Author Spotlight: Karen Tyrrell

Today, we have the honor of welcoming non-fiction author Karen Tyrrell to our little corner of the world. 

I recently had the privlege of reading Karen's first novel - Me & Her: A Memoir of Madness, and I was simply captivated by the sheer honesty and heart wrenching story.

I connected with Karen and her plight in more ways than one, and felt a sense of relief after I closed the book over.

This novel is a MUST read for anyone out there who suffer's daily at the hands of mental illness. I can assure you that you will not be disappointed.

Now, it's over to Karen, who will share with us her story....

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My name’s Karen Tyrrell, survivor of parent-teacher abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder. Parents of one of my school students inflicted psychological, written and verbal abuse until I could take no more. Each night I screamed out with night terrors, traumatizing my family.

 I escaped to a lonely motel where police discovered me, incarcerating me into the frightening world of the psychiatric system. I wrote Me and Her: A Memoir of Madness to make sense of what was happening to me.

In my tell-all memoir, I take the reader back to the classroom, showing how the harassment triggered my gradual decline and disintegration.

Later I perform an ‘experiment’, purposefully stressing over a disturbed student, keeping myself awake at night–in order to kick-start the creative ideas I craved.

I reveal my relationship with my psychologist, my pitch-black manic dreams and my two personas. ME ─ wife, mother, writer and teacher. HER ─ manic, psychic, healer to the living, telepathic to the dead, and SHE’s very psychotic.

Why did I become so crazy?

How did I reclaim my life?

In the sequel, Me and Him: A Guide to Recovery I reveal shock discoveries casting my first memoir Me and Her: A Memoir of Madness in a new light. I highlight the crucial role my husband, Steve played as carer in my recovery.

Part 1: of my self-help memoir, I share practical mental-wellness advice, demystifying meditation, solving sleep problems and how to beat depression and anxiety. I offer clues, HIM alerts of what mysteries I divulged next.

Part 2: I disclose the dreaded secrets Steve finally revealed to me.

What did Steve finally divulge six years on?

What impact did those revelations have on my marriage and recovery?

"Brisbane teacher who cared too much, ended up in psychiatric facility. Serves as a warning to all of us. Make a great movie!" Spencer Howson: ABC Radio 
"Karen’s story of courage and inspiration-- a very special and personal gift. Understand the impact of mental illness and what the joy of recovery really means." Richard Nelson, CEO of Queensland Alliance of Mental Health
ME AND HER: A Memoir Of Madness reveals how Karen Tyrrell, a dedicated Australian teacher is repeatedly harassed by parents at her school to breaking point and beyond. In a fit of desperation, she escapes and runs. Police and medical professionals discover her hiding in a lonely motel, forcing her into the frightening world of the psychiatric system. 
The reader is taken back to the classroom, discovering how the harassment affected Karen as we journey through her gradual decline and disintegration leading to her incarceration. Later Karen performs an ‘experiment’, purposefully stressing over a disturbed student, keeping herself awake at night – all in order to kick-start the creative ideas she craves. 
Karen reveals her psychic relationship with her psychologist, her pitch-black manic dreams and her two personas. ME ─ wife, mother, writer and teacher. HER ─ manic, psychic, healer to the living, telepathic to the dead, and she’s very psychotic.
Why did she become so crazy?
How did she claw her way back from Insanity?

                                                                                               

A Guide to Recovery reveals the shock discoveries that cast Karen Tyrrell's first memoir Me and Her: A Memoir of Madness in a new light. An Australian author and teacher, Karen highlights the crucial role her husband Steve played, as carer, in her recovery from parent harassment and subsequent mental illness. In this self-help memoir, Karen shares practical mental-wellness advice, demystifies meditation, addresses sleep problems, and explains how to beat depression and anxiety. Karen also discloses the dreaded secrets Steve finally revealed to her. On that fateful blue-sky day, my life as I knew it fell apart. 'You better rewrite that memoir of yours. What I'm going to tell you now will change everything.' What secrets did Steve finally divulge six years on? What impact did those revelations have on their marriage and Karen's recovery?

About Karen

Karen Tyrrell is a multi-genre Brisbane author, passionate mental health advocate, teacher, accredited speaker and blogger. Karen creates writing and mental health articles for magazines. She talks on national and international radio, sharing HOPE and empowerment.

Karen presents the Life Writing program and Resilience Training workshop to hospitals, wellness centres and the workplace. She presents creative writing workshops to schools and memoir writing workshops to libraries.

In 2012, Karen Tyrrell won finalist in the Queensland mental health achievement awards for her tell-all memoir ME & HER: A Memoir Of Madness about her recovery from parent-teacher harassment and mental illness.

ME & HIM: A Guide to Recovery is a self-help mental health manual for everyone, sharing empowering resilience skills.

Learn more about Karen at www.karentyrrell.com

Links of interest

Me and Her: A Memoir of Madness http://www.amazon.com/Me-Her-Memoir-Madness-ebook/dp/B008219QQS

Me and Him: A Guide to Recovery http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BMMQ036

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Thank you Karen for sharing your traumatic story with us today. 

Now why don't you all go and grab a copy or two of Karen's books.