For Now is a simple book about grief. It is intended as a gift for the grieving when no gift feels like enough. As a therapist, friend, and mother for over twenty years, I have experienced my own loss, but have more frequently, sat with the sadness of others. When someone you care about is in profound pain the words can be hard to find and a comforter can feel inadequate. This small work is a labor of love and in offering it, the giver hopes that you, the recipient, know how much you are held through your pain. When the world seems to stand still and yet it does not, you have a companion who understands your immobility. When you feel alone despite the many people around you, you have a friend waiting in the wings and holding space for your return. Where there is compassion there is hope, even in the darkest of chapters. Grief comes from all kinds of losses. With this small token, we send you love in your healing. Just as there is no tidy resolution for your healing, neither does our love have an end.
With warm embrace,
Amy Johnson Chong
About the Author
After working and living in the Dominican Republic for 2 years as a young adult, Amy Johnson Chong returned to the states to receive a master's degree in International Peace Studies from The University of Notre Dame. As one of only 24 students in the program (including 7 Americans and 17 international scholars) she studied conflict resolution and peace making while experiencing informative debates by students from countries at odds with one another. After graduating she stayed and worked with the homeless population in South Bend, Indiana until she married and moved to Washington, DC. There she received her master's degree in Clinical Social Work from The Catholic University of America in 1997. Mrs. Chong began her career working with teenagers in a psychiatric hospital and then with abused and neglected children ages 5 to 13 in residential treatment in the District of Columbia. In 2008 Amy and her husband moved back to Amy's home state of Florida with their two young children. In effort to gain work-life balance and spend more quality time with her children, Amy took a reprieve from social work but stayed in the helping field. She became a licensed massage therapist and a yoga instructor and opened The Mindful Body, a wellness studio where she managed practitioners, taught yoga and mindfulness to children and adults and provided therapeutic massage. As her children made smooth transitions into their teen years, Mrs. Chong again began providing mental health therapy to children and families as an independent contractor offering individual, play and family therapy in elementary schools, preschools, and home-based settings. She became part of the Orange County Early Childhood Court Team and completed a certification as a Child & Parent Psychotherapist - a specialty which focuses primarily on repairing the parent-child dyad negatively impacted by traumatic stress. Amy is also a Registered Circle of Security Parent Facilitator - a parenting model which enhances attachment and increased understanding of developmental needs over the course of a lifetime. Although, the book, For Now: A Simple Reflection on Loss is her first published hardcover title, Amy has previously written social work-related content for John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and has dabbled with providing blog posts and printable resources on her website. The previously available Radical Self-Care Workbook: Tools for Creating a Life of Joy and Purpose is currently being edited to reflect new realities arising since the global pandemic. Amy is the founder and owner of Living All In, L.L.C., a small business created to combine her many interests and her passion for helping others to heal and experience more joy and purpose in their lives. Additionally, Amy enjoys the beach, wood working, writing, paddle boarding, walking, gardening, stalking her adult children on TikTok, laughing, and celebrating life with her family and friends. Over the last 25 years in the mental health industry, Amy has been honored to listen to the stories of many people suffering from grief, depression, and loss of different kinds. For Now is a short poem that came to her in the middle of the night on May 25, 2020. Later that morning she learned that a dear family member had passed away in the night. Immediately, she knew she was meant to make this small work into a gift that could be offered to others in pain. Her daughter used sketches and watercolors to create the illustrations for this book while being home from college due to university closures during the Covid19 outbreak. At such times, when loss seems to abound, hope can be found in the generosity and love of others. Please share your story of loss, hope and love with Amy at amy@livingallin.org, on Facebook or Instagram too. She would love to hear from you.
