Susan J. Elliott

Susan J. Elliott (born November 19, 1956) is an author, certified grief specialist, motivational speaker, expert media commentator and attorney. Elliott is the author of Getting Past Your Breakup: How to Turn a Devastating Loss Into the Best Thing That Ever Happened to You and appears as a relationship commentator nationally and also locally in the New York City area.

Biography

Susan J. Elliott was born in New York City and grew up in the Soundview area of the Bronx. She was given up to the foster care system early in life and later adopted at the age of eight. Her adoptive childhood and teenage years were not easy ones, and as a young adult, she involved herself in dangerous, destructive relationships (Elliott, 2009). Elliott married and had three sons with her first husband, whom she later divorced. Surmounting the hardships from an early life of difficulty, abandonment and abuse, Elliott went on to earn an A.B. in English from Mount Holyoke College graduating with High Honors, magna cum laude, and Phi Beta Kappa, an M. Ed. from Cambridge College, and a J.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.[1]

Elliott worked to overcome the emotional and psychological issues from her past, and met and married her husband, Michael DiCarlo, with whom she created a happy marriage [2]. In August 2009, DiCarlo, described by Elliott as "honest, open, kind, and caring" (Elliott, 2009, p. xxiv) died of brain cancer. [3]. She established the 'Michael A. DiCarlo Memorial Fund' with the 'National Brain Tumor Society'[4] in his honor.

Getting Past Your Breakup: How to Turn A Devastating Loss Into the Best Thing That Ever Happened to You (Da Capo Press Lifelong Learning Books, 2009) was released in May 2009 and details the program she created for dealing with breakups and divorce (Elliott, 2009). Elliott's book focuses on how to let go of past relationships and how to deal with the pain, grief, loss, and accompanying behaviors of post-relationship situations (Elliott, 2009).

The book is in part a narrative, detailing the relationship and recovery stories of Elliott, her coaching clients, her seminar students and her blog readers. Getting Past Your Breakup was voted one of the top five breakup books in 2009 by Yahoo Shine![5], won the 2010 International Book Award in two categories [6], and was selected as the top 2009 breakup book by About.com [7].

In 2008, Elliott's internationally-read blog Getting Past Your Past was voted as best in the relationships and health category in 2008 by Wellsphere and rated as one of the top 100 blogs [8]. She works as an attorney, appears on local and national television as a relationship expert and is quoted extensively in both print and on line publications. She started "Heartbreak Bootcamp" [9] an intensive six week course designed for those having difficulty moving on and gives one-day and weekend seminars as well as talks all over the country.[10]

Once a victim of violence, Elliott also founded the GPYP DV Project to donate books to Domestic Violence shelters and organizations and to give scholarships to her seminars and bootcamps. At the present time the Project has donated over 100 books to organizations around the country and in Europe and has given dozens of scholarships [11].

Today, Elliott lives in the greater New York City metropolitan area working as an attorney, appearing on radio and television as a relationship expert, writing, speaking, teaching and raising her and Michael's daughter, Gina. Her sons are grown and they enjoy a close relationship. She has three grandchildren whom she sees frequently.

References

References

• Barrett, Cameron (2006). Susan J. Elliott: I've Made All My Dreams Come True. Retrieved from: http://thatscrispy.rcomcreative.com/index/news-app/story.29/title.susan-elliott-i-ve-made-all-my-dreams-come-true

• Amundsen, Mark (2009). Over 40 and Looking for Love Happen Magazine. Retrieved from: http://www.happenmag.com/magazine/article2.aspx?articleid=11165&ER=sessiontimeout&trackingid=506049

• Elliott, Susan J. (2009). Getting Past Your Breakup: How to Turn a Devastating Loss into the Best Thing That Ever Happened to You. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-7382-1328-6.

• Publisher's Weekly (June 2009). Web Exclusive Review: Getting Past Your Breakup: How to Turn a Devastating Loss Into the Best Thing that Ever Happened to You. Retrieved from: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6663163.html?industryid=47159 .

• MBR: Internet Bookwatch June 2009. Getting Past Your Breakup. Midwest Book Review (June 2009). Retrieved from: http://www.midwestbookreview.com/ibw/jun_09.htm#heal.

• Albo, B. (2009). Getting past your breakup by Susan J. Elliott. Book Review on About.com. Retrieved from http://dating.about.com/od/datingbooks/gr/gettingpastyourbreakup.htm .

• 2010 International Book Awards Results. Retrieved from: http://www.internationalbookawards.com/2010awardannoucement.html

• Yahoo! Shine. Top 5 Breakup Books of 2009. Retrieved from http://shine.yahoo.com/event/thisweekinbooks/top-5-breakup-books-of-2009-556119 .

• New York PIX Morning News. February 10, 2010. Elliott speaks to her book's main themes of post-relationship recovery. http://weblogs.wpix.com/news/local/morningnews/blogs/2010/02/getting_past_breakups.html#more

• New York PIX Morning News. March 24, 2010. Elliott talks about rules of healthy dating after recovery from a breakup. http://weblogs.wpix.com/news/local/morningnews/blogs/2010/02/getting_past_breakups.html#more

• Brain Tumor Society. Michael A. DiCarlo Memorial Fund. Retrieved from http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/TR?pg=fund&fr_id=1370&pxfid=33340