As you may know I am writing a book. It is going to the editor in January and I am having internal illustrations done in the mean time.
To my delight, the front cover is being painted by none other than the legendary King Of Thrash Metal Art TM himself, Ed Repka (You know, the guy who painted Rust In Peace and Leprsoy!). I just got the sketches back today and I am thrilled with the results. It will be painted soon.
The book is a self-help workbook specifically for metalheads and rock fans, with all sorts of music analoogies to explain mental health topics, lots of song/band easter eggs in the text, it works like a playlist or “greatest hits” compilation of all the best scientifically validated self-help techniques from a range of therapeutic modalities. There is a bit of personal memoire bits in there from my own life and journey through therapy to humanise it and stop it being too dry, and there are some exercises for the reader to complete to help them choose how to make their lives easier.
I have a mascott named Desmond (who’s name comes from a crossstitch of some of the various psychiatrists, psychologists and mental health academics that inspired the book) that appears throughout the book. There are signposts throughout to numerous other mental health resources to help the reader discover some of the brilliant work that has been done in the field.
As part of the publishing process, I need some test readers (or beta readers in publishing parlance) to read it and give me opinions. So if you love rock and metal music, want something fun to read, or would like to work on your mental health and learn more about the worlds of therapy and self-help, I’d love your help in testing out the book.
Give me a message if you are interested.
Mental Health For Metalheads 
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