'"The fox sits on the outer waiting for me to discover him because at the moment, I am on the outer too. He watches me. Can you see him? He’s clever at hiding."
'Just like fox, Heidi has lived on the outer. The ‘official record’ of her life has been her mental health record: Primary diagnosis – Schizoaffective; Comorbidity – Major depression, juvenile autism, and not her own memories. This is the living, breathing version of Heidi’s mental health file that psych wards, doctors, mental health staff or rehab workers know little about or worse, use as evidence of diagnoses. This is Heidi’s account of what happened, shadowed by the story of a fox who knows he'll never belong.
'Part parable, part memoir, My Friend Fox is a story that might be familiar to some – searching everywhere to finally feel at home. With fox as her guide, Heidi comes to know how to live authentically, and venture into a future of her own making.'
Source: Publisher's blurb.
Writing Disability in Australia
| Type of disability |
Schizoaffective disorder Autism |
| Type of character | Primary |
| Point of view | First person |
Book It In : Heidi Everett
Lucy Clark
(presenter),
2022
25160070
2022
single work
podcast
'Based on more than four decades of lived experience in the public mental health system, Heidi Everett uses the lyricism of music and the drawings of a four-legged friend to describe her various mental states. In doing so, she expresses the difference between treatment and cure, recovery and healing, and existing and living.'
Source: Book It In.
'At night, I can hear the foxes screaming. Nothing is wrong, this is just what they do, particularly during mating season. The first time I heard it, I thought something was seriously wrong – that a small child was being chased through the bush, or that I was at the epicentre of a B-grade horror movie. That I might be next. There’s always something a little disconcerting about seeing a fox on this continent. They have been here longer than my ancestors, but they don’t belong here either. Introduced in 1855 for ‘sporting purposes’ (i.e. ‘to be hunted’), foxes had become rife across the mainland within just 20 years.' (Introduction)
'At night, I can hear the foxes screaming. Nothing is wrong, this is just what they do, particularly during mating season. The first time I heard it, I thought something was seriously wrong – that a small child was being chased through the bush, or that I was at the epicentre of a B-grade horror movie. That I might be next. There’s always something a little disconcerting about seeing a fox on this continent. They have been here longer than my ancestors, but they don’t belong here either. Introduced in 1855 for ‘sporting purposes’ (i.e. ‘to be hunted’), foxes had become rife across the mainland within just 20 years.' (Introduction)
Book It In : Heidi Everett
Lucy Clark
(presenter),
2022
25160070
2022
single work
podcast
'Based on more than four decades of lived experience in the public mental health system, Heidi Everett uses the lyricism of music and the drawings of a four-legged friend to describe her various mental states. In doing so, she expresses the difference between treatment and cure, recovery and healing, and existing and living.'
Source: Book It In.
