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Dandelion / by Liew, Jamie Chai Yun,author.;
"When Lily was eleven years old, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family, never to be seen or heard from again. Now, as a new mother herself, Lily becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Swee Hua. She recalls the spring of 1987, growing up in a small British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families; Lily's previously stateless father wanted them to blend seamlessly into Canadian life, while her mother, alienated and isolated, longed to return to Brunei. Years later, still affected by Swee Hua's disappearance, Lily's family is nonetheless stubbornly silent to her questioning. But eventually, an old family friend provides a clue that sends Lily to Southeast Asia to find out the truth. Winner of the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award from the Asian Canadian Writers' Workshop, Dandelion is a beautifully written and affecting novel about motherhood, family secrets, migration, isolation, and mental illness. With clarity and care, it delves into the many ways we define home, identity, and above all, belonging."--Provided by publisher.
Subjects: Domestic fiction.; Psychological fiction.; Novels.; Absentee mothers; Family secrets; Identity (Psychology); Missing persons; Motherhood; Quests (Expeditions); Social isolation;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 3
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A mind spread out on the ground / by Elliott, Alicia,author.;
"A bold and profound work by Haudenosaunee writer Alicia Elliott, A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is a personal and critical meditation on trauma, legacy, oppression and racism in North America. In an urgent and visceral work that asks essential questions about Native people in North America while drawing on intimate details of her own life and experience with intergenerational trauma, Alicia Elliott offers indispensable insight and understanding to the ongoing legacy of colonialism. What are the links between depression, colonialism and loss of language--both figurative and literal? How does white privilege operate in different contexts? How do we navigate the painful contours of mental illness in loved ones without turning them into their sickness? How does colonialism operate on the level of literary criticism? A Mind Spread Out on the Ground is Alicia Elliott's attempt to answer these questions and more. In the process, she engages with such wide-ranging topics as race, parenthood, sexuality, love, mental illness, poverty, sexual assault, gentrification, writing and representation. Elliott makes connections both large and small between the past and present, the personal and political--from overcoming a years-long history with head lice to the way Native writers are treated within the Canadian literary industry; her unplanned teenage pregnancy to the history of dark matter and how it relates to racism in the court system; her childhood diet of Kraft dinner to how systematic oppression is linked to depression in Native communities. With deep consideration and searing prose, Elliott extends far beyond her own experiences to provide a candid look at our past, an illuminating portrait of our present and a powerful tool for a better future."--
Subjects: Native peoples; Racism; Colonization;
Available copies: 2 / Total copies: 2
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Dandelion [electronic resource] : by Liew, Jamie Chai Yun.aut; Hui, Jennifer.nrt; cloudLibrary;
When Lily was eleven years old, her mother, Swee Hua, walked away from the family, never to be seen or heard from again. Now a new mother herself, Lily becomes obsessed with finding out what happened to Swee Hua. She recalls the spring of 1987, growing up in a small British Columbia mining town where there were only a handful of Asian families; Lily’s previously stateless father wanted to blend seamlessly into Canadian life, while her mother, alienated and isolated, longed to return to Brunei. Years later, still affected by Swee Hua’s disappearance, Lily’s family is stubbornly silent to her questioning. But eventually, an old family friend provides a clue that sends Lily to Southeast Asia to find out the truth. Winner of the Jim Wong-Chu Emerging Writers Award from the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, Dandelion is a beautifully written and affecting novel about motherhood, family secrets, migration, isolation, and mental illness. With clarity and care, it delves into the many ways we define home, identity, and above all, belonging.
Subjects: Audiobooks.; Literary; Asian American;
© 2022., ECW Press,
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Solitaire / by Oseman, Alice,author.;
Sixteen-year-old Victoria "Tori" Spring is the personification of angst, slowly slipping, day by day, into the depths of despair. On a good day, she can convince herself she feels nothing. Her best friend has become preoccupied with boys; her brother, Charlie, is recovering from an episode of mental illness and attempted suicide; a former childhood friend has suddenly resurfaced with expectations that she can't fulfill; and her mother cannot tear herself away from the computer long enough to notice Tori's decline. Then, there's Michael Holden, the crazy new student who refuses to let Tori alienate herself from him the way she is doing with everyone else. He forces himself into her life at the same time as a bizarre prank is unleashed to instigate rebellion among the students at Higgs. Solitaire.co.uk delivers messages via blog posts and by commandeering the schools' computers and PA system, touting a rallying cry of "Patience Kills." Strangely, all of its enigmatic messages seem to bear some resemblance to episodes in Tori's past. When the pranks begin to turn dangerous, Tori convinces herself that she's the only one who can put a stop to it.
Subjects: Young adult fiction.; Novels.; Blogs; Friendship; High schools; Mental health; Practical jokes; Blogs; Friendship; High schools; Mental health; Practical jokes;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Start here : a parent's guide to helping children and teens through mental health challenges / by Bryden, Pier,author.; Szatmari, Peter,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."Is my child okay? Is she eating and sleeping enough? Is he hanging out with the right people? Should I be worried that she spends all their time in her room? Is this just a phase? Or a sign of something serious? As parents, we worry about our children-- about their physical health, performance at school, the types of friends they have, and of course, their mental health. Every day seems to bring new and expanding issues and disorders for parents to worry about and troubling statistics about the rise of mental health illness in children and teens. It's usually obvious what to do for physical injuries like broken bones, but when it comes to our children's mental health, the answers are much less clear, and sometimes even contradictory. Peter Szatmari and Pier Bryden, two top child and adolescent psychiatrists, are here to help. Using their combined six decades working with families and kids-- and their own experiences as parents-- they break down the stigma of mental health illness and walk parents through the warning signs, risk factors, prevention strategies, and the process of diagnosis and treatment for mental health challenges arising from: Eating disorders; Anxiety; Psychosis; Sleep Disorders; Substance Use Disorders; ADHD; Autism; Depression; Trauma; Suicide; Gender Dysphoria. The most important thing to remember as a parent is that you and your child are not alone. Wellness is a continuum, and there is a lot parents can do to bring their child back to a place of safety. The road ahead isn't always easy or straightforward, but this guidebook offers essential advice that every parent needs."--
Subjects: Adolescent psychiatry.; Child mental health.; Child psychiatry.; Teenagers;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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How to change your mind : what the new science of psychedelics teaches us about consciousness, dying, addiction, depression, and transcendence / by Pollan, Michael,1955-author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index."A brilliant and brave investigation by Michael Pollan, author of five New York Times best sellers, into the medical and scientific revolution taking place around psychedelic drugs--and the spellbinding story of his own life-changing psychedelic experiences. When Michael Pollan set out to research how LSD and psilocybin (the active ingredient in magic mushrooms) are being used to provide relief to people suffering from difficult-to-treat conditions such as depression, addiction and anxiety, he did not intend to write what is undoubtedly his most personal book. But upon discovering how these remarkable substances are improving the lives not only of the mentally ill but also of healthy people coming to grips with the challenges of everyday life, he decided to explore the landscape of the mind in the first person as well as the third. Thus began a singular adventure into the experience of various altered states of consciousness, along with a dive deep into both the latest brain science and the thriving underground community of psychedelic therapists. Pollan sifts the historical record to separate the truth about these mysterious drugs from the myths that have surrounded them since the 1960s, when a handful of psychedelic evangelists catalyzed a powerful backlash against what was then a promising field of research. A unique and elegant blend of science, memoir, travel writing, history, and medicine, How to Change Your Mind is a triumph of participatory journalism. By turns dazzling and edifying, it is the gripping account of a journey to an exciting and unexpected new frontier in our understanding of the mind, the self, and our place in the world. The true subject of Pollan's "mental travelogue" is not just psychedelic drugs but also the eternal puzzle of human consciousness and how, in a world that offers us both struggle and beauty, we can do our best to be fully present and find meaning in our lives"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Pollan, Michael, 1955-; Hallucinogenic drugs; Psychotherapy patients;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The save of my life : my journey out of the dark / by Hirsch, Corey(Hockey goalkeeper),author.; Conboy, Sean Patrick,author.;
"A riveting look behind the mask of an NHL goalie, The Save of My Life offers understanding and hope to anyone living with mental illness. By the time he was twenty-two years old, goaltender Corey Hirsch had realized his childhood dream of playing in the NHL, won an Olympic medal and drunk from the Stanley Cup. While he excelled on the ice, out of the net Hirsch was plagued by persistent dark thoughts and ceaseless anxiety. On days when he could barely get out of bed, he was able to push aside the endless loop of dark thoughts running inside his brain long enough to win a game. But as soon as he got back home, the agonizing cycle started all over again. And it continued, until finally he was able to confide in a team trainer who helped him get the professional treatment he needed. Diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, Hirsch was able to embark on the rocky road to recovery. As one of the first professional athletes to talk openly about mental health, Hirsch wrote about his OCD for the Players' Tribune. His piece remains one of their most-read articles ever. As Hirsch says, "I am not insane. I am not a bad person. I am not weak. I have an illness, and there is a treatment.""--
Subjects: Biographies.; Autobiographies.; Hirsch, Corey (Hockey goalkeeper); Hirsch, Corey (Hockey goalkeeper); Hockey goalkeepers; Hockey goalkeepers; Obsessive-compulsive disorder;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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Agatha Christie : a very elusive woman / by Worsley, Lucy,author.;
Includes bibliographical references and index.'Nobody in the world was more inadequate to act the heroine than I was.' Why did Agatha Christie spend her career pretending that she was 'just' an ordinary housewife, when clearly she wasn't? As Lucy Worsley says, 'She was thrillingly, scintillatingly modern'. She went surfing in Hawaii, she loved fast cars, and she was intrigued by the new science of psychology, which helped her through devastating mental illness. So why--despite all the evidence to the contrary--did Agatha present herself as a retiring Edwardian lady of leisure? She was born in 1890 into a world which had its own rules about what women could and couldn't do. Lucy Worsley's biography is not just of an internationally renowned bestselling writer. It's also the story of a person who, despite the obstacles of class and gender, became an astonishingly successful working woman. With access to personal letters and papers that have rarely been seen, Lucy Worsley's biography is both authoritative and entertaining and makes us realise what an extraordinary pioneer Agatha Christie was--truly a woman who wrote the twentieth century.
Subjects: Biographies.; Christie, Agatha, 1890-1976.; Authors, English; Detective and mystery stories; Women authors, English; Women novelists, English;
Available copies: 0 / Total copies: 1
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Girls and their monsters : the Genain quadruplets and the making of madness in America / by Farley, Audrey Clare,author.;
Includes bibliographical references."In 1954, researchers at the newly formed National Institute of Mental Health set out to study the genetics of schizophrenia. When they got word that four 24-year-old identical quadruplets in Lansing, Michigan, had all been diagnosed with the mental illness, they could hardly believe their ears. Here was incontrovertible proof of hereditary transmission and, thus, a chance to bring international fame to their fledgling institution. The case of the pseudonymous Genain quadruplets, they soon found, was hardly so straightforward. Contrary to fawning media portrayals of a picture-perfect Christian family, the sisters had endured the stuff of nightmares. Behind closed doors, their parents had taken shocking measures to preserve their innocence while sowing fears of sex and the outside world. In public, the quadruplets were treated as communal property, as townsfolk and members of the press had long ago projected their own paranoid fantasies about the rapidly diversifying American landscape onto the fair-skinned, ribbon-wearing quartet who danced and sang about Christopher Columbus. Even as the sisters' erratic behaviors became impossible to ignore and the NIMH whisked the women off for study, their sterling image did not falter. Girls and Their Monsters chronicles the extraordinary lives of the quadruplets and the lead psychologist who studied them, asking questions that speak directly to our times: How do delusions come to take root, both in individuals and in nations? Why does society profess to be "saving the children" when it readily exploits them? What are the authoritarian ends of innocence myths? And how do people, particularly those with serious mental illness, go on after enduring the unspeakable? Can the unbreakable bonds of sisterhood help the deeply wounded heal?"--
Subjects: Biographies.; Personal narratives.; Mental health; Quadruplets; Schizophrenia;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 1
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The woo woo : how I survived ice hockey, drug raids, demons, and my crazy Chinese family / by Wong, Lindsay,1987-author.;
"In this jaw-dropping, darkly comedic memoir, a young woman comes of age in a dysfunctional Asian family who blame their woes on ghosts and demons when they should really be on anti-psychotic meds. Lindsay Wong grew up with a paranoid schizophrenic grandmother and a mother who was deeply afraid of the "woo-woo" -- Chinese ghosts who come to visit in times of personal turmoil. From a young age, she witnessed the woo-woo's sinister effects; when she was six, Lindsay and her mother avoided the dead people haunting their house by hiding out in a mall food court, and on a camping trip, in an effort to rid her daughter of demons, her mother tried to light Lindsay's foot on fire. The eccentricities take a dark turn, however, and when Lindsay starts to experience symptoms of the woo-woo herself, she wonders whether she will suffer the same fate as her family. At once a witty and touching memoir about the Asian immigrant experience and a harrowing and honest depiction of the vagaries of mental illness, The Woo-Woo is a gut-wrenching and beguiling manual for surviving family, and oneself."--
Subjects: Autobiographies.; Biographies.; Wong, Lindsay, 1987-; Wong, Lindsay, 1987-; Wong, Lindsay, 1987-; Wong, Lindsay, 1987-; Chinese Canadians; Psychoses; Psychoses;
Available copies: 1 / Total copies: 2
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