As an advocate for the healing powers of poetry, her new book You’ll Never Walk Alone is an attempt to convey her enthusiasm and passion for the written word. It is a collection of “poems for life’s ups and downs” that will show you how to bring poetry into your everyday emotional reality, where it can be a new tool for wellbeing. Her hope is that poems can become part of everyone’s emotional life too, even if you don’t think poetry is ‘your thing’. We've loved dipping in and out of You'll Never Walk Alone: A poem book for all life's ups and downs by bestselling author, Rachel Kelly. Really inspiring - it's like a hug in book form. If you're looking for thoughtful mother's day gifts, you won't get much better than this. * UK Mums * Sometimes I feel like a motherless child Sometimes I feel like a motherless child Sometimes I feel like a motherless child Long way from my home.

The poems are grouped by season with each season having a different tone; Winter – time for sadness, Spring – time for hope, Summer – time for joy and Autumn – time for reflection. Each poem is printed and Rachel then reflects on the meaning. Spring includes ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ by Oscar Hammerstein II – the one the title is taken from and also the one that definitely can’t be read without effectively singing it in your head. Rachel Kelly graduated from Oxford University, studying History. [1] She then worked as a journalist for The Times newspaper in the UK. [2] Since 2014 she has run wellbeing workshops for mental health charities MIND, as well as other organizations. [3] Kelly now works as a mental health campaigner. [4] She has written opinion columns for The Guardian [5] and has served as a commentator on the BBC. [6] [2] Books [ edit ] While many argue that the reason for our mental health epidemic is the stress of modern life, our deteriorating diet is a more important factor. Our brain’s large size was made possible by our evolutionary relationship to fish; fish were not only our main source of protein and calories, but also they gave us important vitamins and minerals, and, crucially, omega 3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids, such as docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). You’ll Never Walk Alone: Poems for life’s ups and downs is a collection of the kind of inspirational texts – mainly poems – that can accompany us, whatever we are feeling, from sorrow to delight. The poems are organised according to the season in which they ‘belong’: we all have seasons of our minds, be they wintery and dark, or more spring-like and hopeful.Like Rachel Kelly, I passionately believe in the power of poetry to reach the soul. In times of heartache and joy, this wonderful anthology will help and delight all through the year. Kelly's brilliant introduction and explanations of each choice make this an indispensable companion, always.' From Rachel Kelly’s heartfelt introduction advocating the power of poetry You’ll Never Walk Alone is an inclusive, supportive and effective book that makes the reader feel as if they are understood and given succour. The use of the pronouns I and you has the effect of Rachel Kelly speaking directly to the reader and to them alone as a friend might. I loved this feeling of a friend in a time of need. The new book is You”ll Never Walk Alone: Poems for Life’s Ups and Down. It is a selection of poems and writing, prefaced by Kelly’s thoughts on why she chose to include each one. The range is broad, from Sappho through Keats and Wordsworth to Mary Oliver and Derek Walcott, the author of her favourite poem in the book, Love.

Writing about my depression and my recovery allowed me, to paraphrase the Bible, to feel ‘oneself to be in a desert, and make of it a well’. Something positive came out of it, which perhaps spoke to others. And for me the creative process itself is also valuable – writing for me, and fiddling with sentences, and how to express myself, feels fruitful and purposeful. Motherless children have a hard time Motherless children have such a hard time Motherless children have such a really hard time A lovely collection of inspirational poetry, designed to help you through every occasion, on good days and bad... insightful. -- HELLOThat’s not to say that You’ll Never Walk Alone is a glib panacea for depression or sadness. Some of the entries are despairing and negative, affording the reader the opportunity to realise all emotions are valid and acceptable – it’s what we do with those emotions that counts. You’ll Never Walk Alone is a collection of the kind of inspirational texts – mainly poems – that can accompany us, whatever we are feeling, from sorrow to delight. The texts are not just about words which can console us or comfort us – though they often do this too. Rather these are poems that allow us to enjoy a full range of emotions. The poems are organised according to the season in which they ‘belong’: we all have seasons of our minds, be they wintery and dark, or more spring-like and hopeful. Comprising 52 poems, with analysis by Rachel, You’ll Never Walk Alone introduces a poem for each week of the year plus tips on bringing poetry into your life. They are not all poems of consolation. "Since my Mum died four years ago, I have seen that we need to spend time on the good times as well. All emotions can be a bit frightening, even happy ones. So I wanted my book to cover that too.” Obviously, if you hate poetry this book probably isn’t going to be right for you, but if you either already like poetry or are even slightly undecided about it, then this is a gentle introduction to poems grouped together to link to specific moods, so you already know which section to go to if reading them for wellbeing reasons. It isn’t a book I’d have thought to have bought for myself but is one I’d recommend as a gift for someone, maybe for Mother’s Day as that is coming up or as an alternative Easter present. As I mentioned at the start of my review, I found the actual book aesthetically pleasing, so it would likely go down well to unwrap from pinky purple wrapping paper as an eye catching gift.

Almost no one believes that now. The new paradigm is that we all have mental health, just as we all have physical health, and we affect each other’s wellbeing. Our day-to-day mental fitness depends hugely on our environment and immediate experiences.Right now it’s ‘Wild Geese’ by Mary Oliver. I change what I find the most compelling poem in the book according to my mood. But Oliver really speaks to me right now. Here’s the poem, and below I’ve written about why I love it so much and why I turn to it in times of trouble. This book will show you how to bring poetry into your everyday emotional reality, where it can be a new tool for wellbeing. And one that means you'll never walk alone. Probably fish. I know it’s expensive, and it’s best to choose sustainably sourced fish, but fish contain omega 3s or ‘healthy fats’, which are crucial to support good brain health. Many of us don’t eat nearly enough fish… which means we are deficient in omega 3s, but also in Vitamins A, D & K and essential minerals such as iron, zinc, and iodine. Like Rachel Kelly, I passionately believe in the power of poetry to reach the soul. In times of heartache and joy, this wonderful anthology will help and delight all through the year. Kelly’s brilliant introduction and explanations of each choice make this an indispensable companion, always.’ This new understanding naturally leads to different answers to the psychological problems. We need a two-pronged approach, and neither answer is about supplying more medical help or more demands on the NHS. The first applies to all of us; the second is more targeted.