I really don’t know what took me so long to read this, should have read it years ago. A great book about Mental Health with interesting insight, facts, honesty and humour.. Super easy to read but obviously take on board trigger warnings, as it openly discusses all aspects of mental health in depth (including addiction and eating disorders).

I really liked Natasha Devon’s direct, honest and factual approach using her own personal experiences, alongside those of other people. She also manages to incorporate humour tastefully in just the right places.

A Beginner’s Guide to Being Mental is a really good guide for beginners to mental health and mental illnesses and those who are more experienced in the field. I’ve worked in education for 15+ years - and am now a Head of Sixth Form - and I learnt a lot from this book.

The chapters on Young People, LGBT+, Therapy and X: Chromosomes were the most useful and insightful chapters for me as they were particularly relevant for work. I appreciated the explanation of various terminology and general understanding of different mental illnesses. I also took on board some tips on how to talk to students about their mental health, particularly boys/those further along the masculine end of the spectrum. I also took away some interesting tips regarding ‘non-judgemental listening’ and questions to ask in certain situations, in order to better support young people (and potentially colleagues!).

I will be recommending this book to our CPD library - I think it is a great guide for teachers and those working in education.

Thank you for providing access to this book. I'll be reviewing/featuring this book separately from NetGalley as I have a physical copy.

An honest and factual reference of mental health and mental health conditions from a professional who has a great deal of personal experience and is willing to be honest about it, whilst also explaining them in a simple and easy to understand way. Books about mental health can often be insightful, but ultimately very dry and boring, a hard slog. Natasha Devon has managed to explain mental health in an engaging and conversational way that's easy to read, understand and digest.

It also has an honest appraisal of mental health services in the UK, which I think we all home will improve.

There are some hard hitting subjects covered in this book, including things like addiction, grief, self-harm and suicide, each one dealt with sensitivity and insight.

This isn't a self-help book, but a reference book, aimed to educate and help you understand yourself and others and to apply empathy and enhanced knowledge to any situation that involves mental health. Even so, I wish I'd had this book as a teenager and would honestly recommend it to anyone who wants to take a deeper look at mental health, for whatever reason. It opens up the conversation about mental health and that in itself is an amazing thing.

This is a thorough and easily digestible reference book about mental health and the things you need to know about it arranged in a delightful alphabetical order. This is perfect for someone who wants to learn more about mental health in an easy and understandable way.

Absolutely wonderful and such a valuable resource. I’ll be re-Reading this time and time again. Thank you!

Very interesting read as someone who has dealt with many mental health issues including anxiety and depression I found I related to this book instantly. Definitely recommend giving it a read.

I've read a lot of books about anxiety, all of which were from a traditional self-help point of view. While this book does give some practical advice, what I loved about it was its funny, conversational tone. It's like a memoir, but peppered with various scientific insight as well as what the author has picked up from talking to real people who have experience with mental illness.

This book was really insightful and a really interesting read. I thought the author captured mental health really truthfully throughout the book. I also really liked the layout of the book and think it's an important book that everyone should read.

I'm sure this will draw in many people who have suffered with mental illness, but it's accessible nature gives it a broad appeal. The author shares some of her own experiences without it being a full on memoir but just enough so that you do realise she does know what she is talking about. Lots of food for thought for those who are struggling or supporting someone who is.

Finally, a guide with very specific advice. Aimed at the UK and its NHS, there's real concrete suggestions here as Devon weaves together vaguely related but all important short essays about mental health. Devon is a sympathetic writer and her experience within education makes this one of the most accessible books about mental health I've ever read. I kind of expected to simply skim this but ended up actually reading it from cover to cover.

Very interesting and well rounded about all aspects of mental health! Would definitely recommend to people of all backgrounds with mental health!

As a teacher, even of young children, I encounter mental illness quite regularly, but don't have a broad knowledge of it. This was a great introduction to a number of conditions.

Natasha Devon, the former UK mental health 'tsar', has written a book full of no-nonsense, helpful advice and information about a broad range of mental health issues, from eating disorders to PTSD. If you are, or know. someone with mental health problems, this book is indispensable.

DNF at 24%.

Most of the information about mental and physical health in this book was pretty good, but I didn’t particularly like how the author interjected with their own life story, which I found distracting from the actual book.

Beautifully written, really compassionate and written with a lovely tone. The book is more than just an A - Z, it's a why as well, each topic is dealt with heart and a genuine care. A joy to read

This book was intense.
I feel like the title "The beginners guide" was slightly misleading.
I will say that I liked the format of the book and the element of feeling more casual and like a friend of the author, Natasha Devon, but there is just so much content to this book that at times it felt daunting!
I admit that at times I found myself skimming to get to the parts I was most interesting and ignoring parts that were just too much for me.
I will definitely go back to this book and because it is laid out in such a simple and easily understandable way its easier to find parts that are most relevant to you.

I would consider picking up another of Devon's books in future but one hopefully a bit less text intense.

As humans we are all capable of talking about our physical health. If we stub our toe, if we fall and graze our knees, if we break a bone; we have something to show others to say "look, this hurts". It's a lot trickier if the part that hurts is going on inside your head. I am sure I'm not the only person who has turned to Dr Google during times of stress, anxiety and depression but that can sometimes lead you down a confusing and conflicting path. This book has covered most questions you would ask Google about your mental health. It's well researched, easy to navigate through the A-Z sections and the illustrations from Ruby Elliot are spot on. This book should be available on prescription and should be given to high school children, because many adults who suffer with a mental illness (myself included) first experienced symptoms in their teens. Lets start the conversations around mental health earlier to help break the stigma.

I think it goes without saying that a book about mental health is going to wind up with one of my famous (or is that infamous!) trigger warnings but as someone whose brain can get fairly trigger happy I didn’t have any problems while reading this one myself. However, having said that, I’m not you so please be aware and keep yourself safe if you are triggered while reading.

Trigger warnings include mental health (duh!), self-harm, suicide, addiction and grief.

This is one of the best books about mental health that I’ve read, and I’ve read plenty. What sets it apart is its author, Natasha Devon, who I’ll admit I’d never heard of prior to reading this book but now feels like someone I could be friends with. Natasha is upfront about her own experiences, writes in a down to earth conversational tone and is somehow able to simplify and explain difficult topics without dumbing them down. Natasha’s aim is to present “a comprehensive yet easy-to-understand overview” and she nails it!

While I’ve been there done that on the mental health merry-go-round personally and even picked up my own psychology degree from a Cornflakes box along the way I gained new insights, knowledge and understanding while reading this book. I often find books explaining mental health to be quite dry and one of my main whinges at university was the uncanny ability of some authors to transform fascinating topics into insomnia cures. I enjoyed reading this book so much though that I wanted to start reading it again as soon as I finished it, partly because I like ‘listening’ to Natasha talk about mental health and partly because I wanted to revisit all of my aha! moments.

I particularly admired Natasha’s ability to weave her own experiences and those of people she’s met along the way with facts (including references to make people like me happy) and insights gained through her work advocating for young people. It’s a balancing act that can result in some spectacular falls when authors incorporate their personal experiences in a book about mental health. Too often I’ve read books where it becomes either a dramatic sob story that takes your attention away from the helpful information that’s hidden somewhere amongst the tissues or a holier than thou ‘I have all the answers and although I’m better than you, I will impart some of my wisdom to you. Wow, don’t you resemble an ant as I look down my nose at you from the heights of my ivory tower’ attitude. Natasha did not fall off the tightrope once.

She was able to give enough information to let you know that she gets it, show empathy so you know that not only does she get it but she also gives a damn and does this amazing thing where she can talk to you about topics that are beyond difficult to live with but she leaves you with a feeling of hope. She speaks to, not at or down to, the reader and while she is direct and leaves no room for questions marks over her point of view (I intend those as compliments, not criticisms), she’s also sensitive, empathetic and funny. She comes across as someone that I would have been able to confide in as a young person and as an old(er) person I feel like she’s someone I’d want to chat with over a cuppa.

Oh, and before you get your politically correct knickers in a twist about the book’s title you should probably know that Natasha does explain the ‘mental’ thing but better than I could so here it is in her (ARC) words …

“The most important thing to acknowledge before we begin is this: I am mental. I am mental according to the most common understanding of the term, in that I have a mental illness. I am also mental in the sense that I am an intellectual and emotional being, in possession of a brain. To have a mind is to be ‘mental’. And that, reader, means that you are mental, too.”

You should probably also know that the subjects aren’t always found under the letter of the alphabet that you’d expect. For example, self-harm lives in the J chapter, as in Just Attention Seeking, but trust me, your pitchforks are not required. This makes complete sense when you read the chapter. Take it from someone who has self-harmed; if pitchforks were required here I’d be handing them out personally but Natasha deals with this topic with the same amount of sensitivity, insight and wisdom as she does with the rest of the alphabet.

I want to ask where Natasha was when I was in high school, knowing I would have benefited greatly from anything she had to say but as I’m close to her in age and across the world that’s kind of a moot point. However I am greatly encouraged that there are Natashas in the world speaking to, and on behalf of, young people about mental health.

I do have a few comments about my personal experience in Australia versus what’s described in this book about the UK. I was gobsmacked that patients only get an average of 6 minutes for a GP appointment. It made me feel so lucky that my GP has 15 minute appointments as standard and 30 minute ones available if you have a list of a bazillion things to discuss or one tricky topic. I also feel even more appreciative that I have two of the most wonderful GP’s on the planet who understand mental health conditions and who consistently go way above and beyond when it comes to looking out for my best interests.

I was absolutely appalled to read about the usual waiting times for people in the UK to be able to access mental health services. Again, my appreciation level for my equally above and beyond awesome psychologist who I may sometimes refer to as Sunshine [insert their first name here] has skyrocketed, even though I didn’t think that was possible.

Okay, so maybe this isn’t as much a traditional book review as it is me telling you the feeling I get from the author but I wonder in this instance if that’s just as important. You can say all of the right things but no one is going to want to listen to you if you’re obnoxious or you have the facts right but can’t back it up with experience or at least some compassion.

What was refreshing in Natasha’s approach was her humour. I find, probably like most people, that a good dose of humour can make even the most difficult topics easier to deal with and this book was no exception. I particularly loved the cute little illustrations by Ruby Elliott that accompanied some of the chapters and only wish there were more of them.

I am struggling to tell you who I’d recommend this book for because ‘everyone’ seems like a cop out so I’ll just tell you some groups of people that came to mind as I was reading: young people, parents, teachers, anyone with a mental illness, anyone supporting anyone with a mental illness, anyone who works in a professional capacity with young people and/or those with mental illnesses, anyone who wants to be a better friend, government and/or political types who make decisions about how money for mental health is allocated, anyone who has influence in any form of media, and anyone who wants to be a better person in general. So, yeah, everyone!

While the chapters can be read in any order I’d highly recommend you read it straight through first. I highlighted so many passages but I am having trouble picking out a favourite because they’re all so damn good. Instead I’ll tell you my favourite word of the book: cheesed-off-ness. I came across it a week ago and it is still making me smile each time I think of it. I’m also quite partial to any book that includes any of the following: shysters, wodge, almighty s**t-show, f**kwittery, bogus, skew-whiff, raison d’être.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for the opportunity to discover this awesomeness. Natasha is definitely one of the good boxes. I know I’m going to get more out of it when the inevitable reread happens. I’m going to be recommending this book to my doctors and psychologist, along with random people who cross my path. I leave this book (temporarily - I know I’ll be back soon!) wanting to be a better person, advocate, listener and support person, and feeling hopeful and inspired.

As someone who suffers from a mental illness, I believed this would be a great book that explores the different kinds of mental illness and open it up as an education tool for those who were reading. Unfortunately, I really didn't feel like that. If anything, it was closer to reading a Mind information page. Even in the parts that felt more genuine, I struggled to figure out what the chapters were really about. This was relatively well written but I felt like it was stilted and not so interesting to read.

Thank you to netgalley and the publishers for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

This was an interesting read which I drew out over a few weeks as it’s in depth. It wasn’t tedious at all and very open and honest and I’m sure plenty of readers will identify with aspects of the chapters and say ‘yes that’s me!’

Brilliantly written and plenty that can apply to colleagues and friends who suffer with anxiety and other ‘hidden’ issues.