For more than 25 years, psychotherapist and Flower Hill resident Tery Grant has helped her patients cope with “the problems they have with anxiety or crisis.”
These problems, Grant said, could be related to marriage, a life transition, or a change in career.
“[I try] to give support,” Grant said. “[I want people] to see things in a different way.”
But, Grant said, she has also long been an advocate for children’s issues and education.
Grant’s passion for children led her to co-author a book entitled “What were you thinking?: 23 Ideas to Get Your Kids to Use Their Noodle” with Juliette Giorgio, one of her former patients.
The book, which was publishing in 2013, continues to resonate with readers.
On Sept. 28, Grant and Giorgio held a book signing at the Book Review in Huntington which was attended by more than 70 people, Grant said.
“It was unbelievable how many people showed up,” Grant said. “We were very happy to be invited to have a book signing there.”
Grant said more than 70 copies of the book were sold at the signing.
Grant said Giorio is a single mother who was left with her two young children when she and her husband got divorced.
She said she and Giorgio often spoke about the problems Giorgio was experiencing with her children.
After the two had been seeing each other for a while, Grant said, Giorgio told her they both should write a book about the tips she gave Giorgio regarding her children.
Giorgio, an elementary school teacher in Queens, had also been using Grant’s tips on her students, Grant said.
Grant said she was unsure whether Giorgio was serious but, in 2010, she and Giorgio began working on the book.
The book is about teaching your child how to think and establishing a good relationship with your child, Grant said.
“Parents want to love and protect their children,” Grant said. “I think [another] important idea is to teach their children how to think. They need to know thinking will [help them] deal with people in life.”
The 100-page book highlights 23 “separate but connected ideas,” Grant said, that come from a number of children’s stories, including “The Wizard of Oz,” “Strega Nona” and “The Velveteen Rabbit.”
“The book is a lot more than just tips,” she said. “It’s a philosophy that many people can relate to. It’s a manual for new moms and dads who are just starting their parenting journey and for parents who could really use a different, out of the box approach to parenting.”
“What were you thinking?: 23 Ideas to Get Your Kids to Use Their Noodle” was not Grant’s first published work.
She is also the author of “The 10 Most Common Mistakes People Make in Relationships” and “Mind Games — Don’t Let Them Win! The Mental Game in Sports.”
But, Grant said, her “ultimate goal” is to get a weekly cable program based on “What were you thinking?: 23 Ideas to Get Your Kids to Use Their Noodle.”
“[We] want parents to tune in [so] we can spread our message worldwide,” she said.
Grant also already has experience in the television industry.
She was a producer on “Unfinished Business,” a 13-week cable television series based on psychotherapy and mental health.
Grant has also given lectures on parenting at a number of locations in Roslyn including the East Hills School, Harbor Hill Elementary School and the Bryant Library.
“The early imprint on a child’s mind [stays with them] for the rest of their life,” Grant said. “That is what can change and [what can] make our world better.”
