Overview

Panicked thoughts. Vivid nightmares. Racing heart. Unrelenting dread. Witnessing the drowning death of her four-year-old brother Owen was the beginning of a lifetime of nightmares. Growing up during the oppressive system, apartheid, in South Africa, increased her anxiety as she struggled with her self-worth. It was in writing her debut book, A Darker Shade of Pale: A Memoir of Apartheid South Africa, that she unravelled. In Behind My Smile: The True Story of an Author, a Broken Spirit and a Healer Beryl dissects her struggles with grief. After a lifelong battle with self-acceptance Beryl found the keys to overcoming the stigma of mental breakdown. The book offers a candid and absorbing account of Beryl's healing journey. She shares details of the intensive work of clinical psychologist and energy medicine practitioner, Dr Geoffrey Lyons. This healing encouraged Beryl to explore her belief in the power of her heritage, the gifts available from contact with her ancestors and traditional healing methods. Having found a true healer, Beryl was able to see the richness of a life free of all manner of oppression - political, psychological, material. Based on her healing she strongly believes that talk therapy and traditional healing must merge.

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9780648591764

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'I have never read an account of therapy content so evocatively expressed before. I felt as if I'm in the therapy room.' - Dr Mark Cross, psychiatrist and author of Anxiety

Author Information

Beryl Crosher-Segers is the author of A Darker Shade of Pale, a bestselling South African memoir about life during apartheid. In her writing debut she tells the story of her determination to rise above her earlier life of inequality and injustice. Beryl and her husband moved to Australia in the 1980s in search of a better life for themselves and their children. Through a long held love of the arts, she established One World Community Arts Network, a community project celebrating cultural diversity through music. In 2002, her commitment to previously disadvantaged artists from her birth town, led her to starting her own events company, C Major Events. Beryl's previous experience is in administration in government. She is also impassioned by fundraising. A highly-regarded community representative, her awards include the Celebrate Africa-Australian Captain's Award for service to the South African Community and a Jo Wilton Memorial for Women, human rights award, from the University of Technology, Sydney. Beryl is currently completing postgraduate studies in creative writing and writing her third book. She lives in Sydney, on the east coast of Australia, with her husband, daughter, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Beryl is available for presentations, workshops, live events, conferences, gatherings and book-signings.

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