Description

An investigation into the failings of Australias mental healthcare system grounded in a personal story of a motherdaughter relationship

Journalist Elfy Scott grew up in a household where her mothers schizophrenia was rarely if ever spoken about They navigated this silence outside the family home too for many years this complex mental health condition was treated as an open secret

Over the past two decades we have started talking more about common mental health conditions like depression and anxiety But complex conditions like schizophrenia bipolar disorder and psychosis have been left behind as have many of the people who live with these conditions or who care for them

Part memoir part deepdive investigation The One Thing Weve Never Spoken About is filled with rage at how our nations public discourse emergency services and healthcare systems continue to fail so many people It is also a work of care telling the littleheard stories of people who live with these conditions and work at the front lines of mental health Above all this timely compelling book is informed by hope and courage breaking down taboos and asking big questions about vulnerability justice and duty of care

Expansive and generous brimming with kindness revelatory accounts and wit The book itself is a thing of grace Rick Morton

Elfy brings empathy reason and generosity to a book Australia so desperately needs Zara McDonald

Absorbing and mindopening this is panoramic in scope while offering a deeply intimate portrait of fierce familial love and care Benjamin Law