Pick Me Up

Pick Me Up is loaded with practical tips and trustworthy advice for managing the symptoms of mental illness.

Website: www.sallytracy.com

Using a bare minimum of words, Pick Me Up aims to take you on a hope-filled journey from anxiety and depression towards wellness. Taken from the diaries of Sally Tracy, a former nurse and bipolar disorder sufferer, Pick Me Up is loaded with practical tips and trustworthy advice for managing the symptoms of mental illness. Pick Me Up recognises the different ways in which symptoms can appear, the associated disabling pain, and provides a variety of strategies aimed at building self-confidence and resilience. Filled with positive messages to help you persevere with the many small steps towards recovery, to reward signs of improvement, and never to lose hope, Pick Me Up will help you overcome seemingly impossible challenges. Pick Me Up is a practical guide for people suffering from anxiety and depression, as well as those facing everyday struggles.

Sally, now aged 67, turned 35 before reaching a crisis point at which she was diagnosed as suffering from bipolar disorder. Having recognised as early as age 11 that 'something was wrong', she somehow managed to find strategies to hide the pain and loneliness of this illness all of her early life. She learnt survival techniques and found the strength to cope with its highs and lows until finally reaching the extremes of deep suicidal depression and hospitalisation. With diagnosis came a slow but gradual awareness of the real challenges of her symptoms and, with continuing professional help and medication, found the ability to live a fulfilling life. Having graduated from St Vincent's hospital in 1968, Sally worked as a registered nurse for the next 3 years. Married in 1971, she raised three children as a full-time mother before returning to nursing in 1991 for another 12 years. From 2007–2009 she worked with the Black Dog Institute's INSIGHT Program for Secondary School Students mental health awareness. She now enjoys her seven grandchildren, has discovered a talent for drawing and painting, and remains passionate about raising family and community awareness of mental illness and reducing the stigma associated with it.