Eamon Shanley

I was born in Duleek Co Meath Ireland. I was 7th of 13 children. I grew up as an invisible child feeling that if I disappeared nobody would notice. I hated school with a vengeance and left at 15 years.

After 3 years of working in an office training to be an accountant I went into nursing firstly in learning disability and later in psychiatric/mental health nursing.

I studies social psychology at Sussex University and did a masters of nurse education and PhD at Edinburgh University. Later I completed a Masters in Counselling at Murdoch University, Western Australia. A period of teaching in Edinburgh, Dundee and Glasgow was followed by time in Australia where I worked as a professor of mental health nursing. I was, and still am, passionate about changing the lot of people who have mental health concerns. I feel that they are the invisible ones.

In my career I have written academic papers dry as chalk and gave conference papers as exciting as mouse droppings. I’ve worked with people whose prime motivation in their work was self- interest – not unlike some of the characters in the book. After years of frustration I have turned to story-telling and hopefully Pure Mental will reach a wider audience and maybe provoke some discussion on the way people with mental health concerns are treated.