A Cry For Help

Shivering in the early morning chill, the caretaker flips the switch on the Ferris wheel and stumbles back in shock. The teenage girl's body is slumped in a halo of pretty colored lights, long red hair spilling over her tear-stained cheeks, her eyes fixed forever on her dangling feet. When teenager Nikki Jackson's body is found at an amusement park, just hours after Fourth of July fireworks lit up the night sky, the Lost Creek police rule her death as suicide-a devastating final act from a girl who had lost all hope. But the absence of the knife used to make the wounds on her delicate wrists makes Detective Madison Harper think otherwise. And the partial fingerprint found on the girl's face proves her right. Someone else was with Nikki in her final moments... Back home in Colorado for the first time in seven years to investigate the murder of a woman with ties to the son she lost to the care system, the pressure is on for Madison to work both cases at once. Fearing the team has missed a vital clue, Madison searches the crime scene alone and finds the last thing she ever expected: a note proving the victims knew each other, and that the cases are linked. Is this a coincidence, proof a dangerous murderer is on the loose, or a trap set to lead Madison off the trail? It's only when Madison finally finds the knife used to harm Nikki, tucked in an almost impossible to find hiding place, that she knows she is closing-in on a twisted killer. But the last person she expects to see dragged into the department in handcuffs is her own missing son... An absolutely unputdownable crime thriller that will have you sleeping with the lights on. Addictive reading for anyone who loves Lisa Regan, Robert Dugoni and Melinda Leigh. Everyone is talking about Cry For Help 'Oh man, what a rollercoaster of a ride... jaw-dropping and edge-of-the-seat stuff... couldn't put it down till it was finished!' Goodreads reviewer, 5 stars 'Absolutely LOVED... Kept me guessing right up to the end. Non-stop from page one. This is a must-read!' Owl Books, 5 stars

Empowering Schools and Communities: Your Guide to Suicide Prevention

In the US alone, suicide tragically claims around 50,000 lives annually. These are individuals, not statistics - loved ones, friends, and members of our communities.

Are you a school counselor, administrator, or educator seeking to bridge the gap between schools and communities on suicide prevention?

Answering the Cry for Help equips you with information and tools to develop a powerful Community Suicide Prevention Program (C-SPP). This Updated and Revised resource provides:

• Early Warning Signs: Learn to recognize and understand the subtle and not-so-subtle indicators of suicidal thoughts and behaviors.
• Effective Intervention Techniques: Learn best practices for offering compassionate support to students at risk, guiding them towards resources and treatment.
• Building a Crisis Response Team: Discover how to train educators and administrators to effectively manage critical situations and navigate the aftermath.
• Securing Resources: Uncover valuable insights on acquiring funding for your C-SPP and establishing strong partnerships with mental health and community organizations.
• Media Savvy: Learn how to communicate effectively with the media to raise awareness about suicide prevention without sensationalizing the issue.
• Proactive Prevention Strategies: This book goes beyond reactive measures. Discover powerful tools to create a nurturing and inclusive school environment that fosters resilience and hope.

Don't wait for tragedy to strike. Empower yourself, your colleagues, and your community to prevent suicide.

Have you ever been in a situation where you thought you just couldn't make it? That's what happened to Josephine Bell when her son, Robert Houston, was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. The burden was heavy on her heart to take care of him and heal him, but only God is capable of bringing hope and peace to a dark situation. Mental illness is something people just don't like to talk about; but it is real, and no mother wants to see her child suffer through a serious illness. Many times she found herself on her knees, crying out for help. Through her weakness, she was made strong, and Robert and Josephine have learned that God does hear when we cry out to him in truth. A Cry for Help is Josephine Bell and Robert Houston's account of living with schizophrenia and how to rely on God when everything seems hopeless. This book is complete with a guide to schizophrenia in the back, so readers can find out information for themselves and help others who are hurting.

The gospel of Christ is a gospel of peace, yet Christianity has not escaped the specter of religious violence. The legacy of the church has not only been one of patient suffering and forgiving love but also of brutal bloodshed. With tensions between Christians and non-Christians on the rise in many areas of the world, the question of how the church is to respond to religious violence is a pressing one, encompassing issues of ecclesiology, theology, and missiology. Dr. Mipo E. Dadang explores the contextual realities that have led some believers in Northern Nigeria to embrace violence as a justifiable response to persecution. Drawing on extensive interviews, he provides an overview of the history of the church in the region, the impact of local theologies and traditions on mindsets and behaviors, and the insight of local believers into the catalysts, and solutions, to violent conflict. Alongside this phenomenological study, he provides a powerful biblical and theological foundation for understanding bloodshed as a violation of God’s created order. He weaves together biblical teachings, the example of the early church, and the theology of Martin Luther to demonstrate that the people of God are called to reject, prevent, and eliminate violence, replacing it with creative alternatives. This deeply powerful book has implications for every Christian seeking to live out the gospel of Christ in peaceful co-existence with their neighbors.

A Cry for Help is a vivid and irrefutable picture of the homeless in America, told in their own words. Portraits by acclaimed photographer Mary Ellen Mark join an urgent introduction by Andrew Cuomo, Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development, H.U.D. and founder of H.E.L.P. (Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged). Noted child psychiatrist and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dr. Robert Coles offers a thoughtful preface about the painful effects of homelessness on a child's soul. In the tradition of classic works of advocacy like Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, this book speaks to our national moral conscience and offers an optimistic message that both personal and social change is possible.

What would you do if your family disappeared and all the evidence points at you? Wallace Carver fears the worst when his family doesn't meet him as planned after a shopping trip in the US. But his worst nightmares come true when he returns home to Canada and discovers all trace of his family's existence gone. And if that's not bad enough - he is the main suspect in their disappearance. Now all Wallace wants to do is to get his family back. But first he has to work out why they were taken. Can he uncover the identity of their captor - and reach them before it's too late?

Keisha’s sister, Leah, was raped and killed by the next-door neighbor that lured her to his house, promising her a color television if she shoveled his snow. One year later, her aunt was killed by her ex-boyfriend. After such tragedy, her house size grew by two as her aunt’s children moved in. Rodney, her oldest, was in a very dark place and lived seeing his mother die. He later began to take from Keisha what was not up for negotiation, and her brother began to molest her as well, as if Rodney hooked him up. Keisha looked for love on the outside, but she was gang-raped, and she became pregnant with twins. As Keisha admired the scenery, the lights flickered on the stage, and the music was jumping. A cutie named Cheryl sat beside her, and they conversed deeply. As the room got hot, the consciousness that she had wouldn’t allow her to sleep with her knowing she had AIDS. They became good friends, but the ego in Keisha got Cheryl and her unborn child killed. Keisha left their murderer paraplegic and speechless. She killed the guys that raped her and took their money, and one of their girls she made her own. Then she was caught slipping, putting her trust in someone that wasn’t trustworthy, and almost lost her life.