Delivered Unto Lions

A newly-built village in the south of England holds a dark secret. Smart starter homes and attractive apartments now stand on a site once occupied by a children’s psychiatric unit. Wandering around the development, Daniel Kinsley’s memory is stirred to recall distressing events from his youth. As a child growing up in the 1970s, Daniel was admitted to Oakdale Children’s Unit suffering with depression. One day he was a relatively ordinary schoolboy – albeit an unsettled and unhappy one – and the next he was a mental patient surrounded by a cacophony of violent behaviour, eating disorders and self-harm. Daniel could not comprehend the world he had entered, a world made worse by unsympathetic nursing staff and the punitive, controlling use of psychoactive drugs. Condemned to spend his formative teenage years in this environment, Daniel must endure the aggression of older children, witness the abuse suffered by his peers, and face the turbulence of adolescence in a place of dysfunctional relationships. How will he navigate his way through this experience? Can he ever reclaim his place in the outside world of normality? Based on personal experience, Delivered Unto Lions is a subjective but faithful representation of children’s psychiatric care in 1970s Britain. ‘A “must read” for all workers in child psychiatric services.’ – Emily Gajewski, Occupational Therapist and Human Givens Psychotherapist ‘David Austin writes beautifully and with authenticity.’ – Dr Claire Benedek, M.B.B.S, M.R.C.Psych