The Long Game

Thank you so much for the past 12 weeks of support, learning and community. Every single session had all of my neurons firing: the emotional ones, the intellectual ones and the ones connecting me to you and to the other mothers in the group. I so appreciate your intelligence and your compassion. The work you do is what some would call The Lord's work and what I would call a mitzvah. Such compassion for the brokenhearted, helping us widen the bubble around the bubble of loss. Loved the structure of the different topics, and most brilliant are the structures you put into place to turn our group into a community.

Your sharing your understanding of the estrangement culture, the depth of a mother's pain, grief, and ambiguous loss, along with your coaching on communication, and guidance around differentiation, ambivalence and acceptance, that is, how to respond without sacrificing my own dignity and worth, have given me a path forward. I am sure that the Long Game experience will be a turning point in my journey to find peace and personal growth.

How lucky is the mother who enrolls in a support group with Rachel Haack! Rachel is brilliant, kind and organized! She programs a thoughtful series of discussions and creates a structure designed to support moms long after the group is over.

I absolutely recommend the Long Game Workshop. The lessons, journaling, discussion, along with sharing with other estranged moms, were a uniquely effective way of learning how to cope with, process, understand, and find a path forward if you have an estranged adult child. Your understanding of family systems and the estrangement culture, along with your compassion and caring, provided a safe space for uncovering the deepest of feelings. The opportunity to connect with other moms who could understand was invaluable.

Sharing this grief with other women is one of the most healing experiences. It was and is actually quite beautiful. Rachel, your guidance, wisdom and genuine care for each of our stories was such a comfort.

I was hoping for information regarding estrangement, ways to communicate reconciliation, and progress toward my own healing. These expectations were met with excellence and compassion. What I did not expect was the support, connection and love that I received from the other moms in the group. A diverse group of women, same story, different details. It was so incredibly helpful to walk with these moms and know that we were in this together and not alone. The 12 weeks are over, but the friendships aren't. I highly recommend this group!

While the material throughout the 12 weeks was helpful and thought-provoking, the gathering of women in the same kind of situations was priceless. You brought us together and I hope we can continue to be a support and friends. I loved the homework sheets, the calm and beautiful appearance of the work, and the work itself helped me to improve both my outlook on the situation and grow in ways I didn't know were still there. I started to feel my worth again and that also is priceless, not in a narcissistic way, but in a way like I am worthy to breathe on this planet again.

I am so grateful I found The Long Game. Rachel supported our group for 12 weeks around adult estrangement and she is truly amazing. She brings so much wisdom, compassion, and understanding, especially in helping make sense of what is happening with our kids. I really wish more therapists used her approach. Over the 12 weeks, we formed meaningful connections with the other women in the group and I am sure I made lifelong friends. Being part of this group was incredibly healing.

Rachel's professional knowledge is invaluable. The Long Game program included insightful and thoughtful readings and discussions which helped us better understand our own feelings as well as those of our adult children. Although our journey within the formal program has, sadly, come to an end, the structures Rachel put into place have turned our group of complete strangers into a community of sisters. I'll continue waiting with an open heart, striving toward and praying for reconciliation. In the meantime I am committed to making each day count for those present in my life as well as for myself. I'm stepping forward a bit more informed and hopefully much more open minded than before. This work matters! Thank you for holding the candle and for guiding us toward the light on this path.

It is hard to put into words how truly life-changing the workshop with Rachel has been for me. Like many mothers, I never imagined I would need support for this kind of situation, but finding Rachel's Instagram and joining the Long Game turned out to be transformative and I feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to be part of the group. A valuable part of the workshop was also connecting with other mothers in similar situations; sharing this experience with those who truly understand brings great comfort. I warmly recommend the Long Game to anyone living through this raw and painful reality. The perspectives I gained have also positively influenced my relationship with my daughter, and I continue to take small steps forward with the help of Rachel's insightful and carefully chosen words.

I wasn't sure what to expect from this workshop when I signed up, I just knew I couldn't go through estrangement feeling so isolated. This was new territory for me, and I needed help navigating it! I am so pleased to have been on this 12 week journey with Rachel and the other 8 women! They were strangers on day 1, but will now be lifelong companions! Rachel has such a heart for the suffering moms of estrangement, and she has the professional skill to help us unpack our stories in a safe environment. We laughed, we cried, we loved, we changed! We are not the same women who met on day one! We are stronger, more confident, more at peace! We are a sisterhood! I will be forever grateful to Rachel for her compassionate, heroic work!