This book highlights the plight of people with schizophrenia and their families in the lives they lead, the support they currently get and the support they should or could be getting. It is situated in Australia, but there is learning that can be found in many other countries.

When I first opened this book I was tempted to leave it well alone. The first third features stories from before 2004, focusing on the parents of people with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and on the republished stories of people with lived experience from the 1990s.

Some of the stories and forms of treatment were dated, but the experience of family breakdown, the bewilderment of trying to help and the yawning gap between families and professionals are things I hear every day in Scotland. This relevance kept me reading. The lived experience section was even older, but I could easily relate some of my current experiences to them. The long timeline was helpful for placing our struggles in context. However, recent first-person accounts would also have been welcome.

The section devoted to professionals’ perspectives of people, their family’s lives and treatment options was interesting, and perhaps these perspectives really do cross borders. I was particularly struck by Schizy Inc.: a lively and passionate lived experience account of creativity that challenged the norms associated with schizophrenia. I was impressed by the attempts to give advice to carers but, on occasion, found this overly prescriptive.

The final section is a call to arms, which was welcome. From a Scottish perspective, the argument that Clubhouses are a key way forward was disappointing, because these have almost all closed where I live. Maybe that simple reality indicates the challenge in front of us all.

The model for how clinicians, carers and people with lived experience work together reminds me that, while each community has valid perspectives, there is little evidence anywhere of a synthesis where our different viewpoints and ideals combine. Maybe this book can offer us a new starting place for that very necessary dialogue.