Stacee Reicherzers book is a much-needed resource. She approaches the feelings of Otherness from a personal standpoint that welcomes people into the material, but in a professional manner that is well-grounded in research and expertise. By presenting a path to help individuals overcome the fear that has governed their life, she opens up doors for those who have been excluded to walk into their full and authentic experience.
Tonya R. Hammer, PhD , associate professor of counseling and counseling psychology, and Jennifer Jacques Flanery Community Counseling Professor at Oklahoma State University
With wild anecdotes and heartfelt stories, Stacee Reicherzer speaks to every Other person out here. She not only provides actionable steps towards healing from bullying and ostracism, she does so with a wry humor that drew me in. The pages flew by as I laughed or cried at the shared memories all Othered people experience. Throughout this book, she brings some of the relational healing and community we so desperately need.
Adrian S. Warren, PhD, LPC-S , president-elect of the Texas Counseling Association, and author of Acceptance and Mindfulness for Healing and Recovery
Anyone who has ever felt different will benefit from this book, connecting with Stacee as she courageously shares her own experiences and those of people like us who have been Othered. You will feel that you are with a friend, counselor, teacher, and mentor, as she expertly guides you on a new journey of healing and growth.
John F. Marszalek III, PhD , faculty of the clinical mental health counseling program at Southern New Hampshire University, and author of Coming Out of the Magnolia Closet
This soulful love letter spoke to my heart and experiences of Otherness. As an African American woman, Stacees artful languagelike identifying your rock and laying down your burdenallowed me to recognize the spaces for my own restoration. This handbook gives us all pathways to clarity and freedom from internal and external oppressors, and it is an invitation to engage in exploration and healing with prescriptions worth taking.
Savitri Dixon-Saxon, PhD , vice provost at Walden University, and North Carolina-licensed clinical mental health counselor
This chef doeuvre was the perfect interruption to my isolation resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. It fully satisfied my yearning for enlightenment and revived my creative spirit, consequently pulling it out of its cataclysmic quarantine. Suddenly, I was no longer alone as Stacee Reicherzers soulfulness and unabashed sass unapologetically knocked on my door to take my mind, body, and soul on a swift and transformational journey of self-exploration and healing.
Fatma Salem, MA , clinician at C.R.E.A.T.E! Center for Expressive Arts, Therapy and Education
Reicherzer provides a compendium of behaviors and feelings contributing to the pain and difficulties of feeling Othered, with helpful remedies to heal that pain and grow into healthy, happy, and self-actualized people using personal creativity and sass. She speaks to many causes of the pain of Otherness with very constructive and pragmatic suggestions for the many suffering. She also gives practitioners new clinical insights into this important syndrome.
Edward S. Beck , publisher and editor at Kol Central PA ; vice president of the Historic Bnai Jacob Synagogue in Middletown, PA; and board member of the Jewish Community Foundation of Central Pennsylvania
The world has been telling us how to think and feel since the moment we entered it. That pressurecombined with taunts, slights, and abusescreates a feeling of Otherness within us. Stacee Reicherzer has created a path for healing. The reader is guided gentlywith compassion, love, and humorthrough an exploration of the pain, shame, and guilt of feeling different in a world that values sameness.
Donna Sheperis, PhD , professor of counseling at Palo Alto University, and author of Ethical Decision Making for the 21st Century Counselor
With compassion, empathy, and an incredibly conversational tone, Reicherzer pulls you in with her uncanny ability to bring the trauma of Otherness to life. She gently guides the reader through user-friendly exercises of self-reflection, encouraging them to confront toxic aspects of dominant culture that dishonor and silence ones true self. This book is a must-have for anyone who wants to disrupt systemic oppression and finally belong.
Jada K. Hebra , senior vice president and chief diversity and inclusion officer at Southern New Hampshire University
The Healing Otherness Handbook is just the medicine we needed at just the right time. In a world in which Othering hurts, harms, displaces, and creates trauma, Stacee Reicherzer invites the reader in to forge a path to healing to discover and claim our place at the table. Stacees presence, wisdom, and humor remind the reader that she is walking with us on this journey, reminding us that our shared story of hurt can help us heal.
Anne C. Deepak, PhD , associate professor at the Monmouth University School of Social Work, and International Federation of Social Workers Representative to the United Nations
Stacee Reicherzer is a model of resilience, bravery, intellect, and grace. Her book empowers me and will empower every reader to claimwithout apologythe distinctive gifts he, she, or they have been given. Every day, Stacee helps to create the world in which I want to live, and, more important, the world in which I want our children to liveall of them.
Chris Gilmer , president and tenured professor of humanities at West Virginia University at Parkersburg, and founder of the National Institutes for Historically-Underserved Students
Publishers Note
This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.
In consideration of evolving American English usage standards, and reflecting a commitment to equity for all genders, they/them is used in this book to denote singular persons.
NEW HARBINGER PUBLICATIONS is a registered trademark of New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Copyright 2021 by Stacee Reicherzer
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
5674 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
www.newharbinger.com
Cover design by Sara Christian; Acquired by Georgia Kolias; Edited by Jennifer Holder
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Reicherzer, Stacee, author.
Title: The healing otherness handbook : overcome the trauma of identity-based bullying and find power in your difference / Stacee Reicherzer, PhD.
Description: Oakland, CA : New Harbinger Publications, Inc., 2021. | Series: The social justice handbook series | Includes bibliographical references.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020042547 (print) | LCCN 2020042548 (ebook) | ISBN 9781684036479 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781684036486 (pdf) | ISBN 9781684036493 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Social isolation. | Other (Philosophy)--Psychological aspects. | Bullying.