Fresh FIction Box Not To Miss
Debbie Wiley | May is Mental Health Awareness Month
Author Guest / May 16, 2019

CW/TW: In this article, senior reviewer Debbie Wiley discusses mental health awareness, recommending young adult titles that have depression, suicide, and other mental health topics. If you are anyone you know is dealing with suicidal thoughts or behaviors, please call 1-800-273-8255 or text RISE to 741741 to speak/text with a counselor.  As a teenager, I remember being fascinated by mental health issues, not knowing at that age that I was shaping my life’s work as a social worker. I devoured books like THE BELL JAR and GO ASK ALICE, but it was I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN that really touched a chord in me. Not only was the main character named Deborah, but she had a fantasy world not completely unlike many of the fantasy novels I read. Even better, she had a psychiatrist who listened and helped her journey back to sanity. May is Mental Health Awareness Month and the importance of this has perhaps never been greater. Whether it’s the seemingly daily reports of bullying, suicides, school shootings, or other horrors, society is starting to recognize that mental health awareness is imperative. Slowly but surely the stigma against getting help is being erased. The young adult book market…