'Ultimately, my experiences as a mental health nurse have taught me that we should judge less and open our hearts more.'

Belinda Black was just seventeen when she began working as a nursing assistant at the large and foreboding 'madhouse', as it was then known in her hometown in the north of England.

She spent a decade caring for patients with widely varying mental health problems, all locked up together and out of view of society. Amongst this, Belinda found moments of joy and even friendship with her patients until the hospital, along with many others, had its doors closed in 1991 - the biggest change to mental healthcare in NHS history.

A moving, shocking but ultimately life-affirming account from the frontlines of a unique and noble profession.

'A moving memoir' DAILY EXPRESS

'Stories that range from heart-wrenching to shocking' - YORKSHIRE POST