Michelle D. Sherman, Ph.D., is a licensed clinical psychologist and a nationally recognized expert on the effects of trauma and mental illness on the family. She is the Director of the Family Mental Health Program at the Oklahoma City Veterans Affairs Medical Center and the co-chair of the Family Studies Team of the South Central Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC). She is also a clinical associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. She is a member of the American Psychological Association’s Presidential Task Force on Military Deployment Services for Youth, Families and Service Members. Dr. Sherman has worked extensively with families dealing with a wide range of traumatic experiences, including military combat, domestic violence, and sexual assault. She graduated from the University of Notre Dame and later earned her doctoral degree in clinical psychology from the University of Missouri at Columbia. She has published more than 25 scientific articles in professional journals, primarily focusing on family issues surrounding trauma and mental illness.

DeAnne Sherman, Michelle's mom, is a French teacher, trained dancer, and choreographer. She graduated from the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, Minnesota, where she received degrees in French, education, and speech and theater. She owned and operated a dance studio for ten years where she worked extensively with teens and young adults. In addition to being an experienced public speaker, DeAnne also volunteers her time teaching and mentoring junior high and high school students in the performing arts. DeAnne's mission is to educate, affirm, encourage, and cherish each of her students, whether it is in the classroom, in the dance studio, or on the stage. In her free time, she enjoys exercising, traveling, and speaking French with her grandsons.

The collaboration of psychologist and teacher, daughter and mother, brings true synergy to their work; the authors draw from and pool their personal and professional life experiences in creating their books.