Mary Jane Cronin

​Mary Jane Cronin

I was born and raised in New Jersey, my twin brother and I were placed with a foster family and later adopted at the age of eight months old to a loving family. Visits were made to the Jersey shores where I learned to build sandcastles and swim in the waves. Later, I was introduced to the boardwalks of Atlantic City and Wildwood and even was offered a job as a tram driver on the boardwalk.

In my teens, my parents bought a diner, and I learned all the required roles including waitress, cook and dishwasher. While waitressing I found I liked talking to and helping people.

Music has always been a passion for me, and as I wrote the words to a poem and created a new song, I dreamed I would one day be famous. Instead of becoming a famous musician myself, I married one and we moved to Florida where we married and raised our four sons. It wasn’t until years later that my first book was born.

In 1998, my 16-year-old son, was murdered. Every emotion possible for a young mother to feel after the loss of her child was felt by me. With little support or knowledge of how to heal, I retreated within myself and became overprotective of my other children.

My salvation was writing letters to heaven to my son. Meeting a woman who lost her own daughter, I printed out my letters and gave them to her in the hopes that she would find comfort in my words. She told me how much my words helped her and suggested I make it a book to share with others. November Mourning was created and born in 2008 within the walls of Suncoast Hospice. Two years later in 2010 I published Writing Through your Grief as a gift for the families admitted to Suncoast Hospice as a way of thanking Suncoast Hospice for helping me publish November morning.

As a licensed bereavement counselor working for Suncoast hospice for 10 years, I saw many caregivers become weary and ill themselves while trying to care for their loved ones. My desire for helping others was now focused on caregivers. Research and talking with many family members and professional caregivers, as well as having illness in my own family gave me the information and knowledge to help them. I wrote and published A Caregiver Connection and Growing Through Illness Together to help families with communication issues, health topics and self-care.

Taking a fall and breaking both my arms, I published my fifth book called Unexpected Change. This book was written to help others see life is not always predictable, but we can be better prepared for those changes. Techniques and solutions to help one who has lost someone they love, suddenly having our life altered when someone becomes ill or is diagnosed with a life-threatening situation, or facing a potential burnout when our job responsibilities change, or like me, having a fall in our senior years can definitely result in Unexpected Changes.

Tied in Knots 3 Steps to Releasing Stress was written during Covid 19. On any given day more than 80% of Americans experiencing unmanaged stress. Add an epidemic that keeps us confined to our homes, causes loss of jobs, reduced personal interaction and many people failing ill to the virus. I interviewed thirteen friends and asked them how they were coping with stress. Their stories began my character Suzie to begin a journey to attempt their suggestions. Creating a self-care plan prior to needing it may include activities such as deep breathing, exercise, or changing some stressful behaviors.

My final book, to date, is called Becoming Me After You. Since leaving Sun Coast Hospice in 2014, I opened a private practice and enjoy speaking at conferences, retreats, and workshops across the country, I teach others how to manage feelings and emotions resulting from grief, loss, change and stress. For the past few years, I have been facilitating a support group for spouses and children who have lost a loved on. Since publishing November Mourning, I've written articles on coping with grief which can be read at the Open to Hope website at http://www.opentohope.com.

You can find me on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/maryjanecronin1/

LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/mary-jane-cronin-63a957101/

Purchase most of my books on Amazon. If you are not able to order one please email me at counselormaryjane@gmail.com