One in five Australians experience mental illness in any year, and 45 per cent will experience a mental illness in their lifetime, according to the Black Dog Institute.
The ongoing global pandemic and state-wide lockdowns have contributed to reports of an increase in people seeking mental health services across the country, as well as rising rates of financial stress, climate anxiety and surges in mental distress in young people.
For World Mental Health Week, 9-17 October, we’ve compiled a list of Penguin Random House Australia books, written by experts aimed at enhancing your mental wellbeing in the current global climate.
Financial Anxiety
She’s On the Money by Victoria Devine
Creator of Australia’s #1 finance podcast, financial adviser Victoria Devine, has put all of her expert advice into the ultimate money guide. She’s on the Money arms you with advice and useful tips and tricks that cover all areas of money and finance that may be preoccupying our time right now in the current climate.
Happy Money by Ken Honda
For many of us, the subject of money is unavoidably stressful. Managing our personal finances is complicated, time-consuming and often, particularly in the slow countdown to payday, dispiriting. Happy Money will reinvent the way you see your personal finances because when we heal the fear and anxiety we have about money, we successfully achieve prosperity and peace.
Plan B. by Shannah Kennedy
Change can turn our plans, our lives and our dreams upside down. Whether you have faced a redundancy, dealt with a break-up, lost a loved one, had a health scare, or been impacted by an economic downturn, your ability to navigate through the change process and create an alternative plan will be the key to your future happiness.
Emotional and Physical Burnout
The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel Van Der Kolk
What causes people to continually relive what they most want to forget, and what treatments could help restore them to a life with purpose and joy? The Body Keeps the Score sheds new light on the routes away from trauma – which lie in the regulation and syncing of body and mind, using sport, drama, yoga, mindfulness, meditation and other routes to equilibrium.
You’re Not Broken by Sarah Woodhouse
Research psychologist and trauma specialist Dr Sarah Woodhouse teaches us what trauma is, why it is the root cause of so many problems and how it can go on to affect so many aspects of our lives. You’re Not Broken arms readers with essential techniques that balance body, mind and behavioural tools to help guide you towards breaking the trauma loop and reclaiming your life.
Emotional Female by Yumiko Kodota
With our healthcare system under more strain than ever, and everyday people questioning whether their job is right for them, Yumiko is the best person to speak to about burning out, the signs to look for, why it’s okay to go for your career Plan B, and working through the need to succeed when life is put on hold.
Eco Anxiety
A Zero Waste Life by Anita Vandyke
Want to make a change but don’t know where to start? The practical thirty-day guide to radically reducing your waste by 80%, from waste warrior Anita Vandyke.
How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates
In this urgent, authoritative book, Bill Gates sets out a wide-ranging, practical – and accessible – plan for how the world can get to zero greenhouse gas emissions in time to avoid a climate catastrophe.
Why You Should Give A F*ck About Farming by Gabrielle Chan
If your anxiety rose when you experienced a row of empty shelves at the super market during the pandemic, we need to talk about where that food comes from.
Youth Mental Health
Raising Girls Who Like Themselves by Christopher Scanlon and Kasey Edwards
Girls today have more opportunities than ever but one alarming problem – far too many don’t like themselves. Why? Because the world is toxic for girls and the way we are raising girls is no longer working in today’s society. Raising Girls Who Like Themselves distils the seven characteristics that a girl must have in order to like herself, and outlines how parents can nurture these traits with practical steps.
Anxious Kids by Michael Grose“Our kids are in the midst of an anxiety epidemic. It’s estimated 500,000 Australian children and 117 million children worldwide suffer from an anxiety disorder and symptoms of anxiety can start as early as four years old. Bestselling author Michael Grose and leading researcher and educator Dr Jodi Richardson have the answers to helping your child manage anxiety, and thrive.
The Resilience Project by Hugh Van Cuylenburg
Hugh Van Cuylenburg is a resilience expert and has many tips for parents to help their kids get through lockdown and avoid the constant, negative barrage of COVID news. The Resilience Project shares positive, evidence-based mental health strategies to help kids build resilience and happiness when there only seems to be doom and gloom.
Mental Health in the Workplace
The Authority Gap by Mary Ann Seigart
The Authority Gap provides a startling perspective on the unseen bias at work in our everyday lives, to reveal the scale of the gap that still persists between men and women. Including interviews with pioneering women such as Baroness Hale, Mary Beard and Bernadine Evaristo, this is a fresh feminist take on how to address and counteract systemic sexism in ways that benefit us all.
The Space Between by Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald
Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald, creators of the award-winning pop culture podcast Shameless, give the career advice they wish they heard as twenties. From the mental health challenges, finding the ‘perfect job’, to overcoming career setbacks and asking for the salary you deserve. Twentysomethings are taking over the workplace and The Space Between has the best tips and tricks for starting their careers.
Working Hard, Hardly Working by Grace Beverley
We all know the pressure of feeling like we should be grinding 24/7 while simultaneously being told that we should ‘just relax’ and take care of ourselves, like we somehow have to decide between success and sanity. From a young entrepreneur shaking up the archaic business world comes a book about why productivity and self-care aren’t on opposing sides, and how to find the balance we all need.
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