Endorsements
What Organization Leaders are saying
This year I arrived at the Chicago DBSA conference feeling embattled by one of the biggest challenges in my recovery - trust. At the conference, I met well-known author Tom Wootton, his book "The Bi-Polar Advantage" upset me. Advantage! Then I picked it up and read the title of the first chapter: "This is Bulls--t!" This Wootton guy knows his readers. I knew he had insight; but could I trust it?
At the Conference, I listened to Tom Wootton's presentation, later on, I read his book. It challenged me to trust a new perspective. Recovery is possible. Could there be an advantage in mental illness? Is there more to my recovery? Trust? I won't spoil the ending, you'll have to read the book yourself (and use it to help write your own happy ending).
Miriam Johson-Hoyte, Esq., Chair of the DBSA Board of Directors
Thought I'd let you know that people who attended the National DBSA conference from our group on Saturday said yours was the best and the biggest of any of them. They bragged and bragged about you. Your book is fascinating and so full of good ideas.
JoAnn Martin, President DBSA California (Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance)
As the President of NAMI Sacramento, I cannot thank you enough for speaking to our membership April 3, 2006! We had the biggest turnout ever and estimate 160 people in the auditorium. We also had about half of the room filled with people who had never attended a NAMI Meeting before. Those people were excited to come to our meeting because of YOU and you were wonderful!
Here are a few of the comments we got after the show:
"I just wanted to tell you that I thought that Tom was absolutely wonderful last night. I am really looking forward to reading his book and giving it to Owen. It is so hopeful for me to hear success stories like Tom and others."
"Please tell me when Tom is coming back to Sacramento for another workshop - he was wonderful!"
In short, you were honest without being a downer, funny yet real, and completely captivating. I have a picture of you signing your books for the folks in the audience and hope you enjoy it.
I would highly recommend you as a speaker to any NAMI organization and thank you again for coming! I just hope we can find you a venue you would like enough to come back and do the 2-day workshop.
Your friend and supporter,
Heidi Sanborn, President - NAMI Sacramento
On behalf of the Western Riverside county NAMI (The National Alliance on Mental Illness) I would like to thank you for your speech on May 1, 2006. Several of our members were calling me afterward to say how much they enjoyed listening to you talk about your struggles with bipolar disorder. Of course they also added to their comments on how much your book "The Bipolar Advantage" helped them turn the bad aspects of their bipolar illness into something good.
I was particularly pleased to hear that a number of our members were registered for your weekend workshop "Bipolar In Order". I recently received a call from one of my best friends who returned home from your weekend workshop. She came back with feelings of encouragement. She felt she could visualize an improved quality of well being with her bipolar disorder after being enlightened with the straightforward structure of your philosophy on how to take advantage of her illness.
Again I can't thank you enough for your inspiring speech. It was our privilege to have you at our Support Group meeting as a speaker.
Should your ever need any further endorsements of your book or workshop, don't hesitate to contact me. After seeing the effect you had on the audience I've become your biggest fan.
Sincerely yours,
Jan Kenny, President of NAMI Riverside County Western Region
We had Tom Wootton, the author of Bipolar Advantage speak last night in Thousand Oaks and the night before in Ventura. http://www.bipolaradvantage.com His lecture was so well received by everyone that I spoke with. Have you had him speak in your county yet? I highly recommend that you do, if you have not done so yet. We had 75+ people attend in each location. It is a great outreach program and he's a wonderfully engaging speaker. Our clients and families that attended were very impressed with him and expressed genuine interest in attending one of his weekend workshops. Tom gave me one of his Bipolar Advantage books for my F2F class library and I can't wait to read it.
I would love to see Tom Wootton get on the CAMI and NAMI National conference programs. I'm sure it's too late for NAMI National this year, but hopefully next year. Who is on the planning committee for the CAMI & NAMI conferences? I would like to forward this information to them. For those of you that don't know who Tom is, he was a highly successful business man that was diagnosed with Bipolar I at age 45. He started holding support group meetings for other people with Bipolar and basically wrote down his experience from the support group and compiled it into a book. He has tremendous insite into his illness and uses turns the bad things from the disorder into a positive learning experience for himself and others.
Tom would make a wonderful keynote speaker or lecturer in one of the workshops. Although his topic is mainly about bipolar, his techniques can be applied to anyone, ill or well. It is a lecture that both clients and family members alike would want to attend.
Candace Jackson, Vice President - NAMI Thousand Oaks
What Mental Health Professionals are saying
I learned how to be more empathetic & understanding towards my clients. There's a lot of education that professionals need to get from people with bipolar. I feel EVERYONE can learn from this seminar. It has opened up my mind a lot more about what bipolar people experience.
The most valuable thing I learned is that acceptance is a huge part of healing. Also, that people with bipolar have a different depression at level 2 on scale as compared to people with situational depression.
Angela Tracy, MFT
San Ramon, CA
Tom is doing something no one else is really doing. He is turning a serious mental illness on its head and suggesting that by accepting rather than fighting the disorder, people with bipolar can identify and access their strengths and lead lives that are not only satisfying but productive beyond their wildest imaginings. Tom is standing up to the pervasive deficit-based view of people with psychiatric disorders that is held by both mental health professionals and the lay public alike and saying with grace, humor, and the strength of personal experience that it is possible to take this disorder and live abundantly and creatively. Tom is helping people to both face up to their illness and to resist accepting a diminished story of their lives and futures through self-acceptance and cooperation with caring psychiatrists and therapists. Tom is ahead of the pack. He is staking out new territory and leading the way in showing people with brain-based disorders like bipolar that it is possible to live richly.
Maureen Duffy Ph.D.
Professor and Chairperson, The Counseling Program
Barry University
Miami Shores, Florida
I can learn a lot more about taking care of myself from my clients. We are not as different from each other as we think we are.
Tom was very effective and inspirational. I absolutely will recommend this seminar to clients, other professionals, and family and friends who would be interested.
Personally, the most valuable thing I take home is a plan for introspection & to practice meditation daily. Professionally, a much greater, more thorough understanding for those living with bipolar disorder.
Please identify me as a licensed MFT. Hopefully this will attract more professionals.
Kristina Schasker, MFT
San Ramon, CA
I met Tom at a talk I was giving about my book, a talk about dealing with the mania of bipolar disorder. He came up to me afterwards, enthusiastic and supportive of my work. So often other authors are reserved about other authors' work. Not Tom.
Then, while waiting for Bipolar Advantage to be printed, he recorded an interview with me for his podcast. He is other-focused and generous-although we are both brand new authors, not once have I felt even a dab of competitiveness from him.
To say that Tom Wootton is "out there" is an understatement. He's seen and done it all, or so it seems by his story. Yet he is willing at this stage in his life to view himself as a beginner. Boldly writing a book about bipolar when he states clearly that he has only been diagnosed for two years, he retains an spirited hopefulness.
Tom is humble; Tom is full of himself. Tom is serious and poignant; Tom is hilarious. Tom's writing style is conversational, open and straightforward. Yet his book is anything but a straightforward story. Like a snowball rolling down a gravelly hill, he picks up all sorts of pieces along the way.
My favorite chapter of his book is entitled "Relationships," which begins like this: "If you don't have ruined relationships in your past, you better have your diagnosis checked; you are probably not bipolar." Tom credits his wife Ellen with helping him keep his zest from becoming mania.
This is one of those books that accelerates the farther into it you get. Like a magnet increasing in power with each page, this book pulled me in more and more. By the end I was so deeply involved that I kept turning pages after the books was finished!
Judy Eron, LCSW
Author of What Goes Up. . .Surviving the Manic Episode of a Loved One
What Consumers are saying
My wife and daughter had signed up to attend one of Tom Wootton's workshops so a week before they left I decided to read this book. I had never heard of him before. After reading his book I decided I had better accompany my family (our 21 year old daughter was diagnosed with Bipolar and Borderline Personality six months earlier). Though unconventional, Wootton's book was the first positive approach to Bipolar we had come across. And the workshop fleshed out what the book introduced. I found Tom Wootton to be a sensitive, intelligent and effective communicator... The workshop addressed issues on both sides of the fence and each of us came away with more than we had expected. Wootton's practical steps for controlling Bipolar are equally appropriate for anyone who takes life improvement seriously. I would also recommend three recent articles Wootton has written. They can be found on www.bipolarinorder.org/listen_writings.html.
John L. from Amazon review
I'm starting to feel some pride in being bipolar. Isn't that weird?
Libby I.
It is important to practice introspection. I still have a long way to go to be the person I want to be. I can be a better person.
Agnes Z.
I think it will be the saving of my marital happiness.
Judith A.
I am not bipolar. I came to more understand and help my son live with his illness. I now want to have a deeper understanding of myself and others. So much I have taken for granted. Acceptance and introspection is the key. Overall, it was a wonderful experience.
Cindy O.
I feel validated. I have been given some tools and goals, and permission from myself to use them.
Kristi D.
Finally a progressive bipolar seminar run like a business retreat.
Paul C.
I learned how to look inside myself to find my triggers and to know when they are coming.
Marilyn H.
The message was very effective, humorous, fun, entertaining, and very creative.
Herb H.
This brief retreat has taught me to accept who I am without apologizing for my illness - and consider this illness as a blessing in disguise.
Russ I.
I wouldn't change a thing. It was put together very well. Tom was effective & informative in a way most speakers can't be - he was able to hold the attendee's attention span.
Deloris H.
I thought that you achieved a wonderful sense of trust and camaraderie among the participants themselves.
Chris L.
I gained an understanding of how really complex depression is.
Brian W.
There can be positives for people with a bipolar diagnosis. All I ever heard before were negatives.
Elain A.
The plan. May I stick with it for the rest of my life. - Powerful. He kept me interested from start to finish.
David L.
I learned to be gentler and kinder to myself. I've attended lots of seminars on many topics and this one was so well integrated; personal, professional, physical, spiritual, cognitive.
Lizanne B.
I need to work harder on myself.
Jon B.
How little I knew about ways in which I can improve my "condition". I feel very encouraged. Most valuable is introspection - really looking forward to using this skill daily in my life.
Julie F.
Anybody on this earth would benefit from this seminar.
Elisabeth O.
I feel better about myself than when I got here.
Philip R.
Actually, any person would learn more about themselves taking this seminar than the average person puts together from a LIFETIME of experience.
Michael A.
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