Listen: How to Find the Words for Tender Conversations

Description

'Powerful, humane and wise' JULIA SAMUEL 'Everyone should read it' NIGELLA LAWSON 'Beautiful ... This is a book for everyone. You feel held by it' PHILIPPA PERRY Most of us have a conversation we're avoiding. From the bestselling author of With the End in Mind, this is a book about the conversations that matter and how to have them better - more honestly, more confidently and without regret. A child coming out to their parent. A family losing someone to terminal illness. A friend noticing the first signs of someone's dementia. A careers advisor and a teenager with radically different perspectives. There are moments when we must talk, listen and be there for one another. Why do we so often come away from those times feeling like we could have done more, or should have been braver in the face of discomfort? Why do we skirt the conversations that might matter most? By bringing together stories with a lifetime's experience working in medicine and the newest psychology, Mannix offers lessons for how we can better speak our mind and help when others need to. Kathryn Mannix's 'With the End in Mind' was a Sunday Times bestseller the weeks ending 6 January 2018, 13 January 2018 and 3 February 2018.

Kathryn Mannix has spent her medical career working with people who have incurable, advanced illnesses. Starting in cancer care and changing career to become a pioneer of the new discipline of palliative medicine, she has worked in teams in hospices, hospitals and in patients' own homes to deliver palliative care, optimising quality of life even as death is approaching. Having qualified as a Cognitive Behaviour Therapist in 1993, she started the UK's (possibly the world's) first CBT clinic exclusively for palliative care patients, and devised 'CBT First Aid' training to enable palliative care colleagues to add new skills to their repertoire for helping patients. Kathryn has worked with many thousands of dying people, and has found their ability to deal with illness and death both fascinating and inspirational. She believes that a better public awareness about what happens as we die would reduce fear and enable people to discuss their hopes and plans with the people who matter to them.

'This gentle-hearted, engaging and intimately readable book is so full of wisdom and compassion. Everyone should read it' Nigella Lawson 'Kathryn Mannix has a gift for cutting through the noise and helping us realise what is most important. In a world that never stops talking, this book celebrates and demonstrates the curative power of listening. It is powerful, humane and wise' Julia Samuel 'This is a beautiful book ... Too often people want their friends and relations to take all the difficult talk to a therapist, there has to be more than the professional listeners who know how to have a mutually impactful beautiful, tender conversation. This is a book for everyone ... I actually feel listened to by reading it' Philippa Perry 'Kathryn Mannix is our modern-day prophet ... This is an essential book for anyone interested in themselves and their fellow humans' Greg Wise 'I adore Kathryn's writing. Always sensitive, always thoughtful, an essential read for those looking to connect' Cariad Lloyd 'Kathryn Mannix is a natural born storyteller, and there is so much wisdom, tenderness and love packed into this profoundly beautiful book ... Her words brim with grace. I loved this book so very much.' Rachel Clarke 'The book's greatest strength is not just the information it shares, but the pure humanity it shows; the halting, fearful, imperfect conversations between people who are all doing their best and sometimes not getting it right. The gems of wisdom apply to all situations, whether someone is at the end of their life or has had a bad day at work ... Compassionate, warm and wise' The Times 'Like having a long and rewarding conversation with a really good friend ... Perhaps the most important component in all of the chapters, however, is the telling of stories ... As with Mannix's first book, there are many moving tales within these pages ... Wise, gentle and profound' Joanna Cannon, The Guardian, Book of the Day