A LITTLE Sutton author is aiming to join the ranks of well-known agony aunts with the release of her new self-help book.
Ann Coffey, 61, has just published Write Yourself Well which shows how writing can be used in therapy to help cure emotional and physical pain.
She talks about various writing activities that proved effective in her life.
Mrs Coffey went into a three-day coma leaving her with total amnesia following the birth of her first child, Amanda, by emergency caesarean section at the Countess of Chester Hospital in 1972.
A major part of her psychotherapy to restore her memory was writing poetry.
She said: “In the book I explain an amazing set of techniques that are so easy, everybody will be able to use them.
“And these techniques are devastatingly powerful, they really do work. I have taught these techniques to adults for years and now by putting them in a book I really will be able to help a lot of people.”
Mrs Coffey, born in East Yorkshire, studied a four-year German degree in London, spending 12 months at Heidelberg University.
In the mid-80s she wrote for the Granada children’s TV programme, Tickle-on-the-Tum, inventing a character called Gary Ball whose voiceover was done by former Coronation Street actor Brian Bovell.
When she was in her forties, she gained a teaching certificate specifically to teach adults and ran German night classes at Stanney Adult Centre between 1987-94.
Mrs Coffey then started teaching creative writing workshops at Flatt Lane Community Centre as part of the South Wirral Writers group and had two anthologies published and wrote a pantomime.
She also spent four years lecturing at Liverpool University in its continuing education department.
Mrs Coffey’s second book, Turn Your Face to the Sun, will be out later this year and is about personal fulfilment.
If you would like to buy a copy of Write Yourself Well, call Ann on 0151 339 3143. On Friday she will be signing copies of the book at Jones Farm Shop in Heath Lane, Childer Thornton.
