Vikki Stark M.S.W., M.F.T.

Vikki Stark, M.S.W. (www.vikkistark.com), a psychotherapist for over thirty years, was born in New York City and currently lives in Montreal, where she's the Director of the Sedona Counselling Centre of Montreal. She has an international private practice in which, as well as meeting clients face-to-face in her office, she conducts Zoom sessions with people worldwide. She's a familiar face on television and radio and has been a guest on NBC's The Today Show and Oprah radio as well as many other media appearances. Her blog on Psychology Today called "Schlepping Through Heartbreak," which has had over 4 million views, deals with all aspects of relationships.

Vikki has published three books about divorce. Runaway Husbands: The Abandoned Wife's Guide to Recovery and Renewal is based on a study of over 400 women worldwide who believed they were in happy marriages until their husbands bolted out of the blue. The book explains and explores "Wife Abandonment Syndrome" and offers heartbroken women strategies for recovery and hope for the future.

The companion volume to Runaway Husbands is Planet Heartbreak: Abandoned Wives Tell Their Stories. It’s made up of 62 stories written by women from the Runaway Husbands community. They tell the stories of how their husbands left and the strategies they used to pick up the pieces and rebuild their lives.

For parents facing divorce, Vikki wrote The Divorce Talk: How to Tell the Kids, the definitive guide to help parents break the news of an upcoming separation to their kids with the least risk of trauma. The book is based on interviews with over one hundred children whose parents divorced.

Readers will learn, step-by-step, how to manage their emotions, understand the meaning of divorce to children, what to say to the kids, and how best to respond in an attuned way to the children's reaction to the news. This practical book offers solutions designed to help parents limit the risk of trauma in the most important conversation of their children's lives.

Vikki's first book, My Sister, My Self: The Surprising Ways that Being an Older, Middle, Younger or Twin Shaped Your Life, was based on a study of the sister relationships of 400 women, teens, and girls–he youngest was four and the oldest, ninety-five-year-old identical twins! It explores how having grown up as an older, middle, younger, or twin sister makes an indelible stamp on a woman's identity and helps women understand how they bring the patterns of their childhood home into their adult relationships.