Dr John Ashfield

28/05/2025

Recent extreme weather events in Australia have prompted You Can Help to reach out. Our core business is improvement of mental health and self-care strategies. We know that the people you and your organisation support need this resource more than ever before.

“Take Charge” has been created specifically for organisations and You Can Help together with our print partner Peacock Publications provide the option of having your organisations logo on the front cover and a dedicated Foreword. These options are included in the pricing below.

At 192 printed pages “Take Charge” is a very readable publication that reflects the most up-to-date perspective on mental health. One that aims to stop the drift towards turning common human experience into a medical disorder. Instead “Take Charge” advises individuals on how to take care of their own and others mental health.

This publication has been written by the most read and published author of popular mental health literature in Australia. It replaces and improves on his last book, Taking Care of Yourself and Your Family: A resource book for good mental health; over 1.3 million copies of which were purchased by governments and major NGOs.

“This is an important book. Ashfield speaks clearly to those of us who might otherwise become patients about better ways to respond to distress. His reasoning is easy to follow without oversimplifying.”
Professor Jon Jureidini, University of Adelaide

PRICELIST*
229mm X 152mm, 192pp
100 $2,042 ($20.42 ea inc GST)
500 $6,811 ($13.62 ea inc GST)
1000 $10,306 ($10.30 ea inc GST)
5000 $38,210 ($7.64 ea inc GST)
Delivery: Average freight cost of less than 3% of the totals above

A book designed and priced for distribution to Communities, Workforces and Customer Groups:
✓ Free sample copies on request
✓ We provide a scale of prices for bulk purchases
✓ Get recognition via front cover logo placement and your own foreword

Visit our website to purchase your copy for $39.90 (including postage and handling). Take Charge of Your Mental health is also available via our publishing partner Peacock Publications.

Contact us for pricing on a bulk print run to suit your needs.

*Order Payment: 3 Equal progress payments; 1/3 on supply of page proofs; 2/3 on supply of final OK for press; balance on delivery.

https://youcanhelppublishing.com/product/take-charge-of-your-mental-health/

06/05/2025

Now Taking New Clients

Just to let everyone know, I now have some available appointment times for new clients – whether in Australia or England.

Simply visit my website and click on Appointments to let me know to contact you to set up an appointment time.

Best regards
John

https://drjohnashfield.com

04/12/2024

My new book is a game changer...

Take Charge of Your Mental Health: An owner’s guide to psychological wellbeing

From the chapter: Beyond pills: exploding some medication myths

Are we being told the truth about psychiatric drugs?

Little is really understood about the effect psychiatric drugs have on the brain, except that they change the way the brain usually works and result in an altered state of mind and behaviour. They are able to do this because they can cross the blood brain barrier, intended to shield the brain against toxic substances.

Many such drugs have unknown potential negative effects on health and wellbeing, and in any circumstance should not be prescribed without caution, careful thought, and scrupulous monitoring and review.
There is a growing body of evidence that some psychiatric drugs can have effects on brain structure and functioning even after people cease taking them. Such medications should never be prescribed in a hurry or without consideration of other drug free alternatives. Such medications do not cure; at best, they may provide some relief of symptoms and that is all. They are not harmless – they are powerful, potentially toxic, and some have side-effect profiles and risks that should discourage their use.

Get your copy here: https://youcanhelppublishing.com/product/take-charge-of-your-mental-health/ and via the website of our publishing partner Peacock Publications. The price for a single copy is $29.95, postage and handling is $9.95.

Take Charge can be purchased here on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1925263908

Contact YouCanHelp at info@youcanhelppublishing.com for pricing on a print run to suit your needs. Our bulk printing offers the opportunity to place your logo and branding on the front cover and we have a space where your personalised foreword can be placed.

25/11/2024

This post is one of a series of excerpts from my new book, Take Charge of Your Mental Health: An owner’s guide to psychological wellbeing. This book is a must read for anyone interested in their psychological wellbeing. Grab a copy for yourself or for someone else – details below. You can take a look at the Contents page here: https://www.facebook.com/share/p/RLPfiny49i97JyBD/

From Chapter 1: Beyond pills: exploding some medication myths

Are we being told the truth about psychiatric drugs?

Little is really understood about the effect psychiatric drugs have on the brain, except that they change the way the brain usually works and result in an altered state of mind and behaviour. They are able to do this because they can cross the blood brain barrier, intended to shield the brain against toxic substances.

Many such drugs have unknown potential negative effects on health and wellbeing, and in any circumstance should not be prescribed without caution, careful thought, and scrupulous monitoring and review.

There is a growing body of evidence that some psychiatric drugs can have effects on brain structure and functioning even after people cease taking them. Such medications should never be prescribed in a hurry or without consideration of other drug free alternatives. Such medications do not cure; at best, they may provide some relief of symptoms and that is all. They are not harmless – they are powerful, potentially toxic, and some have side-effect profiles and risks that should discourage their use.

Get your copies here:
https://youcanhelppublishing.com/.../take-charge-of-your.../ and via the website of our publishing partner Peacock Publications. The price for a single copy is $29.95, postage and handling is $9.95.
Take Charge can be purchased here on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1925263908
Contact YouCanHelp at info@youcanhelppublishing.com for pricing on a print run to suit your needs. Our bulk printing offers the opportunity to place your logo and branding on the front cover and we have a space where your personalised foreword can be placed.

17/11/2024

Here are the Contents Pages from my new book Take Charge of Your Mental Health: An owner’s guide to psychological wellbeing. This book is a must read for anyone interested in psychological wellbeing. Grab a copy for yourself or for someone else.

Get your copies here: https://youcanhelppublishing.com/.../take-charge-of-your.../ and via the website of our publishing partner Peacock Publications. The price for a single copy is $29.95, postage and handling is $9.95.
Take Charge can be purchased on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1925263908

Contact YouCanHelp at info@youcanhelppublishing.com for pricing on a print run to suit your needs. Our bulk printing offers the opportunity to place your logo and branding on the front cover and we have a space where your personalised foreword can be placed.

From the Introduction:

This book endeavours to highlight and offer alternatives to some of the major pitfalls of the current and outmoded way in which mental health is defined and promoted. It is an endeavour to inform and enable individuals and communities to take back control of and responsibility for their own psychological wellbeing (mental health); and to be better equipped as discerning consumers of professional support and services, should they be needed.

Whilst this book may be accused of over-simplifying the subject it seeks to address; the fact is the field of mental health as it stands, falls far short of good science or good medicine, and has been mystified and complicated beyond any defensible claim of expertise or effectiveness. When all is said and done, the solution to most psychological difficulties is nearly always far simpler than their seeming complexity; and we all too easily overlook what is most potentially effective because it doesn’t seem profound enough or doesn’t sound clinical enough, and of course because it might require effort rather than mere passive acceptance of ‘treatment’.

13/11/2024

Take Charge of Your Mental Health – An owner’s guide to psychological wellbeing is a very readable publication (192pp) and reflects the most up-to-date perspective on mental health, one that aims to stop the drift towards turning common human experience into a medical disorder, and instead showing individuals how to take care of their own and others mental health.

The field of mental health as it stands, falls far short of good science or good medicine and has been mystified and complicated beyond any defensible claim of expertise or effectiveness. When all is said and done, the solution to most psychological difficulties is nearly always far simpler than their seeming complexity.

We all too easily overlook what is most potentially effective because it doesn’t seem profound enough or doesn’t sound clinical enough, and of course because it might require time and effort rather than mere passive acceptance of ‘treatment’.

Whilst this book may be accused of over-simplifying the subject it seeks to address, the fact is the field of mental health as it stands, falls far short of good science or good medicine and has been mystified and complicated beyond any defensible claim of expertise or effectiveness.

Contact YouCanHelp at info@youcanhelppublishing.com for pricing on a print run to suit your needs. Our bulk printing offers the opportunity to place your logo and branding on the front cover and we have a space where your personalised foreword can be placed.

The book is available to be purchased as a single copy both here https://youcanhelppublishing.com/product/take-charge-of-your-mental-health/ and via the website of our publishing partner Peacock Publications. The price for a single copy is $29.95, postage and handling is $9.95.

Take Charge can be purchased here on Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1925263908

05/10/2024

A challenging take on so the called ‘Blue Zones’ of health and longevity

If you’ve been intrigued by the much lauded ‘Blue Zones’ of health and longevity, publicised by the mass media over the years, this video is a must see. It cuts through the journalistic hype and presents a fascinating and informative perspective you might find interesting.

The video features Mary Ruddick, an ancestral nutritionist and experiential anthropologist (specialising in chronic disabling diseases and infertility). She has extensively researched the untouched corners of the world to learn from and distil the wisdom from the last remaining traditional and indigenous cultures. In this interview she shares her extraordinary findings and knowledge.

Mary Ruddick is an ancestral nutritionist and experiential anthropologist who specializes in neuromuscular disorders, chronic disabling disease, and infertil...

17/08/2024

The Sinking Ship of the National Health Service in England

Most of us are aware of the state of the NHS from first-hand experience. I asked a politician recently if anyone in government would honestly try and address its problems. He answered, “no; to do so would be political su***de.” ... “It has become almost a religion, a sacred cow, despite its advanced state of decline, especially in regional areas outside of the major city teaching hospitals and services.”

But do we even know what the solutions might be if there were the political wherewithal to attempt real reform? Well, we know it is profoundly wasteful. Experiments at improvement by granting more funding to certain sectors saw no appreciable change in the quality of patient services.

We know that it is massively overburdened with needless bureaucracy; it is continually generating more and more unproductive programs, processes, and compliance policies and procedures – burdensome to staff – and detracting from rather than improving essential patient care.

The ‘left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing’, is an understatement when it comes to inter-departmental and specialty communications; and try being a sick patient whom often nobody has bothered to properly communicate with or keep track of!

There are of course all sorts of obstructive vested interests too: career-oriented managers, administrators, bureaucrats galore, idealogues and powerful commercial interests that are content, even determined to maintain the status quo.

Finally, there are patients themselves, some of whom are really conscientious and responsible when it comes to taking care of their health, and yet others – millions - who are not. But then, how properly informed are they about how to avoid serious diseases?

What if propping up an ailing system isn’t feasible or even necessary, and in fact what is needed is a completely different approach to personal and public health? The following presentation is very illuminating. It isn’t brief, but stay with it to the end, because it is too important to skip over.

Video in comments.

11/08/2024

Vitamin D deficiency and Psychological Difficulties
Vitamin D has been receiving quite a bit of press in the last couple of years, especially the benefits of vitamin D3. And these benefits are not just physical but have important implications for psychological wellbeing (mental health) as well.

Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to variety of psychological difficulties including various forms of anxiety, mood changes, loss of interest in activities, and even more severe difficulties involving delusions, hallucinations, disorganised speech, and significant problems with thinking.

Australian physician, Dr Paul Mason provides an excellent brief presentation on the nature and role of vitamin D.

Dr Paul Mason obtained his medical degree with honours from the University of Sydney. He is also a fellow of the Australasian College of Sports and Exercise ...

17/07/2024

Cancer and ‘You Are What You Eat’

I’m posting a link to an interview that is a must see.

What alerted me to it is that I have worked with cancer and palliative care patients for many years, both in England and Australia.

I can’t claim to know very much at all about the fields of cancer research and treatment, but the person being interviewed is an expert, in fact he is quite eminent in the field.

Dr Seyfried presents another glaring example of how healthcare advisors and clinical practice have not kept up with science and available evidence.

Fighting Cancer & Preventing Cancer is very important and you can use these concepts to prevent and fight cancer in your family and friends.Thomas N. Seyfrie...

10/07/2024

The disquieting revolution that is happening in nutrition.

While many of us have dutifully followed recommendations of the food pyramid (originating in the war years) promoted by governments and health authorities alike, there is a rapidly emerging robust body of science suggesting that we need to think again; and, to use a now hackneyed phrase, it could turn out for many of us to be an ‘uncomfortable truth’.

In a forthcoming book I will be publishing, suggesting the need to “take back control of your mental health” I needed to include in the lifestyle choices section, brief comment on the crucial issue of nutrition and diet. On looking more thoroughly at the evidence of scientific discussion on the subject, I had to acknowledge that the old ways of thinking about nutrition and diet, in the most part just don’t seem to stack up anymore.

Not good news for ardent vegetarians, vegans, or for me used to a high carbohydrate diet!

Attached is a link to a very interesting video of a Jordan Peterson interview on this subject. It’s a bit technical in places but worth watching as a starting point to be thinking about developments in nutrition.

We are what we eat!

Dr. Jordan B. Peterson speaks with author, researcher, and psychiatrist Chris Palmer. They discuss how metabolic and mental disorders might be linked, depres...

05/07/2024

Check out the FREE downloadable self-print resources on the YCH website!

YouCanHelp Publishing is a not-for-profit publisher that helps people and communities. Our YouCanHelp website offers FREE resources to set you on firm footing with issues that are can be complex and that you may need help to unravel. We provide FREE downloadable resources as attractive PDFS that you can self-print at home or in the office.

We are constantly adding to this collection so it’s worthwhile bookmarking this page and checking back every once in a while.

• Getting Enough Exercise to Stay Healthy
• How to get yourself calm and relaxed
• Learning to Manage Stress
• Sleep is vital to wellbeing
• Strategies for ‘Coming Down’ from Anxiety
• Su***de Assessment Guidelines
• Work and Getting Life Working
• You are what you eat
• Rethinking and Revising Your Life Script©

Scan the QR Code in the image and start downloading today!
https://youcanhelppublishing.com/product-category/brochures/