BOOKS
LIFE SKILLS FOR A BROKEN WORLD
Scribe Publications, 2024
A revolutionary framework for living well in a broken world, from acclaimed author and psychologist Dr Ahona Guha.
How can I manage heartbreak? How do I cope with death? How can I learn to tolerate anxiety and hold hope?
In this helpful, practical guide to good psychological health, Dr Ahona Guha shows us how to cope, thrive, and still feel hopeful for the future. Combining techniques from a range of therapeutic modalities, she demonstrates how we can build a range of essential psychological skills, and apply them to live a more tranquil and joyful life.
Life Skills for a Broken World is a breath of fresh air, cutting through the confusion to provide solid, practical, and evidence-based answers to existential questions, big and small.
Order here.
Also available wherever you might purchase your books.
PRAISE FOR SKILLS:
Dr. Ahona's book is like therapy, activism, and a pep talk all rolled into one. Whether you're stressing about the state of the world or just trying to level-up your own life, she's got your back. It's all about taking baby steps to make big leaps—not just for you but for the world at large. So, give it a read and prepare to be the change you’ve been waiting for.
CHANTELLE OTTEN (PSYCHO-SEXOLOGIST AND AUTHOR OF THE SEX ED YOU NEVER HAD)
Give this book as a gift to someone you love who is struggling – and that might be yourself. I already know this book is going to live on my bedside table. Dr Ahona Guha puts language and frameworks to help order the mess in our heads and hearts. Life Skills for a Broken World is grounding, consoling and so practical.
BENJAMIN LAW, WRITER AND BROADCASTER
Like having a therapist in your pocket, Life Skills for a Broken World is a guide to positive mental health, leading readers through potential pitfalls and prevention strategies.
BOOKS + PUBLISHING
For readers who are brand new to therapy and want a no-nonsense, easy-to-read book without any American gloss or promises of unlimited wealth and happiness, Guha establishes an excellent toolkit and valuable principles for healthy living. The tone is down-to-earth and accessible (one of the chapters is called ‘Realism, not Optimism’) and built on a foundation of prolific evidence-based research…Life Skills for a Broken World is likely the perfect gift for someone in your life and readers should eagerly anticipate the future publishing career of Dr Ahona Guha.
DAVID BURTON, ARTSHUB
Dr Ahona Guha's book is a useful, frank and super helpful guide on how to be a more connected, values-driven human in a world that makes you want to conduct yourself like a raccoon on a trashheap. Her advice is sound and gentle, and challenging in a way that encourages you to grow instead of hiding under a blankie and scrolling. If you want to know how to embrace living in a practical, conscious way, Life Skills for a Broken World is for you!
ELOISE GRILLS, VISUAL ARTIST AND AUTHOR OF BIG BEAUTIFUL FEMALE THEORY
‘An easily digestible book showing how to build a better framework for mental health, plus useful chapters on the concepts of radical acceptance and setting boundaries. It’s an easy read without being full of woo-woo nonsense: a rare feat for a self-care manual.’
ISABEL BERWICK, FINANCIAL TIMES
‘In this practical guide, clinical psychologist Dr Ahona Guha shows how to cope, thrive, and feel hopeful for the future. Using her experience as a trauma and mental health specialist, Ahona gives practical advice on how to build a range of essential psychological skills and apply them to live a more tranquil and joyful life. She guides the reader through a range of difficult issues and shows how the concept of radical acceptance can help. A useful and important book.’
JEFF POPPLE, CANBERRA DAILY
Reclaim: Understanding complex trauma and those who abuse
Scribe Publications, 2023
A groundbreaking book that will expand your thinking, whether you are a trauma survivor, a clinician, someone who loves a survivor, or someone seeking to understand abuse.
In Reclaim, expert forensic and clinical psychologist Dr Ahona Guha explores complex traumas, how survivors can recover and heal, and the nature of those who abuse. She shines a light on the ‘difficult’ trauma victims that society often ignores, and tackles vital questions that plague us: ‘Why are psychological abuse and coercive control so difficult to spot?’, ‘What kinds of behaviours should we see as red flags?’, and ‘Why do some people harm others, and how do we protect ourselves from them?’
In her forensic work, Dr Guha has had extensive experience with those who perpetrate harm, and she has a deep understanding of the psychological and social factors that cause people to abuse, bully, and harass others. In turn, her clinical work has led her to recognise the impacts of complex trauma, and the way our systems fail those who have been victimised. By emphasising compassion above all else, Dr Guha gives a call to action: one that will help us reclaim a safer, healthier society for everyone.
Order here (AUS/NZ), here (UK), or here (US).
Also available wherever you might purchase your books.
PRAISE FOR RECLAIM:
‘Powerfully, accessibly, and with a clinician’s depth of detail, Dr Guha writes directly about the violence we prefer to drape in darkness. She shows that it is only by seeking to understand its causes and consequences that we can work towards creating safer, fairer communities. I’m grateful to her for this illuminating, and urgently necessary, book.’
SARAH KRASNOSTEIN (AUTHOR OF THE TRAUMA CLEANER AND THE BELIEVER)
‘[Reclaim] is an excellent starting point for anyone wanting clarification about the impact of trauma, with further information on where to find therapy and support.’
CHERYL AKLE, THE AUSTRALIAN
‘Guha's willingness to confront this murky terrain is courageous, a clinical psychologist and forensic expert, has penned a book about trauma that is not literary, academic, or self-help: it is a clear-eyed analysis by a professionally qualified, socially engaged and intimately informed author. Guha purportedly wrote the book to redress fallacies in "a world that is beset by trauma." ... The most admirable thing [Reclaim] is its advocacy for those caught in the darkest realms of trauma's slipstream: the least likeable among us, who act out in the most socially unacceptable ways. Guha demands we seek to understand not only traumatized sweethearts (those who invite sympathy) but also people who exhibit alienating, infuriating or frightening trauma-fuelled traits ... Reclaim [pushes] back against common value judgements that less traumatized - and more privileged - people make about those living with complex trauma ... by looking around soberly - and inviting us to build a "trauma-informed community" and move toward a more just future.’
DR MEERA ATKINSON (AUTHOR OF TRAUMATA AND LECTURER IN CREATIVE WRITING, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY)
‘This book is a nuanced exploration of the nature of trauma, the people it affects, and how we might, both as individuals and as a society, reduce its harm. Dr Guha’s final words are fittingly about gentleness, understanding, resilience and hope. If these subjects resonate with you, I highly recommend this book as a complex examination of thinking and behaviour around this issue.’
CASS MORIARTY (AUTHOR OF THE PROMISE SEED AND PARTING WORDS)
‘Reclaim is an amazing read; it gave me a better understanding of my own trauma. Huge gratitude to Dr Ahona Guha for this well crafted book. A must-read for everyone.’
VERONICA GORRIE (AUTHOR OF BLACK AND BLUE: A MEMOIR OF RACISM AND RESILIENCE)
‘In a world that so often turns away from the complexities of trauma and abuse, this book turns towards them … Reclaim is a game-changer.’
CHRIS CHEERS (PSYCHOLOGIST AND AUTHOR OF THE NEW RULEBOOK)
‘Reclaim is for victims of abuse, for their families and loved ones, but above all for anyone who wants to understand human behaviour.’
MARK RUBBO (MANAGING DIRECTOR, READINGS)
‘Reclaim is one of those books I will revisit again, whenever I need to process certain events or experiences.’
DR YUMIKO KADOTA (AUTHOR OF EMOTIONAL FEMALE)