Mental Health & Coping

I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

So why do I seemingly so often write about mental health? About characters struggling with mental health?

Because I'm human.

In fact, when IN SIGHT OF STARS, my first book that really centered around one boy's struggle with his mental health/state, got classified (by a publishing INDUSTRY needing to label how to shelve things in a bookstore) as a book about mental illness, it surprised me a little.

I hadn't written a story about a kid with mental illness (nor had I NOT written that story. . . ).  I simply wrote a story about a boy -- this boy, Klee -- who had one-too-many hard things pile on him and felt like he couldn't cope anymore.

Who fell apart.

Who broke temporarily.

And who, then, found a way -- WITH HELP -- to pull himself back together for the time being.

All things I had experienced or witnessed as part of my journey as a human.

In my newest book, JACK KEROUAC IS DEAD TO ME, my main character's mother, most visibly, struggles with her own mental health. Her diagnosis would likely skew toward more definitive mental illness, but she has not yet been fully diagnosed.

In that story, I try to show how hard it can be to get a grasp on some struggles, and how it might affect the child of a parent struggling. But it is without judgment.

My goal is always to give my characters room to suffer, and even to break, and the hope -- and room -- to heal again.

The world is harder than ever (ya think!?!)

Even without a country divided and a pandemic, I believe we all have, or will, face mental health challenges in our lives at one point or another, and the more we talk about our struggles, the more connected we are, and the more able we will be to reach out for help and heal.

That's why my friend, and world's best virtual co-hugger, Cheryl Rainfield, is asking us all to band together tomorrow, Thursday April 23rd, to let others know there is #NoShameInCoping, that it's okay to #ShieldYourMentalHealth, and to #ReachOutToConnect. 

Learn more about Cheryl HERE.

You can find more information here: http://cherylrainfield.com/blog/index.php/2020/04/21/the-pandemic-is-traumatizing-join-me-thursday-april-23-in-letting-others-know-there-is-noshameincoping-and-that-its-okay-to-shieldyourmentalhealth-and-to-reachouttoconnect/

So, let's all #ReachOutToConnect !!!

There is no shame in needing help. There is no stigma in falling apart. There is #NoShameInCoping

And you have every right to #ShieldYourMentalHealth 

Please know there are good and skilled people out there who care and want to help. They can and they will.

I know. I've met them.

xox gae

Maybe Your Students Need More Stories About Mental HEALTH

(adapted from an article I wrote on Linked In)
As we get ready to send our children, our adolescents, our teens and young adults, back into the classroom, it's time to think about those fall stressors, what each child is dealing with at home, in their personal lives, plus the pressures they face, perhaps, from the kid sitting next to them, or waiting for them down the hall.
Knowing this, knowing how many of our teens, especially, are suffering these days, many educators will encourage them to read books about mental illness. There are long lists of such books, many of them great, compelling stories, many award-winners, but how often I wish these stories reflected less about mental illness and more about mental HEALTH.

In fact, IMHO, some of the most famous of these books seem to glamorize mental illness and/or suicide in problematic ways. In these stories, the adults are rarely helpful and rarely very present at all.

In the face of rising natural, and unnatural, disasters, there's an oft-quoted Mr. Rogers' line, "Look for the helpers," but so often in these stories our kids read, the helpers, quite frankly, just aren't very good. They really don't seem to care much. They don't have much skill.

When I sign copies of STARS, I often include
a replica of Sister Agnes Teresa's ladder up.
Because who doesn't need a ladder up sometimes? 

I wondered why this was. . . and, as I wrote and shaped IN SIGHT OF STARS and realized my protagonist, Klee, was in a bad way and needed help, I wanted to present the other side, the side I have been lucky enough to experience -- from my high school guidance counselor who offered me a safe haven through all of junior and senior year, through some of the extraordinary therapists who have helped me and my family through some of our roughest times, their roughest times, as I raised my kids.

That is Dr. Alvarez, a character modeled largely on a real therapist, a true and extraordinary helper who patiently works with Klee until he is ready to participate in his own healing during his stay at an in-patient rehab facility in a fictional town in upstate NY.
Therapists can be like shoes -- it often takes several tryings on before you find one that fits, find one that is comfortable, the right size and style for you. But they are out there, and I'm hungry for them to be fully reflected in books for teens.

Similarly, I'm anxious for the use of psychotropic medications, where needed, to be positively reflected in young adult stories, which is to say, they don't change who a person is, or undermine their ability to be creative -- If they are, perhaps that person is on the wrong medication for them, or the wrong dosage. My experience with such medications is they simply allow the person to function more typically, as themselves, by quieting or taking the edge off atypical and problematic body chemistry.
In IN SIGHT OF STARS, Klee needs the help of medication for the time being, and may not need those medications in the near future.

Yes, there is language in the story. YES, there are intense situations. Have you seen what our kids are privy to these days? Have you met any of our teens?
Look, all I know is our kids need help and support ,and if you want them to feel safe seeking it out, share stories with them where the help HELPS. Because it can, and does.

I promise, it can and does.

- gae

IN SIGHT OF HELP. May is Mental health Awareness Month.

"In Sight of Stars deals with mental health, Vincent Van Gogh, family and recovery; all told in some of the most beautiful prose you will probably ever read. As far as I'm concerned, [this novel] is the equivalent to “Starry Night Over the Rhone,” making Gae Polisner the Vincent Van Gogh of young adult fiction." 

- Teen Reads

May is -- has been -- Mental Health Awareness month, and I have a LOT to "say" about that, except that on the 4th of May -- very un "force" like -- or, maybe exactly force-like -- I fell and broke my hand very un-ninja style, and my typing is, shall we say, fucking limited. 

So, suffice that I want to say this:

WE ALL SUFFER. 

We do.

Some greatly.

Some less so.

I believe it's only a matter of degree and circumstance that separates us.

And if you suffer, there is help out there. Even if you don't suffer acutely, the help is useful. The help can be life-changing. (In this regard, I have witnessed Dialectical Behavior Therapy be life changing, though, as always, it matters that you find a good and skilled therapist/center that fits for you).

If there is one thing I hope readers might take from IN SIGHT OF STARS, it is this:

Open yourself. Know you are worthy. Let people in. 

And, if you want to know more specifics, reach out to me. 

xox gae

** now out in AUDIOBOOK narrated by the awesome Michael Crouch 

IN SIGHT OF STARS. . . "All told in some of the most beautiful prose you will probably ever read."

IN SIGHT OF STARS came out last Tuesday to some of the most wonderful accolades any of my books have ever received, including a starred review from Booklist, great reviews from School Library Journal and Kirkus, and an amazing review from Teenreads.com in which the teen reviewer wrote, "IN SIGHT OF STARS deals with mental health, Vincent van Gogh, family and recovery; all told in some of the most beautiful prose you will probably ever read," plus that gorgeous quote on the left, which I may have asked my publicist to turn into that pretty, fancy social whim.

School Library Journal wrote of the book:

"In the vein of Ned Vizzini's It's Kind of a Funny Story, Polisner's short novel destigmatizes mental illness, emphasizing that everyone needs a little help sometimes. Readers will laugh, cry, and ache alongside Klee as they follow his recover. In a sea of recent contemporary novels about teens with mental illnesses, this one stands out for its strong writing, likable protagonist, and overwhelmingly positive messages." 

While Booklist called it, "An intense, sometimes graphic, totally heartbreaking portrait of a character who will keep pages turning.” 

A teen blogger for Germ Magazine wrote of it, "Gae Polisner’s latest release is nothing short of extraordinary. As I like to say, this book is the lovechild of Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story... One of the most compelling and important books on the shelves today, giving teens an outlet to feel heard and understood." 

There's more wonderful praise to be found on Amazon and at Goodreads, but better than all the praise was the amazing celebration of the book I got to share with friends and family at Book Revue, Long Island.

Despite a nor'easter the morning of that had my hair salon calling to regretfully cancel my blow out due to weather, and my husband and I shoveling away a solid 8" of snow three hours before the release, by show time, the snow had stopped, the roads were clear, and we had a packed house of nearly 100, standing room only, a sea of friendly faces consisting of loved ones, political action warriors (we had a voter registration table and a gun reform table!!!) and friends, swim buddies, and more!!! Of course, I'd like to believe they all came for me, but we all know we all came for the very same thing, myself included:

SHEET CAKE. And oh there was.

The night of. . . 

The day after.

Gosh, I miss those cakes!!!! (Costco sheetcakes decorated by me, by the way. Nothing more delicious on earth!)

All in all, it's been a wonderful launch. For those who don't know, Klee, my main character is an artist, and much I know about art, I know from my mom, an amazing artist in her own right.

In the spirit of the evening, she hand-painted me some amazing Van Gogh inspired starry pants, and the rest of my family some sunflower ISOS shirts!!

my sister, dad and mom. . . you can barely see the awesomeness of my pants here, but oh well.

For any of you who wish you could have been there, but were not, I did a facebook live virtual book launch last night HERE. Feel free to breeze through and just get the flavor.

And for all who read and love IN SIGHT OF STARS, please share that love with your friends and book clubs, and put up reviews at Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, and your other favorite online sites (Instagram, twitter, etc!). They matter! They really do!!

Happy reading!

xox gae

p.s. if you are a teacher or educator and would like to use IN SIGHT OF STARS in your classroom, a phenomenal teacher's guide is coming soon!! I will link here and on my website! And if students are interested, I keep a Pinterest Board for most of my manuscripts in progress, and sometimes toss things onto the board post release, and you can find my IN SIGHT OF STARS board here: https://www.pinterest.com/gaepol/in-sight-of-stars/