Episode #172. GlassHouse. A new world of flowers in mental health wards. Interview with Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion, Author The Rosie Project.

THRIVING MINDS PODCAST

Have you ever noticed that mental health wards rarely have flowers compared to other wards like those in cancer and children's hospitals? "Glasshouse," a novel by Anne Buist and Graeme Simsion, aims to transform mental health in Australia by highlighting the challenges within mental health services, the experiences of mental health workers, and the patients they strive to help and heal.

The authors take us inside the Menzies Mental Health Service, breaking the silence about the realities of being a mental health worker and raising the conversation about what Australia needs to disrupt and transform mental health prevention and treatment.

I found "Glasshouse" at the airport and finished it when I landed in San Francisco; I couldn't put it down. As Anne and Graeme say, people in glass houses should not throw stones.

Listen to Anne and Graeme discuss their new book, written together. I was able to snag them for an hour while they were on the Great Australian Bookshop Tour, visiting 400 bookshops over four months.

To create an opportunity for change, one must walk in the shoes of all those they are writing about. We discuss their upcoming sequel, introducing their characters to neuroscience, early life experiences, and technology.

We'll know mental health treatment has been transformed when all mental health hospitals and wards are part of architecturally designed buildings filled with paintings and flowers. In these spaces, people are treated as humans undergoing multi-generational experiences. If there is a place where flowers are needed, this is it.

Anne Buist is the Chair of Women’s Mental Health at the University of Melbourne, based at Austin Health, with over 30 years of clinical and research experience in perinatal psychiatry, including directing mother-baby units for much of this time. She co-authored "Glasshouse," a series set in a mental health facility, with Graeme Simsion.

Graeme Simsion is the author of "The Rosie Project" series, which has sold over six million copies in forty-two languages.
https://annebuist.com/
https://graemesimsion.com/home/
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