A few caveats before I start this review. First, I know Sarb personally. We have spent happy hours watching cricket in Wellington, and discussing history and politics. Second, I received an advance reader copy of the book, rather than having purchased it. Finally, I know nothing about psychiatry, and eschew self-help books, so there's that by way of expert knowledge. Read on at your peril.

Here in Aotearoa/New Zealand, we have been fortunate to be well-governed when it comes to matters Covid, and have suffered comparatively mildly compared to other nations around the world. And yet there is still an ever-present background hum of anxiety in the country, that goes beyond the 'what if' of a third outbreak in the community.

Anxiety is not a new problem in the modern world, and Sarb makes this point very clearly early on. We fret about job security, the kids' education, Wellington Firebirds' early season form. It is an ever-present in our lives, even though most of us never know hunger, or homelessness, and rarely experience loss. Where Covid-19 comes into the picture is its secondary ability to amplify this sense of helplessness, this dread of the unseen. Sarb explains all this very well, going deep into the nature of our human frailties, without drowning the reader (this reader in particular) in jargon.

He also provides some simple tips for managing anxiety, scattered liberally throughout the book so that where the reader finds their own situation described, they would normally find some measure of advice on how to mitigate against the worst of it.

Steady is a scholarly book, written by someone who has very solid practical experience in the field, including advice to government agencies on how to manage the mental health aspects of the virus and its side-effects. As we get to the part of our lives where we can contemplate looking back on 2020 and how we coped with the pandemic, both individually and as societies, it's a useful primer on the psychological problems that surf on the back of each wave of a disease like Covid, and a vivid reminder that our platforms for dealing with life in the extreme is not a wholly steady one.

Highly recommended.

I love a good self-improvement book; Steady is exactly what we need right now.

Dr Sarb Johal is a trained Clinical Psychologist, he has dealt with several major crises in the past years and now he has written the ultimate guide to living life during these pandemic times.

Steady is a comprehensive study of life in 2020 and how we can move forward in a positive way. Drawing on his experiences working with the UK and New Zealand governments dealing with the H1N1 Pandemic, the Christchurch earthquakes, the Kaikoura earthquake, and the Christchurch Mosque shooting Dr Johal draws from a wealth of knowledge that he shares with his readers.

Steady covers a multitude of topics including mental health, creating positive habits, building structure, focusing on wellness, surviving and thriving in lockdown with family or solo, dealing with loneliness, ignoring fake news and focusing on trustworthy sources, plus a lot more. A lot of this stuff sounds simple, but I can’t count how many times I have caught myself doom scrolling when I should be sleeping or doing something productive.

I will definitely be revisiting some of the tips in this book, a lot of the sections particularly the ones around mental health and wellbeing have some very helpful tips that I will be utilising. I love when a book is well written, thought provoking and worthy of being revisited in the future.

If you’re in lockdown right now or feel like you need to be prepared for another one, I would definitely recommend you pick up a copy of Steady. I wasn’t sure if I would like a book that had heavy influence from the Covid-19 pandemic, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Thanks to NetGalley and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for an advance copy of this book.

I think everyone would be able to benefit from reading this book right now. So many of us are suffering from pandemic fatigue, and dealing with huge life and routine changes as a result of COVID. I think I will definitely be referring back to this one when I need a reminder.

This book takes an empathetic approach and gives bite size approaches and allows you to have kindness and patience with yourself when dealing with life during a pandemic. This is so necessary for everyone to read in life. Highly recommend. Especially loved the case studies throughout to reflect and humanize my feelings and relate. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

“The central task of a psychologist is to help people live with uncertainty.”

This line from Dr Sarb Johal’s new book, Steady, struck me and immediately pulled me in. Indeed, in the duration of this pandemic, this has been our job as psychologists—trying to help the community deal with the uncertainty brought about by the novel circumstances surrounding the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). In this book, Dr Johal poured his years of clinical and research experience and his scientific knowledge in disaster mental health into a concise but very informative book that I wish I had when this pandemic began.

This book is like a pocket pandemic/disaster psychologist. It is very comprehensive; it tackles a wide range of issues and problems of living that people experienced (or in many cases, continue to experience) during the pandemic. It addresses various concerns, from effective parenting during a lockdown to dealing with pandemic-related conspiracy theories, from coronavirus fatigue to existential anxiety. The book presents a general framework that individuals can personalise and contextualise to suit their specific circumstances. However, what I also found to be particularly useful are the specific tips and structured activities and exercises that the reader may follow. This may be particularly helpful when one does not know where or how to begin dealing with the overwhelming experiences associated with COVID-19.

Steady talks to you like how a disaster clinical psychologist would. Reading it is therapeutic for several reasons. First, it touches on the real experiences of individuals during this global crisis. It talks about the joys, pain, and suffering of people during these difficult times without being patronising. While it is grounded on human experiences, it also diligently backs claims and recommendations with science. Dare I say, it is a masterclass in science communication as well: it tells you what the evidence currently suggests and what the limits of our current evidence are. In other words, it also helps individuals be comfortable with the uncertainty in science. Needless to say, this book is informative without being overwhelming or intimidating.

Overall, Steady is a fantastic read for professionals, policy makers, and the general public. It works excellently as a self-help book but at the same time, may even be a brilliant addition to the reference texts of disaster psychology students (and teachers, too). This book provides structure in the face of chaos, but as Dr Johal repeatedly writes, structure should always be accompanied by empathy. This is what his book does. It helps you put in structure in your personal response to the pandemic stress but does so in a very empathic, non-patronising manner. It helps you frame and reframe these experiences in order to reduce psychological distress and optimise opportunities for growth, during and even beyond the pandemic. It is a good guide to being steady.

Thanks to Netgalley and Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) for an advance copy of this book.

Steady is a great little book about how we can all support ourselves psychologically through the pandemic and beyond.

It includes a number of helpful ideas and tips in fighting misinformation, and how we can protect ourselves from the onslaught of news.

My only criticism would be in that some of the book talked about solutions that ultimately could only be provided by the government. Being in the UK and knowing what a mess our government has made of everything, this is depressing. This is particularly because we are reliant on the government doing things such as paying people enough to self isolate, to actually encourage compliance.

I think the book would have perhaps been better suited leaving these things out, and instead focusing on the things we can do individually.

While there is a lot of useful information in the book, I feel like it was all rather overshadowed by the fact that much of it is out of my control.

Ok I don't usually go in for self-help books, but in quarantine, my mental health hasn't been great. When I saw this book targeted specifically at helping people mentally survive Coronavirus/lockdowns/quarantine/isolation/etc., I suspended my disbelief and decided to give it a chance and... wow. There are so many things that made me feel so much better about where I am right now, but what I appreciated most were the solutions. All of the ideas about how I could better establish routine, regulate screen time, and improve mood seemed both realistic and helpful, and while I've just started implementing them, I have high hopes. My knowledge of mental health is incredibly limited but I hope other people find this book as helpful as I did!

A comprehensive guide to recognising and dealing with stress and anxiety, particularly with reference to Covid 19. Whilst some of the advice was repetitive there’s plenty to take from the book in order to cope with these challenging times from supporting kids, creating structure, staying connected and conspiracy theories and more. Worth a read.

This is essentially a Counseling 101 book that has been updated to reflect how those principles apply specifically to the Coronavirus World. It's currently a very relevant book, and one that anyone would benefit from reading through. It not only presents the basic principles, but shows real-world ways to apply them and includes actionable steps and assignments.

Nothing new here, but repackaged into COVID advice. Much of this has been said lots in the media as we have been going through the pandemic. It’s here in one place.