Meet Ilene English
Ilene English, MA, LMFT, is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist and the Clinical Director of GroupWorks in Sonoma County where she leads therapy groups, as well as sees individuals and families in her private practice. Her specialty is working with families. She is sometimes hired as the family’s private therapist, seeing various family members in different configurations, with the goal of helping families become more whole.
Hippie Chick is about a girl struggling to find what she needs to feel lovable and worthwhile, coming out of a childhood with a seriously ill mother, and an unavailable, angry father. The youngest of six children, and the last one to leave home, she finds her mother dead on the toilet, and is the person who finally leaves her father alone, as she finds her way to California to become the first hippie in the Haight/Ashbury at age 17 in 1963.
Her story takes us on a journey through the Sixties as she discovers psychedelic drugs and free love. When things get too wild, she follows her sister to Hawaii where she meets her destiny, the tragic loss of her sister to a fatal disease, Lupus. Lost and alone, she finds her way through the love of a man, and the high point of her life, the birth of her only child. Once again though, heartbreak finds its way to her door, as she goes through a painful divorce.
With an 18 month old baby, she becomes a single mother, instantly going from a professor's wife to a welfare mom. As an artist struggling to make ends meet, her story takes us through a series of relationships, highlighting the challenges of being a single mom and trying to have a life. The story portrays the resilience of one woman to climb out of poverty, and find success in a career and fulfillment as a mother.
In the final chapters, she finds the love of a good man. At age 48, her teenaged daughter, about to go off to college, gives her mother her blessings by giving her away at her wedding saying to her new step dad, "May she love you as much as she loves me.” Mom then goes back to school, gets a Master's Degree and becomes a successful psychotherapist, specializing in working with parents, children & single mothers.
This book is both poignant and full of humor. It is recommended for anyone who is interested in the 60's from a female perspective, the struggle of being a single parent & dating, and the resilience of the human spirit.
Listen to Ilene's presentation here: Ilene English
Silver Winner for best Memoir 2020 from the Independent Book Publishers Association!
Book available at Kona Stories for $16.95 or order on this site to ship to home.
