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In You Are Free (Even if You Don’t Feel Like It) award-winning campaigner Hope Virgo opens up about her own journey with mental health and illness. With powerful honesty, she relates her experiences from being sexually abused in her youth group when she was just 13 and admitted to a mental health hospital with a failing heart at 17, to feeling like she was ready to end it all at 28 – when a new hope found her after a stranger told her about Jesus.
Raw and relatable, this is more than a memoir, as Hope draws on her own story to offer advice and guidance to those living and struggling with their own mental health and wellbeing. Sharing what she has learned, Hope candidly lays out how she worked through her rage, hurt, disappointments and doubts to help others dealing with the ongoing stigma and shame that still follows mental health issues around.
She also reveals the power that the Christian faith has had in her life, looking at how mental and spiritual care go hand in hand, especially in the face of confusion that sometimes God chooses not to heal us – or at least, not in the way we expect.
Featuring interviews with Rachel Hughes, Matt Hogg, Zeke Rink, Jemimah Haley and many more, You Are Free (Even If You Don’t Feel Like It) is a thought-provoking and heartfelt self-help book that will speak to anyone who has struggled with their mental health, in the church and outside of it, and to anyone interested in how the Christian faith can offer hope even in the darkest of times.
A testimony both to the resilience of the human spirit and to the power of God, Hope’s is an understanding voice for all those in the midst of their struggles, offering support and encouragement that they too will find their way on to the path towards healing.
Hope Virgo is the author of Stand Tall Little Girl, and a multi award winning international leading advocate for people with eating disorders. Hope helps young people and employers (including schools, hospitals and businesses) to deal with the rising tide of mental health issues. She is also a recognised media spokesperson, having appeared on various platforms including BBC Newsnight, Victoria Derbyshire, Good Morning Britain, Sky News and BBC News.
