The Queer Mental Health Workbook
A Creative Self-Help Guide Using CBT, CFT and DBT
Brendan J Dunlop
Review: Eric Page
JK’s focus on quality research, lived experience and a deep understanding of queer lives allows them to consistently offer the highest quality reading and support materials to our Queer and LGBTQ+ communities, this book continues in that tradition of bespoke, affirming and engaging materials for and by Queer peoples. This book is designed to specifically help LGBTQ+ people navigate and manage the messy world that we live in and uses evidence led approaches to present the best insights, learning and techniques to aid in supporting, repairing and restoring our mental health.
We’ve all felt different, not knowing where we fit in, who we might be or be becoming and how that can shunt us out or safe places, and securities. For some this is hard, for others terrifying, but it’s something all LGBTQ+ people go through. Finding your place can be exhausting as well as exhilarating but both have an impact on our mental health, lowering wellbeing throughout our lives.
Using a range of therapeutic approaches, this comprehensive, down-to-earth self-help workbook is designed to be your personal mental health resource. It is filled with easy to understand and simple to do techniques and activities you can read, tailor and ‘pick and mix’ to improve your wellbeing as a queer person, and, most importantly, do that at your own pace.
The book is crafted into two distinct halves, the first half looks at creating a firm foundation and laying the groundwork by looking at what psychological wellbeing means to us at different stages of our life, discovering what mental wellbeing looks like, by exploring identity, and mental health experiences in order to identify and recognise our mental health challenges, and what might have contributed to their development.
The second half hones in on ideas and how various different methods can be used to cope, understand and overcome particular situations and personal challenges. They come with downloadable and printable worksheets, which are a fantastic addition to the book and would support many professionals working in this field along with individual readers. Exploring stuff which can or has made us ill, looking at hard topics such as anxiety, low self-esteem, suicidal ideation, shame, substance abuse, sleep, and low mood. Whist these dark places are visited the focus is clearly kept on your needs as a queer individual. It’s handholding in the best possible way, careful, sensitive, educational and offering understanding and choice.
In careful non-judgmental detail the author, Dr Brendan Dunlop who is a queer mental health practitioner with many years experience , currently working for an NHS Trust in the North West of England and The University of Manchester.
This book is empowering and reassuring, there’s a lot of ‘self-help’ books out there, but this is a rather special and unique book offering compassionate insight to the LGBTQ/Queer community, and it’s workbook style with clear and easy to follow directed recommendations will go a long way to help you flourish as a queer person and begin to overcome life’s challenge.
For more info or to order the book see the Publishers Website here:
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