Mental Health @ Home Books is the publishing imprint of Mental Health @ Home. I’m Ashley L. Peterson, and I write books about mental illness aimed at both people living with mental illness and those who want to support us. My approach combines my personal and professional experience and knowledge of mental illness and its treatment.
I have bachelor’s degrees in pharmacy and nursing from the University of British Columbia, as well as a Master of Psychiatric Nursing degree from Brandon University. My continuing education has focused on the use of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy in the treatment of mental illness.
My books take the same pragmatic, candid, cut-though-the-BS tone that you’ll find here on the MH@H blog.
Ashley Peterson is an absolute treasure!
Melody Finch, author of the Learners At Love series
Through her writing she is making an invaluable contribution to mental health resources.
About Ashley L. Peterson
I began my career in health care as a pharmacist in 2002, but I quickly returned to school to get a Bachelor of Science in Nursing. During my 15-year nursing career, I specialized in the field of mental health, working primarily with people with serious and persistent mental illness in both hospital and community settings.
Two years into my nursing career, I was hospitalized and diagnosed with major depressive disorder. Since then, I’ve been passionate about sharing my own experiences to challenge stigma and generate open conversations about mental health and illness.
For my Master of Psychiatric Nursing thesis work, I used a research method called autoethnography to situate my own experiences with mental illness within the context of nursing culture, addressing issues like stigma. I published several papers in peer-reviewed nursing journals based on this work.
Since illness-related disability has brought my nursing career to a close, I’ve shifted my focus to writing and advocacy efforts online.
Published Titles from Mental Health @ Home Books
A Brief History of Stigma examines what exactly stigma is, how it’s evolved over time, and how it manifests in different contexts. That information will be pulled together to identify the most effective ways to navigate and challenge and stigma.
Managing The Depression Puzzle
Managing the Depression Puzzle, now in its 2nd Edition, is my third book. As with my previous books, it combines professional knowledge with personal experience.
It explores a broad range of strategies for managing depression to come at the illness from as many angles as possible.
Making Sense of Psychiatric Diagnosis
Making Sense of Psychiatric Diagnosis explains the diagnostic criteria in the DSM-5 in language that is accessible and easy to understand.
What makes this book special is the first-hand narratives from contributors who live with a variety of psychiatric illnesses. These really bring the diagnostic criteria to life, giving a well-rounded perspective on what each illness is actually like.
Psych Meds Made Simple aims to make pharmacology accessible for people who are actually taking (or considering taking) psychiatric medications, in order to empower them to make informed decisions about their treatment.
This was my first book, and it has done remarkably well, regularly ranking in Amazon’s top 10 for sales in books on psychopharmacology.
Resources for Authors
If you have published or are thinking about publishing a book, you may find these sites helpful.
- AllAuthor | connect with me on my profile
- Association of Independent Authors
- AuthorsDen
- Booklife
- Booklinker: create a single link for your book that works for all countries’ Amazon stores
- CoverVault: create 3D book mockups
- Goodreads Author Program | connect with me on my profile
- LibraryThing
- Nonfiction Authors Association
- Reedsy Learning
- WorldCat: lets you see if your book has made it into any libraries
A Beginner’s Guide to Self-Publishing is a mini e-book containing all the knowledge and tricks that I’ve picked up from self-publishing two books. You can find it on the Resources page.
Editing tools
- Cliché Finder: paste in text, and it will point out any parts of it that are highly clichéd
- Grammarly | ProWritingAid: Google Chrome plugins
- Grammark | GrammarCheck | Hemingway App: copy and paste text into their website
- OneLook Thesaurus: input single words or phrases