Carers are often the people quietly holding everything together during a mental health crisis. They attend appointments, search for answers, advocate for their loved one and manage the practical realities of daily life, often while their own wellbeing receives little attention.
Riverview author Sarah Martin’s new book, Dear Carer, is written especially for them.
From Dear Psychosis to Dear Carer
In 2023, In the Cove spoke to Sarah following the release of her first book, Dear Psychosis.
The book shared her family’s experience after Sarah received a message from a stranger saying her daughter Alice, who was travelling alone in Turkey, appeared to be experiencing a serious mental health episode.
Sarah travelled to Istanbul to bring Alice home. Alice was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Dear Psychosis went on to receive international recognition, winning the Self-Help Memoir category at the 2023 Goody Business Book Awards and first place in its category at the 2023 Chanticleer International Book Awards.
Sarah has now turned her attention to the people standing beside those living with complex mental health concerns.
Supporting the Carer
When someone experiences serious mental ill health, the focus is understandably placed on the person in crisis. However, families and carers can suddenly find themselves trying to understand emergency departments, treatment options, recovery plans and unfamiliar health systems, often during an already frightening and exhausting time.
There are around three million unpaid carers in Australia, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Their contribution is immense, but many carers continue to feel unseen, unheard and unsure where to turn for practical guidance.
Dear Carer aims to help fill that gap.
Drawing on lived experience and conversations with carers, psychiatrists, psychologists, doctors, nurses, police, paramedics and clinicians, Sarah explores the issues families may encounter during emergency care, ongoing treatment and recovery.
The book looks at how carers can support and advocate for someone they love while also recognising their own needs and protecting their wellbeing.
Through the Hard Days and Small Wins
Mental health recovery is rarely a simple or predictable journey. For carers, it can involve difficult days, uncertainty and setbacks alongside moments of progress that may seem small to others but feel enormous to a family.
Dear Carer acknowledges all of it.
Sarah describes the book as being for those “living, loving and caring for a loved one with complex mental health concerns”.
It is intended to offer carers practical tools, reassurance and the reminder that they do not have to navigate every part of the journey alone.
“Dear Carer is not just a book. It’s a hand to hold, a breath of reassurance and a reminder that love can light even the darkest moments,” Sarah said.
Sarah is a perioperative nurse, writer, carer peer worker, mental health advocate and SANE peer ambassador. She is also a regular keynote speaker on mental health and caring.
Where to Buy Dear Carer
Copies of Dear Carer are available locally from Burns Bay Bookery, giving readers the opportunity to support both a Lane Cove author and an independent local bookshop.
Signed paperback copies and further information are also available through Sarah Martin’s website. The book is also available through Amazon and Apple Books.
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