therapy process in the same way. As we move through the book, the reader is gently led through the distillation of the twelve principles of the therapeutic process until Dr. Aarons goes one step further. She extends the process of coming to know oneself and others in an open and loving way to spirituality. After one has come to know and accept the self - the shadow as well as conscious elements - taking the next step leads us beyond therapy. She challenges us to decide the ultimate question, the meaning of life: is there nothing or is there the spaciousness of universal love? She suggests tools to use in making the spiritual journey to dissolution of self, bringing the book to a surprising ending.I was particularly impressed with Dr. Aarons’ willingness to reveal elements of her own life to illustrate points she makes, as opposed to the more usual case studies. As a person who has been in therapy for many years, I know that a therapist is often most vulnerable and yet most real when she or he shares something of a personal nature to aid in the therapy process. Dr. Aarons’ philosophy training shines through as she leads us to consider the identity of “I” and asks questions that take us ever deeper into her topics.

Reader Comments on Journey to Home

The strength of this book lies in Dr. Aarons’ discussion of the underlying principles and steps in each part of the therapy process and then its reaching beyond to the spirituality that requires us to let go of the self we so laboriously came to know and accept. Her bottom line message reflects her conclusions as to the essential therapeutic process and her belief in universal love. The two mirror each other.

Although this book was published in 2009, the book was actually completed in 1995. However; it remains fresh with a clear-eyed view of therapy that can only result from extensive training and the experience of working with clients over a 20-year period of time. Dr. Aarons’ book is thought-provoking, clearly written, and a fascinating read.

Catherine Callahan, long-term therapy client

  I was glad to get a chance to peek at your last chapter. By the use of poetry you achieved a feeling of the numinous. Good job. Good Luck.

Patricia Jones, milliner.