Loresa Stansell, MA, LPC, NCC

She is the proud mom of an adult with autism and the author of the book No More Chasing Normal.  She provides readers with an understanding of this very unique A-typical Cyclic Grief experience and the negative impacts it can have on families. She is extremely passionate about this topic because she has experienced this silent grief firsthand. When her son was four years old, he was diagnosed with Autism. Everything she expected to happen when she learned she was going to have a child was derailed in life-altering ways, leading her down a path of grief that was foreign.

She helplessly watched as life passed him by through the teenage years. The loss was real and the grief was wreaking havoc in her life.  After spending several years poring through professional research, looking for a description of the type of grief that resounded with her own experience, she discovered the absence of any such model to articulate and identify what she was living through. This led her to pioneer and develop a framework to guide people through the grief process that accompanies the loss of the expected “normal.” 

Loresa holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Public Communications and a Master of Arts Degree in Mental Health counseling focused on Community Based counseling from the University of North Alabama. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor in the state of Alabama where she works in private practice at Stansell Counseling and Consulting, LLC. 

She spent several years working in the Disability Support Service Office and Counseling Center at the University of North Alabama providing services to a diverse campus.  She also worked in a community mental health center for several years delivering services to various populations. She has been hosted as a special guest on talk radio, Special Needs Family Hour, in the state of Florida. She was hosted on PBS Television Network in the Greater South Florida area as a panel guest expert in the area of A-typical Cyclic Grief related to disability and the loss of the anticipated normal.