In Leslie Tourish's award-winning novel The Headshrinker's Brigade, the importance of mental healthcare takes center stage. Tourish used her own personal experience as a psychotherapist to weave the story of a young woman on a journey to find her true calling as a therapist after trauma.
About the Novel:
Julia Longley seems to have it all - a great job as a photojournalist and a perfect boyfriend in Nick, the paper’s star reporter. But it all comes crashing down when she experiences a trauma on the job and temporarily loses her eyesight due to hysterical blindness.
In The Headshrinker’s Brigade, Leslie Tourish weaves a story with a quirky and memorable cast of characters, starring Julia, a young woman who was blind to many aspects of her life, but who sets off on a journey to rediscover her true calling as a therapist and what she really wants in love.
Originally released as a paperback, it is now available as an audiobook on Audible. It is narrated by voice actor Carrington MacDuffie, known for her narration of Marianne Williamson’s A Politics of Love and Marilynne Robinson’s What Are We Doing Here.
I had a chance to interview the author to learn more.
Why did you write this book?
Hi Bekah,
And before we start, I want to thank you for inquiring about my book, The Headshrinker’s Brigade. This book has been living in me for years, and the seeds were gathered as I switched from being a photojournalist in daily newspapers to leaving that life behind to attend graduate school and work towards my masters in counseling. So, I know both worlds. The main character, Julia, does the same jump in a fictionalized story arc. When I started working as a therapy intern in a small Texas mental health clinic, I was struck by how different this world was from newspapers, and how invested the therapists and caseworkers were in the lives of their clients. Events would happen in this clinic where I would think, Man, if only there could be a camera to capture this, because this is wild. So, while no real person has been depicted, I tried to capture the essence of the clients and their struggles, and the commitment of the staff. That clinical experience was unique, and touching, and nothing has ever come close to matching it since. Julia’s journey was born from those people.
You made a career switch - can you share a little bit about why you made that jump?
I worked in newspapers for thirteen years, and while I always loved covering stories, after awhile it just wasn’t a good fit anymore. I found that going from story to story, interview to interview, was interesting but began to make me feel empty inside. As a photojournalist there’s always a camera between you and the subject. My last eight years were in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was such a beautiful place to be, and made the leaving that much harder to do. But I felt a career calling. One hint of my restlessness was at newspaper parties I used to test people on the Myers Briggs home-version book, called Please Understand Me, to figure out people’s personality profiles. They’d think it was interesting, but I found it just so darn cool. After awhile I just gave in to where I was being drawn, took a leap, and stuck my Nikons in a corner and tried something different. It ended up being a very good move.
What do you hope readers will get out of the book?
I hope readers get out to the book that humans are wired for growth. The only constant is change, and when we don’t change and grow, it can be such a wicked cocktail for sadness. I believe we’re born with innate gifts, and the only one who can unlock our gifts is ourselves, with a little help from our friends. But the other constant with human suffering is we resist change, we long for safety. The hero’s journey is to lean into the pain, and learn the lessons along the way. If we’re lucky, we come out stronger inside.
Why is it important to reduce the stigma around mental health issues?
Because the opposite of love is judgment, and a stigma is born from shame. Also everyone feels depression and anxiety since suffering is part of life, and it doesn’t mean that we’re defective. There’s wisdom tucked inside mental health issues that says something isn’t working. For people suffering from more profound mental health issues, such as schizophrenia, medications are extremely helpful, but so is compassion and connection. But most mental health issues are more on the neurotic scale, and if we’re reaching out for help, just to be listened to in a caring, curious way, are powerful first steps towards healing.
How can people care for their mental health right now, particularly if they're limiting the people they see face-to-face?
Oh yes, 2020. This year we’re all being stretched to the limits. I, and a lot of my colleagues, have moved away from in-person sessions to working with clients through Telehealth or phone sessions. While not ideal, the work is still being able to be done. And I believe that as we conquer this pandemic, Telehealth will continue to be used as an adjunct model, since it may be more convenient for people especially as we learn how to speak Zoom.
About the Author:
By day, Leslie Tourish helps others - via screen now - through life’s biggest problems. By night, she follows her lifelong dream of being a writer. The thread that continues to weave between the pages of her life is her love for the written word. Stories and characters have always played in her head, just waiting for the day they can bust out and have a life of their own.
Just like her main character, Julia, after a career as a photojournalist, she decided she needed a change and returned to school where she earned a Master of Arts in Human Services specializing in counseling. While employed in various mental health clinics, the idea for a book took root and resulted in The Headshrinker’s Brigade. It won the 2019 Texas Authors Book Award Contest for general fiction.
Born and raised in Texas, Leslie currently lives in a small town in the Texas Hill Country with her husband and three terribly spoiled dogs. For more on Leslie, www.latourish.com.
Author Links:
Website: www.leslieanntourish.com
Facebook: Leslie Tourish, Author
Instagram: @leslie.tourish
Twitter: @leslietourish
Why did you write this book?
Hi Bekah,
And before we start, I want to thank you for inquiring about my book, The Headshrinker’s Brigade. This book has been living in me for years, and the seeds were gathered as I switched from being a photojournalist in daily newspapers to leaving that life behind to attend graduate school and work towards my masters in counseling. So, I know both worlds. The main character, Julia, does the same jump in a fictionalized story arc. When I started working as a therapy intern in a small Texas mental health clinic, I was struck by how different this world was from newspapers, and how invested the therapists and caseworkers were in the lives of their clients. Events would happen in this clinic where I would think, Man, if only there could be a camera to capture this, because this is wild. So, while no real person has been depicted, I tried to capture the essence of the clients and their struggles, and the commitment of the staff. That clinical experience was unique, and touching, and nothing has ever come close to matching it since. Julia’s journey was born from those people.
You made a career switch - can you share a little bit about why you made that jump?
I worked in newspapers for thirteen years, and while I always loved covering stories, after awhile it just wasn’t a good fit anymore. I found that going from story to story, interview to interview, was interesting but began to make me feel empty inside. As a photojournalist there’s always a camera between you and the subject. My last eight years were in Santa Fe, New Mexico, which was such a beautiful place to be, and made the leaving that much harder to do. But I felt a career calling. One hint of my restlessness was at newspaper parties I used to test people on the Myers Briggs home-version book, called Please Understand Me, to figure out people’s personality profiles. They’d think it was interesting, but I found it just so darn cool. After awhile I just gave in to where I was being drawn, took a leap, and stuck my Nikons in a corner and tried something different. It ended up being a very good move.
What do you hope readers will get out of the book?
I hope readers get out to the book that humans are wired for growth. The only constant is change, and when we don’t change and grow, it can be such a wicked cocktail for sadness. I believe we’re born with innate gifts, and the only one who can unlock our gifts is ourselves, with a little help from our friends. But the other constant with human suffering is we resist change, we long for safety. The hero’s journey is to lean into the pain, and learn the lessons along the way. If we’re lucky, we come out stronger inside.
Why is it important to reduce the stigma around mental health issues?
Because the opposite of love is judgment, and a stigma is born from shame. Also everyone feels depression and anxiety since suffering is part of life, and it doesn’t mean that we’re defective. There’s wisdom tucked inside mental health issues that says something isn’t working. For people suffering from more profound mental health issues, such as schizophrenia, medications are extremely helpful, but so is compassion and connection. But most mental health issues are more on the neurotic scale, and if we’re reaching out for help, just to be listened to in a caring, curious way, are powerful first steps towards healing.
How can people care for their mental health right now, particularly if they're limiting the people they see face-to-face?
Oh yes, 2020. This year we’re all being stretched to the limits. I, and a lot of my colleagues, have moved away from in-person sessions to working with clients through Telehealth or phone sessions. While not ideal, the work is still being able to be done. And I believe that as we conquer this pandemic, Telehealth will continue to be used as an adjunct model, since it may be more convenient for people especially as we learn how to speak Zoom.
About the Author:
By day, Leslie Tourish helps others - via screen now - through life’s biggest problems. By night, she follows her lifelong dream of being a writer. The thread that continues to weave between the pages of her life is her love for the written word. Stories and characters have always played in her head, just waiting for the day they can bust out and have a life of their own.
Just like her main character, Julia, after a career as a photojournalist, she decided she needed a change and returned to school where she earned a Master of Arts in Human Services specializing in counseling. While employed in various mental health clinics, the idea for a book took root and resulted in The Headshrinker’s Brigade. It won the 2019 Texas Authors Book Award Contest for general fiction.
Born and raised in Texas, Leslie currently lives in a small town in the Texas Hill Country with her husband and three terribly spoiled dogs. For more on Leslie, www.latourish.com.
Author Links:
Website: www.leslieanntourish.com
Facebook: Leslie Tourish, Author
Instagram: @leslie.tourish
Twitter: @leslietourish
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