Shawn Goodman has worked in the teen mental health field for many years and is currently a psychologist at a high school in upstate New York. That work heavily informs this handbook and his previous, How to Survive Your Parents: A Teen's Guide to Thriving in a Difficult Family.

As a novelist, Goodman is the award-winning author of Kindness for Weakness and Something Like Hope, both of which were inspired by his experiences working in several New York State juvenile detention facilities. He is also the co-author of This Way Home, written with bestselling author and governor of Maryland Wes Moore.

He lives in Ithaca, New York, with his wife and children.