Tony Gillam
Tony Gillam
- writer and musician
MY BOOKS
Non-fiction
Creativity, Wellbeing and Mental Health Practice
(Published by Palgrave Macmillan, 2018)
This book argues that some aspects of mental health practice have become mechanical, joyless and uninspiring, leading to a loss of creativity and wellbeing. A high level of wellbeing is essential to mental health and contemporary mental health care – and creativity is at the heart of this.
A greater awareness of everyday creativity, the arts and creative approaches to mental health practice, learning and leadership can help us reinvent and reinvigorate mental health care. This, combined with a clearer understanding of the complex concept of wellbeing, can enable practitioners to adopt fresh perspectives and roles that can enrich their work.
Creativity and wellbeing are fundamental to reducing occupational stress and promoting professional satisfaction. Introducing a new model of creative mental health care combined with recommendations for wellbeing, Creativity, Wellbeing and Mental Health Practice is a practical, evidence-based book for students, practitioners and researchers in mental health nursing and related disciplines.
Reflections on Community Psychiatric Nursing
(Published by Routledge, 2003)
Reflections on Community Psychiatric Nursing provides new insights into many aspects of the CPN's work. Written when the author was a practising CPN , this is a lively and easy-to-read introduction to the key debates in community mental health. This text is essential reading for students and those undertaking further training as community mental health nursing. In addition, practising nurses and other professionals will find it useful in developing their own reflective practice as well as offering a useful overview of an increasingly important area of nursing.
I've published two non-fiction books and one novella for children. I've also contributed chapters to books on mental health and introductions to reprints of classic children's literature and a handful of short stories. My books can be purchased from your local bookshop, borrowed from your local library (or ordered from that well-known online bookshop by clicking on the cover image.)
Fiction
A Passenger in Time
(Published by Pen Press, 2009)
A novella for children.
t's July 2005. Sunday afternoon at a garden centre is the last place 15 year old Jessica and her brother Craig expect to find any excitement but, when a steam train arrives out of nowhere on a track which shouldn't exist, Jessica finds herself making a journey back in time, to 1955!
Suddenly, nothing makes sense. Who is Jonathan Green, the boy whose life she saves? How can Jessica be in two places at once? To stand any chance of getting back home again, Jessica must become a passenger in time.
SHORT STORIES
I'm very fond of the short story form and have had a handful of my short stories published. My story Eastgate Clock was published in Firewords magazine in 2021 while Weekend on Call was shortlisted for the Bridport Prize 2020, longlisted for the Bournemouth Writing Prize 2021 and published in the anthology Waves of Change (Fresher Publishing, 2021.)