The Book

Uncertainty and Hope Can Coexist

Finding True North as a Physician and Mental Health Advocate

A memoir about what it costs to show up, every day, in the hardest rooms in medicine. And what it gives back.

DR. SHAIRI TURNER, MD, MPH

Cover art forthcoming

About the Book

There is a particular kind of steadiness required when someone texts you at 2 a.m. because they have nowhere else to go. Dr. Shairi Turner has been building the infrastructure for that steadiness her entire career.

This is a book about uncertainty, held honestly. About a Bronx-raised girl who went to Fieldston, Stanford, Mass General, and Harvard, and then chose the hardest rooms anyway. About building a healthcare system for incarcerated youth. About a close family friend dying by suicide in a cell. About watching a field she loves struggle to reach the people who need it most.

And it is a book about hope, held with equal honesty. Because hope that pretends uncertainty does not exist is not hope. It is avoidance. Dr. Turner has spent her career refusing to look away. This book is the account of what she saw.

“Not to be morbid, but in this work, you learn to count the days you didn't lose someone. That counting is a kind of prayer.”

Publication

Manuscript complete. Publication timeline: [TBD]. Updates available by joining the mailing list.

Who This Book Is For

Parents

You know something is shifting in your child and you are not sure how to meet it. This book will help you stay present without panic.

Clinicians

You were trained to hold the line. This book asks what that line is actually costing you, and the people on the other side of it.

Policy leaders

You have the levers. This book makes the case for which ones to pull, and why the ones that look right often produce the wrong outcomes.

Publication news when it is ready.

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