You Weren't With Me

“A sensitive, reassuring, and well-illustrated work.” - Kirkus Reviews

This book is a treasure, exquisitely attuned to the inner life of very young children and people of all ages as they grapple with the universal pain of separation from those they love. It is an invaluable resource for parents, substitute caregivers, clinicians, and all those who endeavor to help young children feel heard, understood and supported. –Alicia F. Lieberman, Ph.D. Irving B. Harris Endowed Chair of Infant Mental Health, Professor, UCSF Department of Psychiatry, author of the Emotional Life of the Toddler and Don’t Hit My Mommy, Psychotherapy with Infants and Young Children

For times when painful separation is so difficult to understand or to try to explain, these sweet, poignant bunny rabbits say just the right thing in just the right way. They give voice to a little one’s hurt, yearning, and fear that once experienced is hard to get over; they guide a caregiver on how to hold those feelings and acknowledge them and then use healing words and tenderness to gently move forward. –Lisa Amaya-Jackson, MD, MPH, UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress

“Chandra Ghosh Ippen’s timely book addresses a wide variety of painful situations in which a child is separated from a parent: divorce, military deployments, parental incarcerations, parental drug abuse and immigration-related separations. Indeed it is a treasure! We need more stories like this to help jump-start the important conversations about challenging separations between children and parents. Only then can healing begin.” –Patricia Tilton (Children’s Books Heal)

”You Weren’t with Me by Chandra Ghosh Ippen Is a lovely, tender book that addresses the tumultuous, intense and complex feelings that children confront when they are separated from their mother… .The text does a superb job of addressing a spectrum of emotions and concerns and models a very empathetic “serve and return” interaction between child and parent. I highly recommend this book.” –Gayle H. Swift, Adoption/Family Coach

She has co-authored over 20 publications related to trauma and diversity-informed practice and has over 10 years of experience conducting trainings nationally and internationally. In her role as a clinician, supervisor, and the Director of Dissemination and Implementation of Child-Parent Psychotherapy, she works to support families who have been impacted by traumatic separations. She hopes this book and the rabbits help families to talk about difficult separations and reconnect.

As a boy, Erich was always interested in cartoons and character design. In his professional career, he has created visual effects for movies like Rango, Harry Potter, The Avengers, Star Wars and many others. He is also a singer, songwriter, music producer and founding member of the local San Francisco band, District 8.