Lives lived at the edges: on storytelling that honours the complexity of mental illness and trauma

This PhD by Publication consists of two parts: a selection of my published outputs and this accompanying critical reflection. My published works include my debut novel, The Shock of the Fall, my subsequent nonfiction book, The Heartland: Finding and Losing Schizophrenia (also published as This Book Will Change Your Mind About Mental Health), and my recent podcast series, Why Do I Feel? The critical reflection exammes these works in the context of their contribution to contemporary discourse about mental illness and trauma, aspects of human experience that I have sought to better understand throughout my professional career, not only as a writer but as a mental health nurse. It demonstrates how, by working across multiple creative forms, I have been able to advance and deepen my knowledge of this subject and bring meaningful insights into the public domain. Guiding this inquiry is a question: How can we tell stories that honour the unyielding complexity of mental illness and trauma while remaining alert to the challenges of engaging a general audience? I address this in two chapters. The first focuses on my fiction and interrogates the creative and ethical choices that shaped my novel. The second considers my nonfiction in prose and audio. Throughout the essay, I draw from seminal works in the field that have informed my writing, present original interview material, and evaluate mental health theory and practice