by 
Author Sarah H. Elliston
Bio
Sarah (Sam) Elliston is an expert in the art of Dealing with Difficult People. She is a top workshop leader and a member of the faculty of the William Glasser Institute, which espouses “Reality Therapy” to foster behavioral change.
But her instructional career began long before she even became aware that she was herself a “difficult person,” traits that began in Lincoln MA, where she grew up. For more than 30 years she has been teaching and training, first as a high school teacher in Ohio and Cincinnati—and then as an administrator and trainer in the not-for-profit sector.
Her professional credentials include a BA from the University of Maine and a Master of Arts in teaching from Brown University in Providence, RI. She also achieved the Certification as a Volunteer Administrator, a performance based process.
During her years of teaching and training, she became certified in and taught Parent Effectiveness Training and Values Realization in addition to Reality Therapy. The content of these methods of working with people informed her classes about working with volunteers and she found her most popular class was Dealing with Difficult Volunteers.
She began teaching Dealing with Difficult People to see if the concepts from one population transferred to another, and they did. Participants in her classes raved about the process, reported success and asked for more. This led to the book which is based on her experience and the experience of her participants.
Sam has two children and two grandchildren, two cats and a very messy study. She lifts weights with a trainer and is learning Tai Chi. She is currently working on a second book about the change process for a difficult person, again based on her own life.
(Sarah H. Elliston, November 2017)
Books
Lessons from a Difficult Person: How to Deal with People Like Us
Links