News

Mental Health Awareness Week Book Recommendations

1.png

This week is Mental Health Awareness Week, hosted by the Mental Health Foundation UK. We believe at Bell Lomax Moreton that monitoring your mental health is paramount to your wellbeing every week of the year, however as we face Covid-19 it has become more important than ever to shine a light on this vital issue and reflect. The Mental Health Foundation have a plethora of resources on their website that you can find here and they have also created an insightful video on this year’s theme, Kindness.

In support of Mental Health Awareness Week, the BLM team have come up with a list of books that we believe will truly be helpful to both adults and children at this time.

Mind Over Mother by Anna Mathur

‘With conversations on Maternal Mental Health on the rise, and more women speaking up about the way they feel, Anna Mathur’s insight as a psychotherapist AND mother make her someone you feel you can trust. She offers little nuggets of gold while reminding us to point some of our kindness and love inwards-Giovanna Fletcher, bestselling author of Happy Mum, Happy Baby

Baby-proof the house; panic-proof the mum.

Do you overthink what you said to the mum in the supermarket queue? Is your internal dialogue more critical than kind? Perhaps you wake to check your baby is breathing, or the sight of a rash sends you down an internet search rabbit hole. Whatever your level of anxiety, however much it impacts your life, this book is for you.

Anxiety is making motherhood a less pleasant, more fraught and pressured experience, and we do not have to accept joy-sapping worry and energy-draining overthinking as part of the motherhood job description. In Mind Over Mother, Anna Mathur, psychotherapist and mum of three, explains how to:

* Understand anxiety, why it affects you and what to do about it
* Make your mind a kinder, calmer, happier place to be
* Transform your motherhood experience by addressing your thinking

The most powerful tool Anna has to communicate this isn’t the letters after her name, it is the fact that she is open about her own experience of maternal anxiety. By sharing her journey, she gives you the confidence to reframe yours.

Mind Over Mother is full of light bulb moments of realisation. It will have you learning, laughing and loving yourself through the journey of motherhood. You will learn to address the most important conversation you’ll ever have - the one inside your head, because investing in your mental health is the best gift you can offer yourself and your baby.

A Midlife Cyclist by Rachel Ann Cullen

My two-wheel journey to heal a broken mind and find joy.

Rachel is a cyclist. But she was never meant to be.

After gaining mental strength and healing through running, she thought she was free. Her depression alleviated, she came off antidepressants, winning races and collecting medals at marathons.

But when an injury stopped the only thing helping to quiet the voices in her brain, Rachel found out what she is truly made of. As body dysmorphia began to grip her in earnest, she knew she had to find a different way to kick her mental health demons for the sake of her sanity.

So, she went down to her cellar, heaved out her old bike, and started pedalling.

Like her life depended on it.

A Midlife Cyclist is a tale of two wheels, across the Yorkshire Dales, Vietnam,­ Costa Rica and beyond, and a rider in search of peace.

Includes exclusive Q&A with Jools Walker, aka Lady Velo

​Breathe Well by Aimee Hartley

Easy and effective exercises to boost energy, feel calmer, more focused and productive.

We breathe around 17,000 times a day - so it’s something that we can all improve for better health and wellbeing - no equipment or fancy fitness gear necessary. Aimee’s simple and accessible exercises are designed to fit into your life - from 2 minutes in the shower to 5 minutes at your desk to be at your best before an important meeting.

Introducing breath basics and detailing why breathing properly is so important for health and wellbeing, Aimee’s simple, practical exercises easily fit into a busy day.

Organised into sections reflecting how we spend our time - from work to sleep and eating to relationships - there are breathing exercises for the office, including how to calm your nerves before a big pitch; how our breathing has been affected by technology and how to counteract ‘tech apnea’, alongside breathing for better relationships, such as exercises to help clear the air after an argument.

Also including breaths to help you perform at your exercise peak and enhance digestion, alongside practical tips such as the top 10 plants to purify the air in your home.

​Back in the Frame by Jools Walker

How to get back on your bike, whatever life throws at you.

A memoir of bikes, blogs and riding through depression from award-winning blogger, Lady Vélo.

Jools Walker re-discovered cycling aged twenty-eight after a ten-year absence from the saddle. When she started blogging about her cycle adventures under the alias Lady Vélo, a whole world was opened up to her. But it’s hard to find space in an industry not traditionally open to women - especially women of colour.

Shortly after getting back on two wheels, Jools was diagnosed with depression and then, in her early thirties, hit by a mini-stroke. Yet, through all of these punctures, one constant remained: Jools’ love of cycling.

In Back in the Frame Jools talks to the other female trailblazers who are disrupting the cycling narrative as well as telling the story of how she overcame her health problems, learned how to cycle her own path and even found a love of Lycra shorts along the way.

Everybody Worries by Jon Burgerman

A free picture book for children who are worried about Coronavirus. This picture book offers support to children who are feeling worried by Coronavirus and the sudden changes it’s brought to their lives. It reassures children that this will pass, we are there for them, and we will get through this together.

Jon Burgerman decided to create the book after hearing parents worrying about how to discuss Coronavirus with their young children:

‘Something I heard time and time again when talking to parent friends of mine over the last few weeks is how will they explain what is happening to their small children. I wanted to do something to help and decided to write a book about worry: how normal it is and how we can try and mitigate it. I think we might not acknowledge that small children worry as much as they do. Without a means of expressing their anxieties, the stress can manifest and have adverse effects. It’s important to talk openly about what is going on and how the feelings we’re experiencing may be shared by lots of people - and that by sharing (and caring!) for each other we can try and make it a little better.’

Recommended by clinical psychologists specialising in anxiety in young children:

‘Everybody Worries is a fantastic book! It is full of engaging, colourful, fun pictures but also wise words to help young children recognise that worried feelings are normal, and to share helpful, practical tips for getting worries under control. I am confident that this book will be helpful for children right now but also in their future, post covid19 lives’

Cathy Creswell, Professor of Developmental Clinical Psychology, University of Oxford

‘Everybody Worries, a picture book for children worried about Coronavirus, is an absolute joy to read. It conveys key messages for children who are worried currently and suggests really helpful ways for them to process and normalise these emotions. This fun rhyming picture book is a must read for children at this time and will help bring a much needed smile to children and adults alike.’

Dr Tim Clarke, Principal Clinical Psychologist, Children and Young People’s Mental Health

Be Your Own Superhero by Dr Laura Meek

Unlock Your Powers. Unleash Your Awesome.

Is anxiety your arch-enemy?

Are your emotions hulking out?

Is low confidence your kryptonite?

Then this book is for you.

With this practical guide, child psychiatrist Dr Laura Meek, is here to help every child feel like a superhero.

From developing their telepathic powers (empathy and listening skills), to controlling fire (anger) and water (anxiety), this book will take children through a series of fun activities designed to help them feel in control of their lives, happier and more confident.

We’re all superheroes. Sometimes we just need a bit of help finding our powers.

Super Duper You by Sophy Henn

Sometimes we are loud, sometimes we are quiet, sometimes bold and clanky, sometimes soft and cuddly. Sophy Henn celebrates all the different, extraordinary and sometimes contradictory things we are in this joyful and colourful rhyming picture book. Perfect to read aloud - and then read again, and again!

Pom Pom Gets the Grumps by Sophy Henn

A delightful and hilarious new character from exciting author and illustrator, Sophy Henn, creator of the highly acclaimed picture book, Where Bear?

When Pom Pom Panda wakes up in a BAD mood one morning, nothing is right. And then things go from bad to worse. A fresh and funny new take on toddler tantrums, that will strike a chord with parents and young children alike.

A Little Bit Brave by Nicola Kinnear

Logan is a stay-at-home bunny - but he’s about to discover how brave he really is. It’s time for his first adventure, and he doesn’t want to go. But there’s an amazing world outside, if he can just pluck up courage to look . . . A LITTLE BIT BRAVE is a funny, reassuring picture book which shows that we’re all a lot braver than we think.

Hello Happy! by Stephanie Clarkson

Mindful Kids: An activity book for children who sometimes feel sad or angry.

Hello Happy! is an interactive self-care activity book for children aged 7+ to colour and doodle their way to happiness, calm and confidence.

The encouraging and simple activities and exercises tackle anxiety, sadness and stress; children will enjoy using their creativity to combat negative feelings, work out why they feel worried and how to put stress back in its place through writing, colouring, doodling and drawing.

Featuring the charming and quirky illustrations of Katie Abey, a UK-based illustrator. Her quirky pictures will keep the reader entertained and focused as they work through the book, or simply dip into the pages for ten minutes of calm colouring.

Part of Mindful Kids, a thoughtful new range of activity books for children from Studio Press.

Includes an introduction and notes for grown-ups by consultant Dr Sharie Coombes, Child & Family Psychotherapist.

Dr Sharie Coombes is a former primary teacher, headteacher and local authority adviser who retrained as a child and family psychodynamic psychotherapist, neuropsychotherapist, solution-focused therapist, and specialist paediatric hypnotherapist. Alongside a busy private therapy practice in Brighton, she has worked part-time as a child, adolescent and family psychotherapist at the NHS Tavistock Clinic in London with adopted and fostered children, young people and families. She now works with the psychosocial team in the British Red Cross Refugee Support and International Family Tracing team. Sharie has 2 adult children.

Free To Be Me by Dom & Ink

An LGBTQ+ Journal of Love, Pride and Finding Your Inner Rainbow.

An LGBTQ+ journal for anyone from 13 to 103 - by writer, illustrator and utterly fabulous merman, Dom&Ink.

Every rainbow-coloured page is packed with LGBTQ+ activities, advice and attitude.

With spreads to colour, scribble, design and glitter, you’ll meet dancing drag queens, rainbow donuts and the world’s sassiest LGBTQ+ dinosaur: Brett the Sassysaurus!

Read quotes from real-life rainbow icons, find out how to throw your own Pride Party, and learn about the history of gay rights. Most importantly: celebrate being yourself and what makes YOU amazing!

Warm, hilarious, caring and insightful, Free To Be Me will fill every reader with self-esteem, confidence, colour and pride.

We can get through this. Together. One day at a time.