Mark Fleming Writer

14/10/2023

available to order in paperback from any major retailer. Ebook downloadable from Kobo, Nook, Scribd, and other outlets, including Hoopla, Kindle, Gardners, Amazon Kindle.
23/8/22
A percentage of sales will be donated to

05/04/2023

The power of family, friendship and community to destigmatise mental health. launched the first Changing Room programme in April 2018 (5 years ago yesterday), pioneering this groundbreaking initiative at and . The Changing Room has one goal – to promote men’s mental health and wellbeing through the power of the beautiful game. SAMH have now rolled these programmes across Scotland (Aberdeen, Albion Rovers, Alloa, Annan Athletic, Clyde, Cowdenbeath, Dundee, Dundee Utd, Dunfermline, East Fife, Falkirk, Livingston, Montrose, Morton,
Motherwell, Peterhead, Queens Park, Rangers, Ross County,
St Mirren, with more to follow). The model is also being rolled out to women’s groups. Hibernian Community Foundation has taken the 12-week Changing Room sessions at Easter Road to the next level, developing the programme into monthly drop-ins, providing a free, safe and private mental health hub, going under the banner Support Our Supporters. To launch SOS, one of the Hibs CR alumni, Paul Taylor, shared his powerful story of how family and friends coaxed him back from depression and su***de. Read it here:

https://www.hiberniancommunityfoundation.org.uk/news/pauls-story

05/04/2023

Hibs Community Foundation, a charity responsible for many local outreach initiatives, including, in conjunction with , the Changing Room (for men’s mental health), Monday and Wednesday free lunch clubs, Hibs Memories (older fans facing isolation, mental health issues and early-onset dementia), and foodbanks. Club captain and HCF Board member David Marshall was present, pictured with CR alumni Dave, Neil, Paul and yours truly.

27/03/2023

Another ⭐️⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️ review, courtesy of ‘Unseen Facts 108.’ This has really made my day. I’ve been in touch with the reviewer via social media, and not only is he a top bloke (from Liverpool) but has personal experience of mental ill health/addiction/recovery, and has emerged into the light full of optimism and a newfound zest for life. Getting a thumbs up from readers for whom the content of my memoir really strikes a chord is just so uplifting. Go reds!!
“It ranks among a handful of books that are able to articulate the experience of being diagnosed and the lived experience of manic-depressive psychosis/bi-polar without falling into cliches or turning the crushing lows and manic highs of the illness into a cheap theatrical event for the entertainment of an audience. This is a book written with great integrity and dignity.” 🙏🙏Brilliant.

23/03/2023

‘A searingly honest account of bipolar.’
Another amazing ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review for my mental health memoir. Overjoyed 💚💚
#1976

23/03/2023

A version of the Bipolar Mood Scale I created for my event at the 2022 Portobello Book Festival. On a scale of 0 to 10, 4-6 represent a balanced mood; 7-8 hypomania, 9-10 mania; 2-3 mild to moderate depression, 1-0 severe depression. The red lines are a broad equivalent, above and below the red lines are the extremes (0-3 and 7-10). I plotted some key moments in my life to illustrate the difference in ‘natural highs and lows’ in life, and the instances when I slid over the red lines into unnatural behaviour (severe depression and mania). Examples of the natural highs: early musical loves (The Beatles ‘Yellow Submarine’ in 1964), my first football (Hibs in 1974), the punk/post-punk scenes of 1979, and my band appearing on BBC Radio 1 in 1984. Natural lows: I hated my first days at Craiglockhart Primary School in 1967! Extreme lows: sexual abused, aged 13, in 1976 (a trigger for future bipolar), severely depressed in 1987. Extreme high: 1990, manic behaviour, drink, drugs and Madchester rock ‘n’ roll!

23/03/2023

Why did I sink into a horrible depression when I was 25? In 1976 - Growing Up Bipolar I document the downward slide into agoraphobia, extreme delusions, paranoia, plummeting self-esteem, and weeks of insomnia. I was prescribed anti-depressants but by that point my unraveling mind had convinced me this was poison.
#1976

23/03/2023

presented this Mood Scale. 1976 - Growing Up Bipolar gets right into my mind when it was racing out of control. I thought I’d found God (gatecrashing an Episcopalian Cathedral while wrecked) and got excited by music, alcohol, clubs, writing and eccentric political notions.
#1976

23/03/2023

have produced this Bipolar ‘Mood Scale,’ from the behavioural extremes of 9-10 (Mania) to 1-0 (Severe Depression). Relating this to my own experiences, I slumped to 1 in 1987, eventually being taken to an intensive psychiatric care unit and sectioned. This forms part of my memoir.

16/03/2023

Flashback to Portobello Book Festival 29 Sep - 2 Oct 2022.
My mental health memoir ‘1976 - GROWING UP BIPOLAR’ was featured. Festival co-organiser Bill Jameson interviewed me about what prompted me to share often difficult but life-affirming experiences.

14/03/2023

“This level of detail is so interwoven throughout the book that it feels as if I am living it vicariously through his body.”
Another wonderful ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review - thank you J Horsburgh 💚💚

09/03/2023