After Her Brain Broke: Helping My Daughter Recover Her Sanity

by Susan Inman

For reviews and TV and radio interviews, please click here

Available at Chapters/Indigo , Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Barnes and Noble  

Susan Inman's memoir describes her family's nine year journey to help her younger daughter recover from a catastrophic schizoaffective disorder.  "...one of the best accounts I have read of serious mental illness as told by a mother." and "Highly  recommended" E. Fuller Torrey, MD author of Surviving Schizophrenia

  The Hon Michael Kirby, Chair of the Mental Health Commission of Canada, and Ella Amir, Chair, Family Caregivers Advisory Committee, Mental Health Commission of Canada state:

"Susan Inman's account provides glimpses of the heartache and devastation a family experiences when mental illness strikes. In a measured tone devoid of drama or embellishment, she describes her travail over nine years of her daughter's illness, a 'devoted and desperate' mother."

Daniel Kalla, MD, ER Physician, St. Paul's Hospital, Vancouver and International Bestselling Author of Pandemic, Rage Therapy, Blood Lies, andOf Flesh And Blood had this to say of the book:

"After Her Brain Broke is a harrowing, heart wrenching, and ultimately triumphant story of one family's struggle with a child's mental illness. It's impossible not to be moved by Susan Inman's honest and touching account of her daughter's sudden descent into mental health turmoil and the family's long hard battle to overcome it. A must read for families coping with a mental illness, and a wonderful eye-opener for those of us lucky enough not to have been affected."

Stephanie Engel, a Harvard psychiatrist said:

"a much needed book about her experience as a mother coming to grips with her daughter's devastating mental illness...... Believing in one's own instincts as a parent in the face of expertise, myths and prejudices is a monumental task, and Ms Inman does it with grace and conviction."

Jehannine C. Austin, PhD CGC/CCGC Assistant Professor, MSFHR Scholar & CIHR New Investigator UBC Departments of Psychiatry and Medical Genetics.

"eloquently and movingly describes her journey through her daughter's illness.... Her powerful story offers hope and validation to others who find themselves in similar situations."

P. Jane Milliken, RN, PhD Associate Professor Associate Director Undergraduate Education School of Nursing, University of Victoria

"Susan's story is inspirational."

Renea Mohammed, Program Co-ordinator, Vancouver Community Mental Health Services, Peer Support Program

"This is an important and powerful work"

About Susan Inman

Susan has written numerous articles on topics related to   serious mental illnesses for a variety of Canadian publications including The Globe and Mail, the Vancouver Province, and the online journal The Tyee.She continues to participate in public speaking at large and small events about the experiences of families dealing with serious mental illnesses.She is currently vice-chair of the Family Advisory Committee (FAC) of  Vancouver Coastal Mental Health Services (VCMHS). Since 2005, she has been involved in organizing an annual Family Conference co-sponsored by  the FAC, VCMHS, the BCSS, and the Mood Disorder Association of BC.

A Past President of the Vancouver/Richmond Branch of the British Columbia Schizophrenia Society (BCSS), she received, in 2005, an award from the BCSS in recognition of her "outstanding service and dedication to alleviate the suffering caused by schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses"

She created and produced, in partnership with the Schizophrenia Society of Canada, the BCSS, and Playwrights Theatre Centre (PTC) in Vancouver, the This Is a Spoon one act playwrighting contest for scripts dealing with schizophrenia. This national contest culminated in June, 2003, in two evenings of soldout performances of professionally staged readings at PTC of the winning script.

Susan received a BA from Swarthmore College and an MA from UCLA. She has taught drama and English at Windermere Secondary School in Vancouver for almost twenty years. (photo by Portraits by Anita, Vancouver)

Distributed by the Ingram Book Company, trade paper, ISBN 978-0-9810037-8-8

Further details forthcoming- for more information about this book or others by Bridgeross Communications  e-mail info@bridgeross.com

For an explanation of schizophrenia published by Bridgeross, please see Schizophrenia: Medicine's Mystery - Society's Shame recommended by the World Fellowship for Schizophrenia and Allied Disorders.