U-Turn: Exploring Directions and How to Get There

Tim McCartney’s and Mike Neville’s little book U-Turn is a readable and fascinating excursion through the often successful attempts of two professionals to engage with the deep social and psychological problems of a small state – the seven hundred island archipelago of the Bahamas. Starting appropriately with their own very different backgrounds (McCartney is Bahamian while Neville is Irish and trained in the UK), the book traces the history of how they came together and worked to combat problems of drug addiction, stress and mental disease, developing along the way their own unique programs based on individual as well as large group interaction. U-Turn provides searing insights into the mental health problems faced by small states, but goes far beyond that, to suggest workable solutions for the managing of mental health problems in any jurisdiction in the twenty-first century. —Brian Meeks, Professor of Social and Political Change Director, the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies The University of the West Indies