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Between Wounded and Well: Lessons in Healing
What if the wounds you carry could become the source of your greatest strength?
Between Wounded and Lessons in Healing shares a nurse practitioner journey of resilience and hope through the lens of wound healing stages. Debra Palmer, PhD, nurse, researcher, educator and survivor shares an extraordinary story of a childhood marked by trauma and chaos, in which she chooses to not let her past define her future. Through decades of personal struggle and professional insight, she discovered that healing begins with courage.
Drawing on both her lived experience and her clinical expertise, Debra offers an honest, empowering look at the four stages of emotional Awareness, Acknowledgments, Activation and Acceptance. Rebuilding. With each chapter, you’ll find stories that reveal the hidden wounds many of us carry and practical steps for moving from pain to purpose.
Whether you’re healing from childhood trauma, supporting others on their path to recovery, or simply seeking to live a more whole and joyful life, this book will show you that brokenness need not define our stories. It can be the beginning of a beautiful new chapter.
Between Wounded and Lessons in Healing shares a nurse practitioner journey of resilience and hope through the lens of wound healing stages. Debra Palmer, PhD, nurse, researcher, educator and survivor shares an extraordinary story of a childhood marked by trauma and chaos, in which she chooses to not let her past define her future. Through decades of personal struggle and professional insight, she discovered that healing begins with courage.
Drawing on both her lived experience and her clinical expertise, Debra offers an honest, empowering look at the four stages of emotional Awareness, Acknowledgments, Activation and Acceptance. Rebuilding. With each chapter, you’ll find stories that reveal the hidden wounds many of us carry and practical steps for moving from pain to purpose.
Whether you’re healing from childhood trauma, supporting others on their path to recovery, or simply seeking to live a more whole and joyful life, this book will show you that brokenness need not define our stories. It can be the beginning of a beautiful new chapter.
220 pages, Paperback
Published October 15, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
March 9, 2026
She Not Only Survived, She Thrived
Debra Palmer’s Between Wounded and Well is a memoir shaped by grit, grace, and a refusal to let early wounds dictate the rest of her life. Few stories begin with the kind of adversity Palmer faced. Pregnant at fourteen, carrying the weight of childhood trauma, and navigating a world that offered little safety or guidance, she had every reason to break. Instead, she built a life defined by purpose, compassion, and achievement. Her journey is not only inspiring, it is a testament to what is possible when someone chooses healing over despair.
Palmer writes with striking honesty about the chaos of her early years and the fear that came with becoming a mother while still a child herself. She describes moments of clarity that changed her trajectory, including the instant she realized she deserved a partner who shared her values and work ethic. These scenes reveal a young woman fighting for dignity and a future she could barely imagine.
The memoir’s structure, modeled on the four stages of physical wound healing, becomes a powerful lens for understanding emotional recovery. “Bleeding” captures the rawness of trauma and the shock of teen pregnancy. “Burning” explores the inflammation of shame, mistrust, and fractured relationships. “Building” shows the slow reconstruction of identity through education, motherhood, and faith. “Transforming” offers a vision of lifelong healing grounded in acceptance, clarity, and compassion.
What makes this book so compelling is Palmer’s dual perspective. She writes as both a survivor and a seasoned nurse practitioner who understands the science of healing. Her insights into trust, self-worth, and spiritual renewal are delivered with the tenderness of someone who has lived every word. She reminds readers that emotional wounds, like physical ones, require time, care, and the courage to face painful truths.
Between Wounded and Well is more than a memoir. It is a guide for anyone who has ever felt broken, overwhelmed, or unsure of their place in the world. Palmer shows that healing is not a single moment but a lifelong practice, strengthened by community, faith, and the willingness to confront what hurts. Her transformation from a wounded fourteen-year-old mother to a respected clinician, educator, and voice of hope is nothing short of remarkable.
This book is an inspiration for anyone seeking strength, clarity, and a path toward wholeness. It proves that even the deepest wounds can become sources of wisdom, resilience, and a life lived with purpose.
Debra Palmer’s Between Wounded and Well is a memoir shaped by grit, grace, and a refusal to let early wounds dictate the rest of her life. Few stories begin with the kind of adversity Palmer faced. Pregnant at fourteen, carrying the weight of childhood trauma, and navigating a world that offered little safety or guidance, she had every reason to break. Instead, she built a life defined by purpose, compassion, and achievement. Her journey is not only inspiring, it is a testament to what is possible when someone chooses healing over despair.
Palmer writes with striking honesty about the chaos of her early years and the fear that came with becoming a mother while still a child herself. She describes moments of clarity that changed her trajectory, including the instant she realized she deserved a partner who shared her values and work ethic. These scenes reveal a young woman fighting for dignity and a future she could barely imagine.
The memoir’s structure, modeled on the four stages of physical wound healing, becomes a powerful lens for understanding emotional recovery. “Bleeding” captures the rawness of trauma and the shock of teen pregnancy. “Burning” explores the inflammation of shame, mistrust, and fractured relationships. “Building” shows the slow reconstruction of identity through education, motherhood, and faith. “Transforming” offers a vision of lifelong healing grounded in acceptance, clarity, and compassion.
What makes this book so compelling is Palmer’s dual perspective. She writes as both a survivor and a seasoned nurse practitioner who understands the science of healing. Her insights into trust, self-worth, and spiritual renewal are delivered with the tenderness of someone who has lived every word. She reminds readers that emotional wounds, like physical ones, require time, care, and the courage to face painful truths.
Between Wounded and Well is more than a memoir. It is a guide for anyone who has ever felt broken, overwhelmed, or unsure of their place in the world. Palmer shows that healing is not a single moment but a lifelong practice, strengthened by community, faith, and the willingness to confront what hurts. Her transformation from a wounded fourteen-year-old mother to a respected clinician, educator, and voice of hope is nothing short of remarkable.
This book is an inspiration for anyone seeking strength, clarity, and a path toward wholeness. It proves that even the deepest wounds can become sources of wisdom, resilience, and a life lived with purpose.
April 14, 2026
Between Wounded and Well: Lessons in Healing by Debra Palmer is a reflective and compassionate self-help memoir. The author balances professional insight with personal voice, creating a narrative that feels both credible and emotionally engaging.
Palmer presents her ideas through a structured yet approachable framework, blending reflective storytelling with practical guidance that encourages thoughtful engagement from readers.
My reading experience was calm and uplifting. This book will appeal to readers seeking emotional growth, particularly those interested in healing journeys, self-reflection, and finding strength through understanding and embracing life’s challenges.
Palmer presents her ideas through a structured yet approachable framework, blending reflective storytelling with practical guidance that encourages thoughtful engagement from readers.
My reading experience was calm and uplifting. This book will appeal to readers seeking emotional growth, particularly those interested in healing journeys, self-reflection, and finding strength through understanding and embracing life’s challenges.
October 28, 2025
This is a four part memoir where Dr. Debra Palmer shares her extraordinary trajectory from the time she became pregnant at 14 to her spiritual recovery later on in life. It’s a profound and very personal narrative where she compares her emotional healing to physical recovery; hence the title: Between Wounded and Well. Few books bring tears to my eyes as this one did. I ended up with profound respect and admiration for her journey and her resilience and quest to achieve above many barriers. I highly recommend reading it!
December 21, 2025
I don't know what I was thinking, actually I was hoping to gain psychological insight into overcoming mental health challenges. This is just a soft core launch for more Jesus, and a vague yelp to help others because Debra needed help first.
This is a deeply narcissistic viewpoint that Debra shares with her readers as a pseudo memoir of overcoming challenges. Thank you for reaffirming my belief to avoid further nonsense like this in my life.
This is a deeply narcissistic viewpoint that Debra shares with her readers as a pseudo memoir of overcoming challenges. Thank you for reaffirming my belief to avoid further nonsense like this in my life.
October 15, 2025
Dr. Debra Palmer shares her remarkable life story in this memoir filled with personal and professional challenges and successes as she progressed in her nursing career to become a nurse practitioner and doctorally prepared professor of nursing. She uses descriptions of wound healing as a framework to describe her transitions between positive and negative life experiences. The author emerges as a healthy and stronger person through her faith, persistence, resilience and ongoing self-reflections.
This inspirational book will appeal to readers seeking to find direction and meaning in their own lives as well as those interested in a realistic depiction of the opportunities, rewards and challenges of a professional nursing career.
This inspirational book will appeal to readers seeking to find direction and meaning in their own lives as well as those interested in a realistic depiction of the opportunities, rewards and challenges of a professional nursing career.
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December 3, 2025Dr. Debra Palmer's memoir, 'Between Wounded and Well, sends a powerful message to her readers. Life is full of surprises; many are life changing. She reaches deep inside to share her story of a traumatic childhood filled with adversity. She is a child making adult decisions choosing at 14 years old to step into adulthood and all that goes with. She takes us through her many challenges and shows the reader there can be a great life for those who want it.
"Life is not a private affair. A story and it's lessons are only made useful if shared." Dan Millman wrote those words. Dr Palmer is testament to them.
"Life is not a private affair. A story and it's lessons are only made useful if shared." Dan Millman wrote those words. Dr Palmer is testament to them.
March 9, 2026
One of the trendy descriptions these days is “journey,” as in wellness journey, weight loss journey, emotional journey, etc. But in some cases, it’s definitely worthy of its description and in Debra Palmer’s new book “Between Wounded and Well: A nurse practitioner memoir,” it definitely is.
Palmer has paired her memoir with her career as a nurse practitioner and wellness teacher by comparing her lifelong journey toward emotional achievement with the body’s journey to heal itself from a wound.
The book is divided into parts mirroring that process, starting with bleeding, burning, building and transforming.
And what a journey it is. She begins by describing a tumultuous childhood with two alcoholic parents and the decisions she had to face when she became pregnant at age 14 that resulted in her leaving home to go to unwed mother’s housing and her efforts to continue her education while raising a baby as a teenager.
It continues through her life as she eventually finds her true life partner and the struggles they have with having more children and their efforts to gain advanced degrees and move ahead in their chosen careers of law and health care jobs, as well as cross-country moves and all the rest of the things that life brings.
During each stop along the way, Palmer describes in detail how she dealt with the adversity and was able to find peace and joy, many times with the help of her relationship with God and a church community. It is inspiring to see her solve whatever life throws at her with creative and successful solutions.
She also shows how she dealt with hurdles in her career, learning how to find peace outside of her own high expectations of success at work and carve a path that felt more natural to her. And in many of her dealings with her husband and children, she utilizes the same blueprint to find an answer to issues that arise.
And, in the end, she even finds a way to circle back to the beginning, finally repairing her relationship with her mother and learn the answers to long-sought questions before her mom’s death.
This book is a journey worth taking as Palmer finds her own answers and helps the reader discover ways to find theirs. Highly recommended
Palmer has paired her memoir with her career as a nurse practitioner and wellness teacher by comparing her lifelong journey toward emotional achievement with the body’s journey to heal itself from a wound.
The book is divided into parts mirroring that process, starting with bleeding, burning, building and transforming.
And what a journey it is. She begins by describing a tumultuous childhood with two alcoholic parents and the decisions she had to face when she became pregnant at age 14 that resulted in her leaving home to go to unwed mother’s housing and her efforts to continue her education while raising a baby as a teenager.
It continues through her life as she eventually finds her true life partner and the struggles they have with having more children and their efforts to gain advanced degrees and move ahead in their chosen careers of law and health care jobs, as well as cross-country moves and all the rest of the things that life brings.
During each stop along the way, Palmer describes in detail how she dealt with the adversity and was able to find peace and joy, many times with the help of her relationship with God and a church community. It is inspiring to see her solve whatever life throws at her with creative and successful solutions.
She also shows how she dealt with hurdles in her career, learning how to find peace outside of her own high expectations of success at work and carve a path that felt more natural to her. And in many of her dealings with her husband and children, she utilizes the same blueprint to find an answer to issues that arise.
And, in the end, she even finds a way to circle back to the beginning, finally repairing her relationship with her mother and learn the answers to long-sought questions before her mom’s death.
This book is a journey worth taking as Palmer finds her own answers and helps the reader discover ways to find theirs. Highly recommended
March 29, 2026
Dr. Debra Palmer’s unflinching memoir is a testament to life not being set in stone and a call to seize the moment and make life what you will.
She starts her memoir in the 1970s as a divorced 19-year old mother of a four-year old, working the night shift as a licensed practical nurse. Readers watch as she endures the hardships of a dysfunctional family to finally make the decision to escape to an unwed mother’s home. Deciding to keep her son and marrying his teenage father only adds to the hardship of the situation.
Eventually she marries her high-school crush and they head out to California for further schooling in their respective fields. She shows the ups and downs of her second marriage, of infertility, of work and school and family life. In addition, throughout it all, she maintains contact with her family of origin and shows the continued conflicts and eventual reconciliations.
It is her career though that many will find fascinating. She moved up the nursing career ladder before switching to an academic position – a move that wasn’t exactly welcomed at the time. Her continued work in academia and in various volunteer positions on nursing boards throughout her career highlights her determinedness to make her life, and career, what she wants. She even highlights how she becomes instrumental in fleshing out requirements for her calling as a nurse practitioner, standards which are still followed to this day in the profession.
Unlike other memoirs, Dr. Palmer uses the four stages of wound healing to give an interesting structure to the book with each section covering an overall theme of her life. Readers in the medical field may especially find this an interesting title to see the changes of their profession over the years, although every reader will enjoy watching the triumphs and trials that Dr. Palmer has gone through in her life.
She starts her memoir in the 1970s as a divorced 19-year old mother of a four-year old, working the night shift as a licensed practical nurse. Readers watch as she endures the hardships of a dysfunctional family to finally make the decision to escape to an unwed mother’s home. Deciding to keep her son and marrying his teenage father only adds to the hardship of the situation.
Eventually she marries her high-school crush and they head out to California for further schooling in their respective fields. She shows the ups and downs of her second marriage, of infertility, of work and school and family life. In addition, throughout it all, she maintains contact with her family of origin and shows the continued conflicts and eventual reconciliations.
It is her career though that many will find fascinating. She moved up the nursing career ladder before switching to an academic position – a move that wasn’t exactly welcomed at the time. Her continued work in academia and in various volunteer positions on nursing boards throughout her career highlights her determinedness to make her life, and career, what she wants. She even highlights how she becomes instrumental in fleshing out requirements for her calling as a nurse practitioner, standards which are still followed to this day in the profession.
Unlike other memoirs, Dr. Palmer uses the four stages of wound healing to give an interesting structure to the book with each section covering an overall theme of her life. Readers in the medical field may especially find this an interesting title to see the changes of their profession over the years, although every reader will enjoy watching the triumphs and trials that Dr. Palmer has gone through in her life.
May 29, 2026
Looking the Life Through the Lens of Trauma Recover Presents a New Perspective
Creating a life story, or memoir about a life, is one thing, but shoehorning it into a whole classification of recovery from childhood trauma, and asking the reader to view their owns lives in that Life Journey/Recovery Quest Mode, that is a whole new kettle of fish. Debra Palmer, nurse turned Ph.D. educator and medical industry innovator, has been bravely ambitious throughout her life and that shows in the willingness to bare her soul to the world, and then ask the reader to think about their own life recovery in different terms. And it doesn’t have to be childhood trauma, us humans quite easily find life altering trauma throughout our own travels.
In the Foreword Vincent J. Felitti, MD, Co-Principal Investigator, The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Study, wrote this about Between Wounded and Well: Lessons in Healing, ‘Her voice is especially needed at a time when our systems of care are being called to become more trauma informed, more compassionate, and more inclusive of the whole person. Through her story, Doctor Palmer affirms that healing is possible clinically, and at the deepest human level, once a person acknowledges and understands their own development and experiences.’
Each stage of her decades long healing process is likened to the recovery from a cut or illness. Born and raised in eastern Minnesota, on frigid Lake Superior, Debra comes from hearty Midwest stock and that is amply demonstrated throughout her story, which is too complicated to even touch on here. I come away from her book viewing my own life and contemplating those ups and downs of damage and recovery, wondering where her advice might have changed my destiny.
Creating a life story, or memoir about a life, is one thing, but shoehorning it into a whole classification of recovery from childhood trauma, and asking the reader to view their owns lives in that Life Journey/Recovery Quest Mode, that is a whole new kettle of fish. Debra Palmer, nurse turned Ph.D. educator and medical industry innovator, has been bravely ambitious throughout her life and that shows in the willingness to bare her soul to the world, and then ask the reader to think about their own life recovery in different terms. And it doesn’t have to be childhood trauma, us humans quite easily find life altering trauma throughout our own travels.
In the Foreword Vincent J. Felitti, MD, Co-Principal Investigator, The Adverse Childhood Experience (ACE) Study, wrote this about Between Wounded and Well: Lessons in Healing, ‘Her voice is especially needed at a time when our systems of care are being called to become more trauma informed, more compassionate, and more inclusive of the whole person. Through her story, Doctor Palmer affirms that healing is possible clinically, and at the deepest human level, once a person acknowledges and understands their own development and experiences.’
Each stage of her decades long healing process is likened to the recovery from a cut or illness. Born and raised in eastern Minnesota, on frigid Lake Superior, Debra comes from hearty Midwest stock and that is amply demonstrated throughout her story, which is too complicated to even touch on here. I come away from her book viewing my own life and contemplating those ups and downs of damage and recovery, wondering where her advice might have changed my destiny.
May 28, 2026
Debra Palmer’s Nursing Duty to Help is Reflected in a Memoir Designed to Heal
One must carefully look at the structure of Debra Palmer’s book, ‘Between Wounded and Well: Lessons in Healing,’ to fully appreciate the creativity deployed in mixing biography with advice, mixing details of a life lived in the trenches with healing and personal growth. This is a clever tactic that solidly achieves strategic goals which can benefit individuals from any background and in any place in their life journey.
A nurse by trade, a teacher by choice, and a healer by default, Debra took what life brought while also carving her own path to success and happiness. If you get through the whole book, and go to the final page, you will discover her final nursing/healing touch with a list of tips and directions for more help from her website.
• Simple, actionable steps to integrate healing practices into your daily life
• Reminders from the book to inspire ongoing growth and self-care
• Accessible guidance you can revisit as often as you wish
• How to Access Your Free Tip Sheet:
• Visit my website (you can find that)
• Look for the exclusive offer for readers of ‘Between Wounded and Well’
• Download the tip sheet and begin integrating these practices right away
With this parting touch, Debra extends herself beyond, just as she did throughout her fine career in nursing. But what of Debra the person, the young girl in desperate straits at 14 in the town of Duluth, Minnesota, the girl facing long odds and stark choices, well, she become a stellar wife, mother, mentor, friend, colleague, citizen and human being.
Pray to be that good and that lucky.
One must carefully look at the structure of Debra Palmer’s book, ‘Between Wounded and Well: Lessons in Healing,’ to fully appreciate the creativity deployed in mixing biography with advice, mixing details of a life lived in the trenches with healing and personal growth. This is a clever tactic that solidly achieves strategic goals which can benefit individuals from any background and in any place in their life journey.
A nurse by trade, a teacher by choice, and a healer by default, Debra took what life brought while also carving her own path to success and happiness. If you get through the whole book, and go to the final page, you will discover her final nursing/healing touch with a list of tips and directions for more help from her website.
• Simple, actionable steps to integrate healing practices into your daily life
• Reminders from the book to inspire ongoing growth and self-care
• Accessible guidance you can revisit as often as you wish
• How to Access Your Free Tip Sheet:
• Visit my website (you can find that)
• Look for the exclusive offer for readers of ‘Between Wounded and Well’
• Download the tip sheet and begin integrating these practices right away
With this parting touch, Debra extends herself beyond, just as she did throughout her fine career in nursing. But what of Debra the person, the young girl in desperate straits at 14 in the town of Duluth, Minnesota, the girl facing long odds and stark choices, well, she become a stellar wife, mother, mentor, friend, colleague, citizen and human being.
Pray to be that good and that lucky.
May 27, 2026
Real Life Story Shows How Strength, Hard Work & Faith Makes All Possible
Debra Palmer has done an interesting job of recounting her life in a manner that relates to injury, healing and improving. Her intense nurse training created a mindset that views the world, and thus events, in such a manner and it translates well in literary form. To say she had a rough start is an understatement, but that never stopped her from striving forward, amongst numerous setbacks, to an extremely successful professional and family life.
I found the stories of the world of nursing education and life in healthcare bureaucracies interesting as an outsider. Now, I dealt with nursing staffs when doing photo/video PR for a major medical company. They were the most salty, funny and intensely serious of people. I have nothing but respect for the profession and found that Debra has been a vital part of helping to improve it, Bravo!!
The inspiration comes out in small events throughout the book; when a milestone was reached after failure; a loved one went through a major change which was helped along by family and friends; a family member achieved academic success because of the world Debra and her husband created.
I often look back to identity small events that have huge meaning in life, the party I did not want to go to where I met someone who changed my life; the last minute assignment that altered my destiny because it was unique; not listening to those who negatively reacted to my plans or dreams. Debra does this too, and we are all the better for her life and story.
Debra Palmer has done an interesting job of recounting her life in a manner that relates to injury, healing and improving. Her intense nurse training created a mindset that views the world, and thus events, in such a manner and it translates well in literary form. To say she had a rough start is an understatement, but that never stopped her from striving forward, amongst numerous setbacks, to an extremely successful professional and family life.
I found the stories of the world of nursing education and life in healthcare bureaucracies interesting as an outsider. Now, I dealt with nursing staffs when doing photo/video PR for a major medical company. They were the most salty, funny and intensely serious of people. I have nothing but respect for the profession and found that Debra has been a vital part of helping to improve it, Bravo!!
The inspiration comes out in small events throughout the book; when a milestone was reached after failure; a loved one went through a major change which was helped along by family and friends; a family member achieved academic success because of the world Debra and her husband created.
I often look back to identity small events that have huge meaning in life, the party I did not want to go to where I met someone who changed my life; the last minute assignment that altered my destiny because it was unique; not listening to those who negatively reacted to my plans or dreams. Debra does this too, and we are all the better for her life and story.
March 4, 2026
Debra Palmer is an Example of Strength in Adversity for Us All
Reliving the life of Debra Palmer, a woman dedicated to healing others and herself, created in me admiration for her perseverance, fortitude and strength. Born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, a small city with extensive port operations on Lake Superior in the northern part of the state, Debra’s challenges started early with the birth of her first son at age 14. From there the reader is launched into an autobiography of a woman who became an outstanding nurse practitioner and college professor while also earning a Ph.D. in nursing from UCSD.
But within the pages of her memoir, which involves many ups and downs, one is given lessons in life as they relate to a damaged wound being patched up, as if the person is the wound and the process of getting better is a new life claimed from some kind of wreckage. Debra Palmer’s circuitous path is a mirror for our own journeys, because that path to a better place involves risking and losing, risking and winning, risking and overcoming.
Debra identifies her failings, feels blessed for the gifts the Good Lord provided, and displays a form of humble gratitude that is indeed praiseworthy. During various parts of the book one might feel bogged down in minutiae, but all of that forms necessary parts of the complete life she fashioned for herself and her family.
Bravo Debra!!
Reliving the life of Debra Palmer, a woman dedicated to healing others and herself, created in me admiration for her perseverance, fortitude and strength. Born and raised in Duluth, Minnesota, a small city with extensive port operations on Lake Superior in the northern part of the state, Debra’s challenges started early with the birth of her first son at age 14. From there the reader is launched into an autobiography of a woman who became an outstanding nurse practitioner and college professor while also earning a Ph.D. in nursing from UCSD.
But within the pages of her memoir, which involves many ups and downs, one is given lessons in life as they relate to a damaged wound being patched up, as if the person is the wound and the process of getting better is a new life claimed from some kind of wreckage. Debra Palmer’s circuitous path is a mirror for our own journeys, because that path to a better place involves risking and losing, risking and winning, risking and overcoming.
Debra identifies her failings, feels blessed for the gifts the Good Lord provided, and displays a form of humble gratitude that is indeed praiseworthy. During various parts of the book one might feel bogged down in minutiae, but all of that forms necessary parts of the complete life she fashioned for herself and her family.
Bravo Debra!!
March 8, 2026
In this emotional and insightful memoir, Dr. Debra Palmer explores the holistic healing process, both physical and mental. Her extensive experience in the medical field as a nurse practitioner is evident as she reflects on her patients' healing journeys alongside her own. She explains that healing from trauma is not linear and emphasizes that the first steps toward recovery require strength and courage.
As a nurse practitioner and educator, Dr. Palmer shares how she devoted her life to helping others heal. She also reveals that she is a survivor herself, which makes the book deeply personal and relatable. Her ability to build a meaningful connection with her audience establishes both trust and credibility. The book is thoughtfully organized into four chapters that represent the stages of physiological emotional healing: Awareness, Acknowledgements, Activation, and Acceptance.
Her discussion on learning to trust yourself and take the leap toward healing is especially inspiring. Dr. Palmer writes, “We are all injured in diverse ways at various times in our lives; it is a universal experience.” Her personal insights encourage readers to open their hearts and minds, confront their wounds, and begin the healing process with inner strength. Whether you are a student, nurse, or patient, this book is an essential read for anyone seeking self-growth and healing throughout life’s journey.
As a nurse practitioner and educator, Dr. Palmer shares how she devoted her life to helping others heal. She also reveals that she is a survivor herself, which makes the book deeply personal and relatable. Her ability to build a meaningful connection with her audience establishes both trust and credibility. The book is thoughtfully organized into four chapters that represent the stages of physiological emotional healing: Awareness, Acknowledgements, Activation, and Acceptance.
Her discussion on learning to trust yourself and take the leap toward healing is especially inspiring. Dr. Palmer writes, “We are all injured in diverse ways at various times in our lives; it is a universal experience.” Her personal insights encourage readers to open their hearts and minds, confront their wounds, and begin the healing process with inner strength. Whether you are a student, nurse, or patient, this book is an essential read for anyone seeking self-growth and healing throughout life’s journey.
May 23, 2026
Debra Palmer's Message of Healing and Hope from the Heart
We have all been in a place where it seems the weight of bad breaks and lack of progress has us ready to give up, but many do not. I must say Debra Palmer deserves a standing ovation for persistence in the face of hardship. Her memoir, ‘Between Wounded and Well,’ takes the reader from her life growing up in the port town of Duluth, Minnesota, on Lake Superior at the Wisconsin border. Her early family life was troubled and Debra nearly got derailed into a disastrous life of failure and pain.
Through love, dedication, hard work and lucky breaks, Debra Palmer created a life anyone can view with pride. Her decades-long journey is told as if within a healing process, she explains a part of this, ‘My healing has never happened in isolation; it has always been experienced through nonjudgmental relationships, shared compassion, and the belief that we are all worthy of the gift of healing.’
Experience tells me her message is real and comes from the heart, which is why I have gained inspiration and hope from Debra Palmer’s belief of healing and new life. Do you want a new life, then it is within your ability to create that which is desired; there is no doubt in my mind this is possible because I did just that when all was lost. A message of healing and hope from the heart.
We have all been in a place where it seems the weight of bad breaks and lack of progress has us ready to give up, but many do not. I must say Debra Palmer deserves a standing ovation for persistence in the face of hardship. Her memoir, ‘Between Wounded and Well,’ takes the reader from her life growing up in the port town of Duluth, Minnesota, on Lake Superior at the Wisconsin border. Her early family life was troubled and Debra nearly got derailed into a disastrous life of failure and pain.
Through love, dedication, hard work and lucky breaks, Debra Palmer created a life anyone can view with pride. Her decades-long journey is told as if within a healing process, she explains a part of this, ‘My healing has never happened in isolation; it has always been experienced through nonjudgmental relationships, shared compassion, and the belief that we are all worthy of the gift of healing.’
Experience tells me her message is real and comes from the heart, which is why I have gained inspiration and hope from Debra Palmer’s belief of healing and new life. Do you want a new life, then it is within your ability to create that which is desired; there is no doubt in my mind this is possible because I did just that when all was lost. A message of healing and hope from the heart.
March 9, 2026
Between Wounded and Well invites readers to reflect on themselves and others through the lens of healing. In this memoir, nurse practitioner and educator, Dr. Debra Palmer draws on her professional experience to address essential themes in nursing, including self-care, resilience, and holistic healing.
Throughout the book, Dr. Palmer frames healing through the four biological stages of wound repair– acknowledgment, processing, rebuilding, and transformation– using them to illustrate that healing is an empowering journey for both caregiver and patient. By weaving in personal storytelling and evidence-based insight, she creates a narrative that is both reflective and practical.
The book also helps fill a critical gap in nursing literature by connecting personal healing with trauma-informed care and professional resilience. Dr. Palmer’s reflections offer meaningful guidance for nurses experiencing compassion fatigue, burnout, or moral distress– challenges closely tied to workforce retention and quality of care.
Between Wounded and Well is a thoughtful read for nurses, nursing students, educators, and anyone interested in healing, resilience, and holistic care. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in physical, emotional, or spiritual healing.
Throughout the book, Dr. Palmer frames healing through the four biological stages of wound repair– acknowledgment, processing, rebuilding, and transformation– using them to illustrate that healing is an empowering journey for both caregiver and patient. By weaving in personal storytelling and evidence-based insight, she creates a narrative that is both reflective and practical.
The book also helps fill a critical gap in nursing literature by connecting personal healing with trauma-informed care and professional resilience. Dr. Palmer’s reflections offer meaningful guidance for nurses experiencing compassion fatigue, burnout, or moral distress– challenges closely tied to workforce retention and quality of care.
Between Wounded and Well is a thoughtful read for nurses, nursing students, educators, and anyone interested in healing, resilience, and holistic care. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in physical, emotional, or spiritual healing.
May 21, 2026
Journey of Healing, Helping, Growing & Succeeding; Lessons Abound in This Book
Like so many of us, the ups and downs of life are unpredictable and fraught with uncertainty, the difference in destiny based on a right or left turn can be immense. Debra Palmer’s ‘Between Wounded & Well’ is an autobiography that is broken down into four sections that are likened to how a body reacts to trauma, emotional or physical, and goes about repairing said injury, in her case childhood family trauma.
Here are the sections:
PART ONE: BLEEDING (Homeostasis)
PART TWO: BURNING (Inflammation)
PART THREE: BUILDING (Proliferation)
PART FOUR: TRANSFORMING (Maturation)
Impressed by her fortitude and grit, her life in the medical field is a constant learning process. She looks back with pride and wishes to pass on the wisdom gleaned from her struggles and victories, from accepting what exists and staying focused with head down, eyes forward, ears open, mouth shut. Many people succumb to setbacks and get lost in a world of bitter recrimination and anger; Debra Palmer is not one of those.
I went away inspired and proud of her, and believe she should be proud of herself. Many of us fail to pat ourselves on the back and say ‘Way to go bro.’
Like so many of us, the ups and downs of life are unpredictable and fraught with uncertainty, the difference in destiny based on a right or left turn can be immense. Debra Palmer’s ‘Between Wounded & Well’ is an autobiography that is broken down into four sections that are likened to how a body reacts to trauma, emotional or physical, and goes about repairing said injury, in her case childhood family trauma.
Here are the sections:
PART ONE: BLEEDING (Homeostasis)
PART TWO: BURNING (Inflammation)
PART THREE: BUILDING (Proliferation)
PART FOUR: TRANSFORMING (Maturation)
Impressed by her fortitude and grit, her life in the medical field is a constant learning process. She looks back with pride and wishes to pass on the wisdom gleaned from her struggles and victories, from accepting what exists and staying focused with head down, eyes forward, ears open, mouth shut. Many people succumb to setbacks and get lost in a world of bitter recrimination and anger; Debra Palmer is not one of those.
I went away inspired and proud of her, and believe she should be proud of herself. Many of us fail to pat ourselves on the back and say ‘Way to go bro.’
March 9, 2026
‘I stepped away from a land mine and into the first of four healing stages’ – A path to follow!
California author Debra Palmer, a highly honored Nurse Practitioner, nursing professor, and healthcare thought leader, earned her BS in Nursing from the College of St. Scholastica, and her Masters, PhD, DNP, and FNP in Nursing from University of San Diego, and now shares her journey from a childhood marked by adversity to a life of service, purpose, and healing in this exceptionally moving - and instructive! – memoir.
Relating her challenging life as a child of alcoholic and abusive parents, her becoming a mother at age fourteen, and surviving a past of anxiety, depression, suicide attempt, and addiction, Dr. Palmer shares her evolving responses in becoming not only a nurse practitioner caring for others, but also a resilient wounded healer. In a genuinely credible manner she provides her lessons in emotional healing by explaining the physiological stages of wound healing - Bleeding (homeostasis), Burning (inflammation), Building (proliferation), and Transforming (maturation) – as a supportive way to address the stages of emotional and spiritual healing - Awareness, Acknowledgments, Activation, and Acceptance.
Among Dr. Palmer’s many contributions to the healthcare industry is her founding of Palmer ACE’s, providing advocacy, consulting, and education services to enhance the holistic well-being of nurses and the community. Her discussions of the impact of ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) on understanding chronic disease patterns later in life provides insights for both heathcare providers and for us all. As she so sensitively states, ‘My most profound healing experiences occurred during times of intense pain and suffering…instead of concentrating on the pain, I look for the healing that can occur or lessons to be learned.’ This valuable memoir, a testament to resilience, is a powerful resource for understanding and incorporating emotional and spiritual healing. Very highly recommended.
California author Debra Palmer, a highly honored Nurse Practitioner, nursing professor, and healthcare thought leader, earned her BS in Nursing from the College of St. Scholastica, and her Masters, PhD, DNP, and FNP in Nursing from University of San Diego, and now shares her journey from a childhood marked by adversity to a life of service, purpose, and healing in this exceptionally moving - and instructive! – memoir.
Relating her challenging life as a child of alcoholic and abusive parents, her becoming a mother at age fourteen, and surviving a past of anxiety, depression, suicide attempt, and addiction, Dr. Palmer shares her evolving responses in becoming not only a nurse practitioner caring for others, but also a resilient wounded healer. In a genuinely credible manner she provides her lessons in emotional healing by explaining the physiological stages of wound healing - Bleeding (homeostasis), Burning (inflammation), Building (proliferation), and Transforming (maturation) – as a supportive way to address the stages of emotional and spiritual healing - Awareness, Acknowledgments, Activation, and Acceptance.
Among Dr. Palmer’s many contributions to the healthcare industry is her founding of Palmer ACE’s, providing advocacy, consulting, and education services to enhance the holistic well-being of nurses and the community. Her discussions of the impact of ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) on understanding chronic disease patterns later in life provides insights for both heathcare providers and for us all. As she so sensitively states, ‘My most profound healing experiences occurred during times of intense pain and suffering…instead of concentrating on the pain, I look for the healing that can occur or lessons to be learned.’ This valuable memoir, a testament to resilience, is a powerful resource for understanding and incorporating emotional and spiritual healing. Very highly recommended.
November 12, 2025
My life is forever changed by the author's sharing of her life.
Her story is a circle of realizations stemming from a wounded heart, suffering physical and emotional neglects and abuse; her circle begins with awakenings of negative behavioural coping mechanisms, continues through the self-diagnosis of a fragmented relationship with Spirit, and ends with a victorious and peaceful reconciliation with those in her life who could not see their own light, let alone hers.
Debra Palmer teaches us how to recognize, accept, turn around, and let go of life's circumstances and reinterpret them as lessons towards healing. She navigates her Wounded Heart into Wellness: in the end, she is a higher physical, mental, emotional and spiritual being, offering others the same hope and encouragement to follow along on their own healing path.
Her story is a circle of realizations stemming from a wounded heart, suffering physical and emotional neglects and abuse; her circle begins with awakenings of negative behavioural coping mechanisms, continues through the self-diagnosis of a fragmented relationship with Spirit, and ends with a victorious and peaceful reconciliation with those in her life who could not see their own light, let alone hers.
Debra Palmer teaches us how to recognize, accept, turn around, and let go of life's circumstances and reinterpret them as lessons towards healing. She navigates her Wounded Heart into Wellness: in the end, she is a higher physical, mental, emotional and spiritual being, offering others the same hope and encouragement to follow along on their own healing path.
March 29, 2026
The author of this book has spent many years as a nurse practitioner. She has seen what it takes for someone to come back from mental trauma and to get well again, since that is what she has gone through herself. She feels that she can impart the wisdom of that process to the reader.
In this book, you will learn the right mindset to deal with your trauma and to get past it in the healthiest way possible. You will discover the four logical stages of emotional healing: awareness, acknowledgements, activism, and acceptance, and you will also find out why you should never skip any of them. There are many people dealing with emotional baggage, and if you’re one of them, you should find this book to be an invaluable resource on the road to healing.
In this book, you will learn the right mindset to deal with your trauma and to get past it in the healthiest way possible. You will discover the four logical stages of emotional healing: awareness, acknowledgements, activism, and acceptance, and you will also find out why you should never skip any of them. There are many people dealing with emotional baggage, and if you’re one of them, you should find this book to be an invaluable resource on the road to healing.
April 13, 2026
Moving from pain to purpose was what attracted me to this book. Often, we see our hard times as rocks in our path that made us fall; after reading this book, they were transformed. Doctor Debra Palmer opens her heart and shares how her life has been transformed when she started to heal her wounds; the healing process is so courageous, and her experience brings her knowledge to give to others. This book brings knowledge from reality and experience; you will love it and also be able to work on your own wounds.
March 31, 2026
Healing is so confusing sometimes, and that is exactly why I got this book. This book made me think about the messy middle part of getting better. What I liked most is how honest it is about the bad days. It helped me realize I am not failing just because I still hurt sometimes. Really comforting.
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