Extensive Interview With Michael Wash: The Author of Book from 54 Series
Mike Wash is a highly responsive consultant who has worked in various challenging and complex situation. He has wide exposures on organisation dealing with mental-health being a psychiatric nurse who is now a personal development consultant. He is currently the Director of the Retreat Hospital in York.
Michael Wash has been writing extensively on self-help book under the series of 54 self-help books. One of his latest books is 54 Simple Truths: How to Face the Challenges of Life.Through personal grief and illness to
happiness and health. Mike shares his experience in a way that gives the
readers clear direction and hope for a better life.
I had an opportunity last week to work with Mike on making him a book trailer for his latest collection in the 54 series of self-help books and I'm feeling honoured to have his exclusive interview up here on my blog. A few things with great insights about him that reveals more about the birth of the books and as well as the author itself.
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| Mike Wash |
Who is Mike Wash and why does he writes?
Me: What are the clubs, alumni groups, school, social, religious, or business
organizations to which you are affiliated?
Wash: Current job and
title: Director of the Retreat Hospital – York, Mental health
Act Advisor/manager for Leeds and York
Partnership Health Trust, and School governor
for a local Primary School.
Me: If applicable,
would you like us to use any personal background about you such as hobbies,
race, religious, medical conditions, marital status, family, etc. that may help
audiences be more interested in you and your book?
Wash: At the age of fifteen, after spending eighteen months in a
Catholic school, training for a life of a religious teacher as a De La Salle
brother, I decided to come home and face the realities of a different type of
family life. The desire within me to help others was still strong, and on the
eve of me leaving to do voluntary services overseas at the age of seventeen, an
opportunity to join the school of psychiatry as a student nurse was too much of
a coincidence to ignore.
Those first few years working in a large mental institution
in the early 1970s, wiped out any sense of remaining naivety or innocence I had
about the capability of the human mind to destroy itself and others. My path
was set, but I was unhappy to be constrained by ‘institutional walls,’ so after
psychiatry, I trained as a general nurse, then as a tutor – and in my private
practice, qualified as a counsellor and psychotherapist.
The constraining nature of the ‘health’ profession was
still too much, so I decided to explore alternative career options. My horizon
changed significantly when after writing a paper proposing that most senior
managers suffer from organisational psychoses or neurosis, I was offered a job
in a large telecommunications company. Here, I introduced counselling as a
legitimate form of support for the business and the value of developing a
supportive, ‘facilitative change management’ style of leadership. My premise
was that large organisations damage your health – and it doesn’t have to be
that way.
The irony was that during this time, I battled for six
months against cancer, which created a greater strength and determination in me
to carry on the path of ‘healing,’ whether in the context of work or family
life. During these very formative years, I also experienced the tragic death of
my mother. Following an accident, she was left in a coma for several years.
Also, my little sister fell ill and endured years of kidney dialysis before
dyeing aged 25 from hepatitis and kidney
failure. As a trained nurse I was able to support her on home dialysis for
several years.
I was married young, and one of the proudest moments of my
life was witnessing the birth of my twin sons. The strain of tragedy, illness,
and personal change was too much for my marriage, and divorce eventually cut
the chains – enabling us both to be free and to find new happiness.
I have been running my own business for the past twenty
years and feel very privileged to have worked with people and organisations
passionate about wanting to change and discover their true potential. I am very
happy, married to Mave, and enjoying my grandfather status and the attention of
my sons and stepchildren.
Me: Describe yourself briefly
Wash: Outgoing,relaxed,social,fun,caring,helpful
Me: What goals are most important to
YOU as it relates to the publication and promotion of your book? Rate each one
1=low priority; 10=highest
Wash:
_ 4__ Make money by selling books
__3___ Become known as an author
_ 10_ Provide a service/educate to the public
_ 8___ Raise awareness to a worthy cause
__5___ Entertain/inform readers with a “good book”
__1___ Attract an agent
__0__ Sell rights to a movie
__6___ Find another publisher
__0__ Become a full time author
__7___ Build credibility/become known as an expert
in an area
__1__ Attract new clients to a business (if
applicable)
Me: What are your professional credentials
and any lifestyle credentials that
make you particularly well qualified to write this book?
Wash: Trained as a Psychiatric nurse,
general nurse, clinical nurse teacher and then nurse tutor., Also trained as a counselor and
therapist, Author of a best selling text book
on Psychiatric Nursing in the 1980s/90s. Author of the 54 series of Books –
these are:
54 Tools and Techniques for Business
Excellence
54 Ways to manage Change at Work
54 Approaches to Organizational
Healing
54 Steps to Happiness
5 + 4 = Sweet Dreams – Bed time
stories for children
Me: What drives you to write the book:
Wash: I have personally experienced
many of the challenges and dilemmas and I wanted to share my experience in a way that gives readers clear direction and hope for a better life. I wanted to give
people the opportunity to access simple and important messages that could help
them lead healthier and happier lives.
I felt there
was a gap in the market for a book that pulled all the principles together and
communicated to everyone in terms they could relate to.
Me: What are your FIVE key messages
or talking points in your book?
Wash:
Be mindful of the choices you make in life and think through the consequences.
People forget to breath and question themselves about what are they doing right
now and what impact are they making on others and themselves – just pausing and
reflecting on this may help the contribution or behavior be more effective and
healthier.
You can choose to be happy or sad – be aware of why you make certain
choices and what this gives you. Its very difficult to walk bare footed on
warm sand on a sunny day with the sea lapping around your feet looking upwards
and to be sad and depressed at the same time. Our behavior and choices we make
can dictate the mood we find ourselves in. We can choose to shift our mood by
doing things differently, going somewhere differently and being with positive
happy people rather than being alone.
You will be faced with a challenge in life that will test your resolve
to survive – you will survive and the quality of life thereafter will depend on
the choices you make. Loosing a loved one. your home or faced with a
terminal illness are examples of things that may test your resolve to survive –
by finding meaning to these events people move on often as stronger and more
capable human beings able to reach out and help others.
We are but a speck in this universe and connected to everything and
everyone – this has responsibilities if we choose to accept are place in this community
Understanding our relationship to this world we live in may help us live
together in a more accepting way – we are all from the same gene pool and we
are all human – we are brothers and sisters from the same family – lets take
care of each other.
The best things in life are freely available to us right now.
Extract from the book;
Each of us has our own list of the best things in life, and
most of these will be free. For me, they revolve around these seven wonders of
the world:
1. Love. The ultimate expression of acceptance,
care, and respect of another person.
2. Giving. To truly give without expectation of
return and to give back something of yourself within this world.
3. Receiving. To accept with graciousness and
humility that which comes your way – especially love.
4. Forgiving. Recognising that the alternative is a
heavy burden to carry, yet forgiveness can free you, and others, to a better
life.
5. Listening. Listening
from the heart and really appreciating what you hear.
6. Seeing. Seeing the beauty and
miracle in all things.
7. Touching. To touch and be touched. Sense the
connection, and be in contact with others in this world.
Me: What one thing do you want readers to learn/take away from this work?
Wash: Happiness and
health is in your hands – its your choice.
Me: Who does the book appeal to and why?
Wash: Anyone who may
have a question about their life at the moment? It maybe about relationships,work,love,decision,direction,moods,stress,health
– anything – then its likely some chapter in this book will be of relevance.
Me: Are you or your book on social networking sites? Do you have any official websites?
Wash: The book is linked to my interactive website forum – it
encourages debate and discussion around the simple truths and offers support
and further resources – it is
I also have a Facebook page
and twitter
and blog
Me: So, lastly, what are some of your future goals?
Wash: To sell a million copies of this book worldwide – realistically perhaps 1000 this year?
To continue contributing to a personal network of self-help and care?
To find employment where my experience can be put to good use.
To keep fit.
I would like to thank Michael Wash for his mind-blowing interview where he chooses to share with us some of the extensive insights on his life and book and how both the elements are closely interconnected. Do drop a visit to his page and to hear his interview on BBC please direct yourself to this page:
http://www.54-self-help-books.com/about/
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