Each of the authors works or has worked for NHS mental health services in some capacity, experienced challenges of some kind and found a way forward.
As the book’s title suggests, many of the contributors say their own mental health challenges have influenced their work alongside those they are supporting.
Strengthened by Storms is the third in a series of books published by Recovery Devon and Devon Partnership NHS Trust.
The book launch heard from Dr Adrian James, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists and consultant psychiatrist with Devon Partnership NHS Trust, who also wrote the foreword and shared his own experience of mental illness.
In Dr Adrian James’s foreword, he writes: ‘I found these accounts moving, distressing and enlightening and I was struck by the overwhelming generosity of those sharing their own histories and experience. I’m left with a sense of pride, but also of hope and optimism.
‘The strength of the human spirit shines through with an endless willingness to move forward, and to use what we may learn from our own experiences in navigating our own paths, but also in helping those we encounter clinically and professionally to navigate theirs.’
Strengthened by Storms is the third in a series of books published by Recovery Devon and the Devon Partnership NHS Trust.
The previous books, Riding the Storms and Beyond the Storms, were both highly praised and gave people an opportunity to reflect on their recovery and share it with a wider audience.
Strengthened by Storms is available for free to download and read at https://www.sumocreative.co.uk/Strengthened-by-storms/mobile.html