Search results for ""Author Marion Scher""

An average of 1400 people call the South African Depression and Anxiety Suicide Helpline every day. And those are just the people who know it exists and are able to reach out for help, either for themselves or for a loved one. Journalist Marion Scher has spent years speaking to people suffering from depression or some other form of mental illness and felt compelled to share some of these stories in Surfacing. Each chapter tells a different and very personal story, from a Springbok rugby player faced overnight with mental illness to a successful businessman who attempted suicide three times in one day. A new mother whose horrific real experiences didn’t match the Instagram photos of blissful motherhood she had expected, and a mother’s heartbreaking story of surviving the loss of her teenage daughter to suicide. The common thread that runs through the stories is how each person learnt to deal with their illness, conquer their personal mountains, and go on to lead healthy, fulfilled lives— more than they’d ever hoped for.

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Ilana and Martin Gerschlowitz were an ordinary South African couple – young, newly married with bright, promising futures – that is, before autism came knocking on their door. Saving My Sons tells of a journey few parents would ever want to encounter. Unwilling to accept the hopelessness of an autism prognosis, the couple set out to rescue their son from the fortress that kept him from them. Never giving up, Ilana spent every waking moment researching the illness until she found answers. Subsequently, drawing from international experts, she has gone on to help countless children facing learning challenges. When autism struck again, threatening another son’s future, their mission became clear. This was not a fight they were prepared to lose.

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