YOU NEVER GET OUT

About the Book

The book describes two experiences of life within a large English psychiatric hospital—the first as a patient and the second as a member of staff; the first in the 1950s, before these hospitals opened their gates, the second at the end of their lives, when their main task was rehabilitation rather than incarnation. The author compares these two situations, focusing on the last gasps of institutional life, as seen from the point of view of the hospital chaplain.

About the Author

I was born in 1934 in the North of England. At aged eighteen, I spent time as a patient in a psychiatric hospital before gaining entrance to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. After eight years as a professional actor, I trained as an Anglican minister and worked as full-time chaplain of a large mental hospital. During the eighteen years I spent there, I was encouraged by my wife, Doreen, to write several books on mental health, among them Watching for Wings (1979) and Strangers in the Pews (1993), as well as a succession of books about drama therapy. Nowadays, I am in private practice as a British psychological society chartered counseling psychology, specializing in psychotherapy.