Whidbey Island resident and psychotherapist Sarri Gilman, MA, MFT saw a dire need and did something about it. She created housing for homeless teens when she founded Cocoon House in Everett, Wash. Then she wrote a memoir about that experience.
Join us upstairs in the Front Room Gallery at the Bayview Cash Store at 1:30 - 3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4 when the Bard’s Boutique presents Gilman reading from her memoir “Cocoon: How One Woman Created a Shelter for Teens and Found Hope Along the Way.”
“I wrote this book because the lessons I learned in the shelter are essential for these times as we continue to navigate through challenges and face problems that on the surface seem impossible,” Gilman said.
It all started when Gilman became acutely aware of a problem. Many of the teenage students attending the Everett school where she worked had nowhere to go at night. She then realized they were victims of a devastating loophole in the state’s system, which provided housing for adults and young children who were homeless but had no space for teens.
What happened next was not in Gilman’s career plan, but the family therapist could not turn her back on the problem unfolding around her. Instead, she became the executive director of a nonprofit organization, Cocoon House, which served – and continues to serve – as a home for the most vulnerable teens in her workplace community, giving them the chance to find stability and a new lease on life. “Cocoon,” is her unbelievable and inspiring and true story.
“My hope is that this book will restore your faith in people and what is truly possible,” Gilman says. “It will also reveal what it means to work on the front lines in human services and the price we sometimes pay to serve others.”
Gilman is the author of four previous books including “Transform Your Boundaries” (2014), “Naming and Taming Overwhelm: For Healthcare and Human Service Providers” (2017) and “The Mystery of Knowing Journal” (2020).
Gilman will hold a book-signing after the reading and attendees will also be able to browse the Bard’s Boutique for extraordinary gift items by local artists.
This reading is a pay-what-you-will donation event to support the Island Shakespeare Festival (ISF). ISF, (www.islandshakespearefest.org), is also a pay-what-you-will season of classical theater which happens every summer in Langley from mid-July to early September.
The Bard’s Boutique in the Bayview Cash Store is located at 5603 Bayview Road in Langley.
