Armagh writer intent on making his mark

THIS evening (Tuesday, November 21) at 5.30pm, a 33-years-old former teacher’s debut novel will be launched at the Abbey Lane Theatre in his native Armagh.

Although fictional, much of Mark Brownlee’s first book – ‘Manic’ – clearly draws on personal expereince to a considerable extent. Nor does he attempt to conceal that fact.

That approach tallies with an adage in literary circles which advises writers to “write about what you know best”. And having suffered a major psychotic episode as a result of which he spent five months in Craigavon Area Hospital’s Bluestone Unit, mental health problems are a subject about which Mark knows a lot.

He was a 24-year-old teacher when he was admitted the unit on Christmas Day 2014. To all intent and purposes his life had appeared to be good. University educated, fully qualified and comfortably well off. An outsider looking in would have seen no reason to be concerned. Looks, however, can be very deceptive, for things aren’t always as appears to be the case, for Mark was unwell. Very unwell.

Explaining his journey into writing he explained, “I was ill in 2010. I was having highs or was manic. I wanted to write a book at that stage, though that didn’t happen.

“I started writing poetry and different things when I was high or manic again in 2014/15. I actually wrote quite a lot of poetry when I was in Bluestone and some of what I wrote at the time are in the book.

“So I think my illness actually caused me to write. On the back of being high I just wanted to be creative.

“A lot of people said to me, ‘Ah, once you’re well again that will all stop; that will just disappear’. I think I sort of just wanted to prove them wrong, so I wrote this book. I’ve also written several others, though this is the first to be published.”

‘Manic’ is self-published on Amazon, so the success or otherwise of Mark’s debut novel will be decided by unknown on-line shoppers. At this stage it’s a case of fingers crossed.

He talks openly and honestly about what he went through en route to the much-improved position in which he now finds himself.

“It was very, very difficult for my family and I suppose it was only a long time afterwards that I began to realise just how bad it had been for them,” he said. “I was on a high, so while I was insightful and aware of a lot of things I was unaware of was how much hurt and harm I was causing family members as a result of some of what I was saying.

“Being psychotic I was fixated with political developments – Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the Charlie Hebdo shootings in Paris, for example. I was paranoid that they were coming to kill me. I really was very unwell.”

Asked about feedback to the book which will be available to the general public as from tonight, Mark said, “I’ve let a few people read it and they have been very supportive.

“I came out of Bluestone eight years ago, so my mum has been very supportive,” he continued.“In fact, she’s the main reason for me having published the book; she encouraged me to do it and that was important to me because she is the one who suffered most and was the most emotionally affected by my being unwell. She was in tears at times.

“But she said, ‘I think you should publish this’, so that’s what I’ve done. Dad’s not anti it, but I don't think he’s really for it either. Mum’s my biggest supporter – and other family members have been supportive, too.

“And work colleagues have been very encouraging as well. Initially when I started I don’t think my team leader was that sure, but that changed and he has become very supportive and now is very happy for me to publish.”

Today Mark works as a full-time peer support worker for the Southern Health and Social Care Trust, helping others currently going through crises similar to what he experienced.

Explaining what his role entails he said, “I’m involved in a lot of group activities and life-coaching sessions. There’s a walking group once a week, a support group once a fortnight and most of the the rest of my time is spent seeing clients one-to-one.

“I’m a Band Three employee, so I work at a level beneath Community Psychiatric Nurse and Social Workers. They’ll contact me and say, ‘Mark, there’s a guy who has just come out of Bluestone so we want you to meet up with him once a week or once a fortnight for the next six months. Try to get him involved in the community again and keep us informed of how he’s doing’.”

Mark revealed, “I had a peer group worker when I was unwell and that helped me a lot. My peer group worker was great; really positive, very optimistic and really encouraging.

“I was very pessimistic at times, really down and convinced that I was always going to be like that, but he gave me hope and helped me recover, which is why I ended up wanting to do this job.”

‘Manic’ tells the story of three fictitious characters. Without wishing to reveal the plot it’s spoiler-free to say that whilst it is not an autobiographical work, there are elements of it which are drawn from Marks’ personal journey through mental health problems.

Niall and Colin are two teenage patients in a psychiatric ward. So too is Stephanie, an attractive teenage girl, to whom both young males with their different mental health problems and personalities are drawn

Now, the scene is set – so if you want to know how the story pans out, buy the book!