
BY V.J. Cast
Challenging the Black Dog:
A Creative Outlet for Tackling Depression
Journal (6×9)
Are you looking for a way to put your inner critic in time-out while toilet-training your Black Dog?
Challenging the Black Dog makes starting your recovery from depression as simple as breaking out some well-chewed pens and a blank journal, because sometimes when you’re afraid of something it helps to cover the nightmare with glitter and doodles.

Looking to decompress?
Now, while colouring stuff in obviously won’t save us from COVID-19, it might possibly help save a little bit of our sanity while we’re all forced to self-isolate.
So, from me to you in this surreal and scary moment of history:
FREE COLOURING BOOK – No Sign-Up Required
Feel free to share some sanity with your friends, family and followers on social media!
Endorsements
Challenging the Black Dog is a resource for depression sufferers by a depression sufferer. VJ’s approach provides a very specific type of compassion and understanding that’s only available from lived experience, yet still manages to get across the idea of personal accountability for recovery. It is a treasure trove of ideas, strategies and bite-sized prompts which can be added to by the reader. An experimental approach is encouraged! Importantly it provides hope and will complement professional expertise.
Challenging the Black Dog presents a refreshingly original approach to grappling with depression. The exercises here spark a creative process that simultaneously grounds and explores. I wish I’d had this book in my teens and twenties.
What a brilliant idea — Challenging the Black Dog is a creative resource, designed to support personal reflection and insight into the experience of depression. And why shouldn’t the exploration of depression be creative, stimulating and ultimately uplifting? Challenging the Black Dog effectively takes the currently popular, designer “happiness journal” to a new level and depth, confronting the reality of living with depression in a format that can be both pleasurable and relatable.
Similar to training our muscles to become stronger, our minds can be trained to be strong and content. We can train our ‘Black Dog,’ all we need is a little bit of guidance to get there. This book is a resource that you can use as a guide to psychological well-being. You can write in it, draw, vent, scribble random things that are important and inspire you. Treat it as your companion. It’s here to help and encourage you. It’s a support crew in your own corner, there to use anytime, anywhere.
Introducing

Matthew Revert
“Old Books”
Cover Designer

Patmai De Vera
Illustrator

Dr Travis Gee
Psychologist

Patrick Knowles
“Typography”
cover designer
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