By Erin Wood
While Maumelle resident Dr. Judy Tiesel-Jensen now enjoys being “creatively retired” and watching pelicans fly over the Arkansas River from her writing desk, she keeps one foot firmly planted in her three-decades-long career as a couples therapist.
Her new book, Invitation to Intimacy: What the Marriage of Two Couples Therapists Reveals About Risk, Transformation, and the Astonishing Healing Power of Intimacy, forthcoming November 16, is one part relationship guide, one part memoir. In its pages, readers will encounter the power of intimacy—thrilling, grueling, and profound—through the innermost workings of the 35-year relationship between two marriage therapists (one being Tiesel-Jensen, the other being her late husband, Reuel).
Spoiler alert: despite the degrees, licenses, and the specialized knowledge the couple shared daily with their own clients, they faced the same challenges as everyone else in lasting relationships. Fortunately, readers can benefit greatly from coming to understand what is possible when we offer and accept invitations to intimacy in our relationships.
Tiesel-Jensen shares, “This memoir began as a way to channel my grief and create a legacy for my kids to see how well (or not) their parents handled relationship challenges. Along the way, I realized that it might be encouraging to couples in the midst of struggles and maybe even be helpful to therapists. Intimacy in close relationships is not often tackled in books or workshops, yet it can be a profound healing experience.”
Preorders and signed copies of Invitation to Intimacy are available for $18.95 at etaliapress.com (take 10% off with code SPRINGMAG) and can also be purchased through local and national booksellers. Hot Springs native, Erin Wood is a writer, editor, and publisher in Little Rock. She owns and runs Et Alia Press (www.etaliapress.com). Wood is author of Women Make Arkansas: Conversations With 50 Creatives (April 2019) and editor of and a contributor to Scars: An Anthology (2015).
