"It might sound odd, but I can honestly say knitting has saved my life." When mental illness strikes, we need tools at our side to help make things better, that give meaning, relief and dare we say...happiness. From wild swimming and mindful running, to community singing and everyday yoga, the inspiring stories in this book reveal the power of activities and hobbies to distract, exorcise and calm, helping us to heal and recover from depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses. From the team behind the bestselling The Recovery Letters, this honest, uplifting and motivational book will help you to discover the activity or hobby that will transform your life and make every day that much brighter.

World Book Night 2018 In 2012, The Recovery Letters was launched to host a series of letters online written by people recovering from depression, addressed to those currently affected by a mental health condition. Addressed to 'Dear You', the inspirational and heartfelt letters provided hope and support to those experiencing depression and were testament that recovery was possible. Now for the first time, these letters have been compiled into an anthology for people living with depression and are interspersed with motivating quotes and additional resources as well as new material written specifically for the book. This powerful collection of personal letters from people with first-hand experiences of depression will serve as a comforting resource for anyone on the journey to recovery.

Stress is a nasty infectious rash, but it's how we deal with it that counts. This books gives you forty ways to manage it and stop it spreading. You'll learn how smashing plates works wonders, that watching lambs (not eating them) can help, and that you should always, always listen to someone called Gina. It's for anyone who has woken up at four o'clock in the morning dreading the day ahead. It's for anyone who feels like the world is piling up on them with family arguments, an unmanageable workload, money worries and the dog doing lethal farts in the kitchen again. If it feels as though stress is taking over your life, it's time to smash it.

Depression sucks, but you don't. Trying to manage the range of symptoms that depression throws at you is like navigating the dark ocean floor when you are without a torch and don't know how to swim. How do you manage something that feels utterly unmanageable? How do you get through each day when depression is telling you you're a worthless lump of camel spleen? What you need is a guide. A really good one. You need to know what works and what to do. This book gives you 40 ways to get to a better place with depression. They are born out of the author's personal experience of clinical depression and his many years of working as a counsellor helping people with their mental health. James lives with depression and knows its lies, the traps it makes and how to dodge when it starts spitting bile in your face. Nice, eh? The ways include: - Kick your cuckoo. We don't usually encourage violence towards birds, but no cuckoos are actually harmed so don't call the RSPCA just yet. In this chapter you're encouraged to imagine your depression as an external 'thing' (no humans or animals, of course!) and that you can 'kick out', which is great fun. - Whose voice is it anyway? Spoiler alert! That nasty voice you're hearing isn't you; it's depression. The illness. When you start to recognise its voice you can start swearing back and who doesn't love a bit of swearing? - Don't listen to the lies. We all tell little lies sometimes, right? But depression is the biggest liar in the whole universe. It makes Pinocchio look like Mother Theresa. Be the lie detector to depression's fibs; call it out on its fraudulent nonsense. - Do the opposite. Depression will try to convince you to stay in bed, don't go out, don't wash, don't eat, don't phone anyone. Be Contrary Mary and do the exact opposite of what depression tells you because it never has your interests at heart. Plus, doing the opposite feels like you're a rebel, and rebels are cool (see Star Wars). At whatever point you're at with your depression, this book can help and provide some laughs along the way - hooray! - because you really need it with this bloody illness.

This book is for anyone who has lost someone. It may have been recently, or it may have been years ago, but still it stings like it was yesterday. James Withey has known the grief beast since he was five, when his dad died, and it has followed him ever since. In his twenty years supporting people with their own grief, as a counsellor and social care worker, he has helped others work through their despair and reconcile the injustice of grief. With his trademark humour and warmth, he provides forty ways to help you live with and manage your grief no matter what stage you're at. It provides comfort for when it all gets too much, ideas for when you feel at a loss for what to do and more than a laugh or two to balance out the sadness.

An accessible, comforting and practical book for anyone experiencing anxiety, from the author of The Recovery Letters and How to Tell Depression to Piss Off. Despite more and more people opening up about their mental health, anxiety is still taboo. We're not supposed to be anxious; we're supposed to be resilient and able to 'get on with it'. We are expected to excel while juggling a hectic, pressurised schedule at home and at work, despite the lines between the two being more blurred than ever. This book dispels that taboo. It is for anyone who has experienced general anxiety disorder, trauma-related anxiety, clinical anxiety and those with 'low-level' anxieties. At once empathetic and entertaining, How to Tell Anxiety to Sod Off offers 40 ways to get to a better place with anxiety. They are born out of the author's personal experience of managing his own anxiety and his many years of working as a counselor helping people with their mental health.