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The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Jana Rozenhalova.

Jana provides a short summary of her life and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Jana tells us about her long struggles with eating disorders and provides us with the metaphor that it is like being a broken cup glued back together again. You have to be very careful it does not break again.

Jana’s story is one, yet it offers us unique insights. She comments at one point, “[…] if it was not for the eating disorders […] I would not be me”.

Jana notes that while she could see many reasons behind her eating disorders, they did not really matter. What mattered was that she could overcome them.

While Jana first thought hope was an empty word, she now realises in retrospect that she was more hopeful than anyone she knew. As Patricia Deegan (1996) puts it, “Hope is not just a nice sounding euphemism. Hope and biological life are inextricably intertwined” (p. 93).

Jana concludes her account saying she would like to be able to look back at her life and feel that she had lived up to her potential. Most of us would also be happy with that outcome.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Charlotte Wall.

In this case study, Charlotte provides a short account of her background and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Charlotte took comfort in being given a diagnosis of bipolar; it helped explain a lot of her problems.

It is easier to identify with a single case study and person’s story than anonymised group research data. Each have their place in helping us understand mental health problems.

Transitions are not always bad. Charlotte talks about how her life changed for the better when she went to sixth form college. The onward transition to university has also been a positive experience for her. This needs to be remembered.

As everyone is currently living through the Covid-19 pandemic, Charlotte’s perspective on the importance of social support for mental well-being is critical. Thankfully, she has loving parents and a partner. There are others less fortunate.

Charlotte shows us how she embraced her diagnosis of bipolar and her “weirdness”.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Shelley Seaton.

Shelley gives a short background to her life story and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Shelley tells us about a number of life events that impacted on her mental health issues, starting with childhood bullying and also abusive relationships.

The case study approach privileges the person’s lived experience. It also lets us see the unique complexity of each person’s story.

Shelley received little help in the form of counselling either at school or when she experienced post-natal depression.

When mental health problems start in childhood, schools have a vital role to play. While the bullying stopped when Shelley’s Mum went to the school, the damage was already done. She was given no support to help her through this.

Patricia Deegan has asked, “Could you have survived what this person has survived?” (Deegan, 1996, p. 95). Shelley’s story is a tale of survival.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Lígia Cardoso Baldé.

Lígia gives a biographical description of her life and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Lígia talks about the stress of being a young single parent with a disabled son. She talks about how she built up her resilience over several years.

The story Lígia tells is one of battling against all the odds. Her account shows how she had to manage without much external support, even from family.

Research has long demonstrated an association between life events and stress. Lígia tells us about the various stressors that confronted her at different stages of her life journey.

All of us can make a difference in peoples’ lives if we make the effort. Lígia talks about two doctors who knew the medical implications of her son’s condition, but who also recognised her emotional needs and addressed those as well.

Lígia’s story is inspiring at so many levels. She has successfully adjusted to a different culture, to a different language and has had to establish a new social support network. Now she is not just surviving, but slowly thriving.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Rob Wright.

Using a case study approach, Rob gives a short account of his background and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Rob’s is an amazing account of surviving a harrowing upbringing, which fortunately few of us reading this piece will have had to endure.

Rob’s story perfectly illustrates why first-person accounts are so powerful. It is hard to imagine a statistical paper having the same impact as this description of one person’s lived experience.

Suicide is the greatest danger for anyone with a long-term mental health problem. Rob has faced this decision many times and has courageously battled on.

Rachel’s simple, yet profound mantra, of “someone to love, something to do, somewhere to live,” is vital for all of our well-being. As Rob also points out, you still need money to put into the electric meter!

Some people have tough upbringings and some have cruel upbringings. Rob had both. His survival is a testament to the uncrushable nature of the human spirit.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Dave Morrison.

In this case study, Dave provides a short biography of his background and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Dave has had two careers. The first as a scaffolder. The second as a nursing assistant in mental health services. He has ended up bruised and battered in both.

Every case study tells a different story. The effects of stress can be cumulative.

There are many accounts of how hospitalisation has traumatised service users. Yet, working in these services can also be traumatic for the care staff.

Professor Tony Butterworth used to say “Happy nurse equals happy patient”. If you look after staff needs, they will provide better care. Have we ever really looked after the needs of mental health-care staff?

Dave’s story is unique. As Nicola Adams says, “Fall down eight times, get up nine”. Dave has fallen down many more times than this. Eventually, it gets harder to get back up.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Andrea Handley.

In this case study, Andrea gives a short account of her background and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Andrea outlines a number of issues from her childhood that led to her later mental health problems.

Individual case studies are of course just the story of one person’s difficulties. For too long in psychiatry, case studies were written by professionals about their lives and problems. First person accounts allow the individual to tell their own narrative.

Andrea is not the first person to talk about the delay in access to mental health services. As she notes, 16 years on, she is still waiting for that referral! She notes that a friend of her could not wait even the three months that she had been and tragically took her own life.

So much of Andrea’s story is overshadowed by loss, especially the death of her brother when she was a teenager. As a society, we are no as well “prepared” for death, as older generations. The coronavirus pandemic is bringing our mortality home to all of us.

Patricia Deegan once asked, “How much loss could a human heart hold?” In this moving account Andrea lets us see the huge losses she has sustained and yet she is still determined to try and help others who are suffering. Hers is truly a remarkable life.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Suzanne Rogerson.

Suzanne provides a short summary of her life and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Suzanne tells us about the suicide of her father and how for years she was unable to discuss this, before discovering she was probably suffering from complicated grief.

Single case studies are just that. One person’s story. However they offer us insights into suffering that cannot be glimpsed from large research studies.

The stigma attached to suicide means that people often avoid talking about it. The surviving relative is thus left to carry this enormous burden on their own.

Suzanne draws attention to the documentary made by Professor Green, about his attempts to understand what made his own father take his life. Programmes like this can help demystify the issues surrounding suicide.

People sometimes dismissively talk about psychology students choosing the subject as they want to understand themselves and their own pathology. For Suzanne this was a liberating process.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Kayleigh Beard-Blackband.

Kayleigh provides a short biographical description of her life. She is then interviewed by Jerome.

Kayleigh achieved so much while under intense domestic and academic pressure. This gives her hope that she will be able to recover from recurrent depression.

Single case studies are of course only one person’s story. However, they can offer key personal insights and provide encouragement to others.

Kayleigh’s comments “It is easy to fall off the radar in mental health services”, suggest services need to ensure that all referrals are followed up.

Services need to offer individuals the help that they want. Many will have a preference for individual over group treatments. People should be offered a choice.

Kayleigh’s story is a remarkable account of survival and growth against all the odds.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a profile of Paul Makin.

In this case study, part of the Remarkable Lives series, Paul gives a short account of his background and is then interviewed by Jerome.

Paul talks about his recovery from alcohol addiction, then a period of complete wellness, until he developed a psychosis. He talks about how unbearable his admission was to an acute unit.

Every single story in the Remarkable Lives series teaches us something different about mental health problems. Paul’s story is no exception.

We need to think how we can make the admission process to hospital as peaceful and positive as we can. This is easier said than done.

Paul suggests they need to get more recovery stories out there to the general public, so they can see it is possible to make a recovery from mental health problems.

I am not sure I have come across many people like Paul. He battled for many years with an alcohol addiction, which he managed to overcome. He then slowly developed a psychotic illness, which led to an acute admission. The process of recovery has now started a second time.