Walls and Bridges: Bodmin to Broadmoor - A journey working in mental health

In a fast-paced narrative that weaves together humour, emotion and hard-headed lessons from experience, Walls and Bridges tracks Paul Deacons life. We get to know him during his early childhood in Canada and his rebellious teenage years in 1970s Britain, and then we join him on the engrossing learning journey of his career in mental health, from inexperienced nursing assistant to fully engaged manager, adviser and motivator. Deacons story of his life is more than an engaging personal memoir the journey from teenage rebellion to a fully committed professional in the challenging field of mental health becomes a means of exploring how we learn, change and adapt in the face of uncertainty and constraints, and how we develop in ourselves resources and understanding that allow us to make connections and move forward. In the course of its narrative, Walls and Bridges includes frank reflections on its authors experiences of working as a mental health nurse at St Lawrences and Broadmoor Hospitals, and there are comments too on training for mental health nurses, nursing roles, initiatives and qualifications, and life in psychiatric hospital wards. Deacon challenges common misconceptions and stereotypes and offers lessons from his extensive experience of psychiatry that will be enlightening and challenging for the general reader, and informative and resonant for the mental health specialist. Paul Deacon has summarized his message to newcomers to the mental health profession as `Never give up if you want a career in nursing you can do it. Break down the barriers and you will succeed. Walls and Bridges shows us how that works. See more