By Seleoe Nonyane
Young up-and-coming author Mimi Machakaire has yet again published another book titled ‘Mental Health for Creatives’ which was released on October 31 this year and is only available as a soft copy at the moment.
Machakaire is a young Zimbabwean littérateur who resides in Lesotho. This book is her second published book this year as earlier on in the year she released a book named ‘The Land of the Koala Bears’
Mental Health for Creatives as the name suggests is about mental health and it provides information based on mental health. That is, it details various scenarios such as how mental health and sleep are linked.
It explains what mental health is and how it affects one’s everyday life.
The author told theReporter that the book also provides personal stories from professionals in Lesotho who are counsellors and therapists and locals who share how their mental health has impacted their journey through life.
She mentioned that what draws her into writing this book is after she made an observation that there was not a lot of reading material based on this subject so, she wanted to share something that people can learn from and try to understand.
“I have done a lot of research and interviewed different people to help back up the information in the book and I hope that the combination can raise awareness on the topic of mental health.
“Mental health for Creatives started as a series on Writers Space Africa (WSA). I was sharing a story about someone who was going through their own journey and it inspired a long string of articles”, she said.
She indicated that the book is not only for creatives but anyone can relate to the book if they feel like they have experienced something similar.
The book also gives awareness to people about services that cater for mental health in Lesotho.
“So, while they are reading they will discover counselling or therapy services that are available and may feel the need to check in on their mental health status.
She said that mental health to her means that everyone deserves peace of mind.
Moreover, she stated that she is pleased with how the book came out the reason being that this was her first time doing something out of her comfort zone which in turn resulted into a lesson about herself and what she can achieve.
She said that with so many projects and achievements she has had in the past this work is by far her favourite project.
“It stands out in a sense that it is more intellectually stimulating and can possibly change some perspectives on daily mental health challenges”, Machakaire said.
The author indicated that it is not always glitz and glam in the writing space and that plagiarism is the most unethical practice in the industry.
She explained plagiarism to be the act of copying someone’s work without at least writing it in their own words.
Therefore, she thinks that this issue should be dealt with in a structural manner because some crimes are not taken seriously and at times creatives are affected negatively by such behaviors.
