SaraKay Smullens (www.sarakaysmullens.com) is a licensed diplomate in clinical social work and and a trained family therapist and educator. She has been certified as a group psychotherapist by American Group Psychotherapy Association and as a certified family life educator by the National Council onFamily Relations.

A recipient of a lifetime achievement award by the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association of Social Work, SaraKay is a best-selling author of Whoever Said Life is Fair? and Setting YourSelf Free: Breaking the Cycle of Emotional Abuse in Family, Friendship, Love and Work.

Her paper, "Achieving An Emotional Sense of Direction," can be found on her website. This model is described in greater detail in a paper accepted by the peer reviewed International Journal of Group Psychotherapy, scheduled for publication in January, 2010.

SaraKay's public social work papers, which document a professional lifetime of community organization, advocacy and activism, are now at the archives of the University of Pennsylvania.

Blog Entries by SaraKay Smullens

The Balloon Hoax and Emotional Abuse Awareness

2 Comments | Posted October 27, 2009 | 12:50 PM (EST)


The world was shaken when a story broke about a little six year old boy, Falcon Heene, who was supposedly captive in a giant helium balloon, shaped like a flying saucer. It was a balloon that covered more than 50 miles across two counties, and one that took the world...

Read Post

Interview With A Pissed Off Queen

2 Comments | Posted October 21, 2009 | 04:35 PM (EST)


An absolutely brand-new scientific breakthrough allowing communication with the spirit of those who have passed on was used yesterday by the Huffington Post in a penetrating interview with 3,500 year old Queen Nefertiti. Her Highness showed herself to be one indignant, pissed off Royal.

Huffington Post: Your Majesty, perhaps you...

Read Post

The Life and Death of Ted Kennedy: Continuing to Learn as We Mourn

4 Comments | Posted September 1, 2009 | 02:28 PM (EST)


When I heard that Ted Kennedy was dead I felt an ache in my upper chest with every breath. It went away but then reappeared the day after he was buried. Life has taught me that this inner wrench is mourning.

For all of us whose teenage and adult years...

Read Post

Health Care Reform: Some Optimism Please

9 Comments | Posted August 27, 2009 | 01:19 PM (EST)


"The hope arises anew, and the dream lives on." -- Ted Kennedy

Interspersed with the news of the death of Ted Kennedy are the comments from Senate members and pundits that the health care bill is now on a last leg. I am as totally baffled...

Read Post

Learning from the Death of Eight: the Tradgedy of a "Perfect Mother"

3 Comments | Posted August 10, 2009 | 11:17 AM (EST)


Dear Huffington Post Readers:

This will be short, with what a hope is more than just a sweet message. Our family of 14 is leaving any moment for a week beach holiday. And I am determined that all of us, from ages three to seventy something, will arrive and leave...

Read Post

Barack Obama's Teachable Moments

8 Comments | Posted July 27, 2009 | 05:55 PM (EST)


Sigmund Freud has described what women want. He was wrong. What Michelle Obama has with her husband is what women want. That is a husband who is capable of reflection, who learns from his mistakes, and who does not feel weak and demeaned by realizing he has been wrong.

...
Read Post

Resilience: Elizabeth Claims John Eternally Hers

12 Comments | Posted May 8, 2009 | 05:51 PM (EST)


I am hearing the same questions daily from friends and clients: "What was Elizabeth Edwards thinking when she penned her latest book, Resilience, where she discussed her husband's infidelity and her reaction when she first learned about it: scream, cry, throw up. How could she leave such a legacy to...

Read Post

Arlen Specter: Determined Survivor, Pragmatic Politician, Loyal Friend

5 Comments | Posted April 29, 2009 | 04:09 PM (EST)


When Arlen Specter, a five-term Senate veteran, announced that he would return to the Democratic Party, my land line and iPhone went into overload. For Arlen Specter has been a friend of my family's for over 30 years. Our family does not see him often, however. At our daughter's wedding,...

Read Post

My Mother, My Daughters, MySelf: Lessons Learned

Posted April 13, 2009 | 04:00 PM (EST)


April 10th, was the sixteenth anniversary of my mother's death. It was also my birthday. My mother died at 3:30 a.m. As if by some unknown hand, each year I awaken at this time on my birthday, always with a shudder.

Losing my mother would have been easier if...

Read Post

A Wake Up Call

Posted March 25, 2009 | 11:49 AM (EST)


A Wake Up Call

It is the kind of call that strikes terror. Our youngest daughter, a lawyer in Manhattan, called two days after being punched violently in the back of her head and knocked to the ground. The attack, not a robbery, happened in broad daylight a few...

Read Post

Israel Today: Necessary Medicine for Survival

Posted February 8, 2009 | 03:04 AM (EST)


The clearheaded know that Israel could not take it any more; her citizens were in constant danger; the eight years of relentless rocket attacks from Gaza on their southern towns was beyond intolerable. But world opinion does not easily tolerate a former David who has been successfully (though unfairly) branded...

Read Post

Love, Limits, Letting Go: Good Enough for Obama

Posted January 26, 2009 | 05:45 PM (EST)


I want to warn you. I am on a rant. One about parents who do not let go of their sons and daughters at age appropriate times and in this way show them that they believe they will be able to take care of themselves.

The rant has been growing,...

Read Post

Obama's Inaugural Events: Snapshots from Yesterday

Posted January 18, 2009 | 07:25 PM (EST)


Two of my adult daughters and their families left their meeting place, our home in Philadelphia, a few hours ago to attend historic events in DC. Their leaving showed me much about this time in my life, why even those of us with grandchildren who are blessed with good health...

Read Post

War and Peace in Gaza: An Alternative Strategy

Posted January 16, 2009 | 04:47 PM (EST)


For too many decades Israel has shown a shocking lack of positive planning and productive thinking in its strategic dealings with Palestinian leadership and the fundamentalist Arab world. Because of this Israel is too often misunderstood, the lies of their enemies too often believed.

When ceasefires and agreements are...

Read Post

"To Obama:" Introducing A New Verb: Part II

Posted January 5, 2009 | 03:00 PM (EST)


You could have knocked me over with a feather when President-elect Barack Obama decided that he wanted Hillary Clinton to be his Secretary of State. After all, the Clintons had some rather unflattering descriptions of a man they believed came from out of nowhere to destroy a Clinton cherished dream...

Read Post

The Impact of Kindness: Riches and Regrets

Posted December 27, 2008 | 10:45 PM (EST)


It is the time of year to look back and remember and to look forward and hope. I am now the mother of four and the grandmother of five and have been married for the second time for almost 30 years. I have some major regrets in my life, mostly...

Read Post

Holiday Reflections: The Exquisite Nature of Faith: The Constrasts and Challenges of Reality

Posted December 12, 2008 | 12:09 PM (EST)


Holiday Reflections: The Exquisite Nature of Faith: The Contrasts and Challenges of Reality

"Silent Night"

Bloodshed all over the world: bombs, explosions, innocents suffering, inexplicable deaths

"Holy Night"

Ruthless killers, living in impotent ignorance, oblivious to suffering, unreachable in large part because...

Read Post

"To Obama:" Introducing A New Verb

Posted December 2, 2008 | 04:30 PM (EST)


Along with millions, I worked hard, very hard, for the candidacy of Barack Obama. I believed in his vision of doing business in a new way; I believed that for our survival we all must see ourselves as in this boat of life and citizenship in the fresh and interactive...

Read Post

Avoiding Turkey-Time Misery

Posted November 12, 2008 | 02:11 PM (EST)


We are approaching Turkey Time; and if you are developing indigestion, if your reflux is acting up (or starting for the first time), if you are reaching for that little purple or pink or whatever colored pill, be comforted. You are not alone.

While holiday blues lasting from pre-Thanksgiving...

Read Post

Keeping Republican Friends: Please Help!

Posted November 7, 2008 | 01:18 PM (EST)


I'd like to check something out with fellow Democrats: How are you doing with your Republican friends? Maybe I should also ask if you have Republican friends.

To explain fully, offering complete disclosure: I was once married to a Republican, for 13 years, including the time it took to get...

Read Post