Today I welcome a brave and passionate woman whose memoirs share a very personal journey. Karen Tyrrell taught as a primary school teacher for over 20 years, specializing in Gifted and Talented classes. After parents at Karen’s school repeatedly harassed her to breaking point and beyond, she developed PTSD and severe bipolar disorder. She was hospitalized in 2005/6. She’s now recovered and sharing her passions for writing and mental health. Here is some of her story.
Writers
are sometimes influenced by things that happen in their own lives, are you?
Totally! Everything I write is a
direct result from what I’ve
experienced first-hand and how those events affected me emotionally.
As
a teacher there are many pressures placed upon them. Can you share how these
pressures impacted on you.
A violent child was enrolled in
my primary school class who wielded
terror against me and my students. What was worse: this child’s parents ravaged
verbal, written and psychological abuse and threats against me for over a year.
This family disappeared for a while. When they returned I became stressed,
experiencing screaming night terrors and severe sleep deprivation. I completely
broke down, escaped and ran. Police found me in a lonely motel and incarcerated
me into a psychiatric hospital. Thankfully I recovered and reclaimed my life.
You
no longer teach but are still involved with schools. Tell us about that.
I teach creative writing
workshops to Gifted and Talented classes in schools. I plan to deliver
Resilience Training workshops to teachers and to students in the near future.
You
are a passionate supporter of mental health issues. What message would you like
to spread.
STOP the stigma against mental
illness. It’s like any other illness. You can
recover from mental illness and live a happy balanced life again. I did.
Your
book ME & HER: A Memoir of Madness
is very personal journey. Why did you decide to publish it.
I needed to share my personal
story of why I became so severely ill and HOW I triumphed over mental illness.
I aspired to humanize the face of mental illness and dispel the myths.
You
were recently awarded FINALIST in the mental health achievement awards. What
does that mean to you?
Everything! I’m stoked that my peers recognized my
memoir, ME & HER and my community
work for mental health. This award encouraged me to aim higher, to spread the
news of hope around the globe.
My
companion sequel ME & HIM: a Guide to
Recovery will be launched next year.
Please
stay tuned for tantalizing excerpts and launch announcements.
If
you had a premonition you would be stranded on a desert island, what 5 books
would you throw in your bag.
The
Power of NOW by
Eckhart Tolle
The Complete
Works of William Shakespeare The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank (1947)
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquival
What five words sum you up?
passionate energized risk-taker creative caring
How can we learn more?
My FREE eBook, 30 Tools for
Wellness, Happy Mind, Healthy Day is now available from my website www.karentyrrell.com
You
can buy Me and Her: a Memoir of Madness
from Amazon as an eBook or a print book and read #20 Pages for FREE. http://lnkd.in/BmuVR7
Join Karen on Facebook
Follow Karen on Twitter
Thanks Melissa for your awesome support and understanding what motivated me to write ME & HER. Loved the new angle of your interview questions. Hoped you liked my answers... Karen :)
ReplyDeleteYour very welcome Karen. I was intrigued as a teacher myself to learn more about your story. People don't often hear about the stress and pressures faced by teachers due to the children and parents that have to be dealt with and the impact it has on their own lives.
ReplyDelete