An Umbrella for Alex

An Umbrella for Alex tells the story of how a young boy learns to understand and cope with his Mother’s BPD illness. Written to be read with a therapist or parent, the story reassures affected children that they did not cause and are not responsible for a BPD parent’s volatile behavior. This book is also suitable for children whose parent has been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder or other mental illness.

An Umbrella for Alex narrates a young boy's journey as he attempts to understand and cope with his mother's abrupt mood swings. Written to be read with a therapist, parent, or other trusted adult, the story of Alex reassures affected children that they did not cause and are not responsible for the volatile behavior of their parent. This book is suitable for both boys and girls, and specifically for children whose mother or father has been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, Narcissistic Personality Disorder, Bipolar Disorder or other mental illness and suffers from mood swings. 100% of net sales of this book go directly to the non-profit organization and publisher of An Umbrella for Alex, the Personality Disorder Awareness Network.

Rachel Rashkin-Shoot is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Jerusalem, Israel, offering services in English to children, adolescents and adults. She completed her undergraduate studies at Binghamton University and earned a Masters in Child Development from the Erikson Institute where she interned at The Infant Welfare Society of Evanston, working with very young children and their parents to develop healthy attachments, and families under stress due to poverty, mental illness, and teen parenthood. During her studies at Erikson, she authored two self-help books for children and teens,“Feeling Better”, a story for children beginning psychotherapy (and its related article in the award-winning, Chicago Parent magazine), as well as "An Umbrella for Alex", a book for children coping with a mentally-ill parent. She went on to graduate from the Adler School of Professional Psychology where she earned a doctorate in Clinical Psychology. Her pre-doctoral training was completed in Chicago and New Orleans where she treated children, adults and families experiencing a wide variety of psychological, psychoeducational and neuropsychological difficulties. She continue to strengthen and expand her existing clinical skills through ongoing supervision, peer consultation, specialized training and conferences.