At any given moment, life is completely senseless. But viewed over a period, it seems to reveal itself as an organism existing in time, having a purpose, trending in a certain direction.

Aldous Huxley

Any book is like a reflection of its authors in a stream. It captures something of the story of who they are, but distorts the image at the same time. Such is the nature of water – such is the nature of reflection. We hope that the reader will find something of us here that is recognisable, in a human sense. There is much of us in the Tidal Model, but expressing that, as with anything else, is often difficult. Words are great tools but often, as we marvel at their beauty, we often fear what we might actually do with them.

This is a storybook. It is a story of the development of Tidal Model and a story about the importance of story in mental health care, if not also in all our lives. It is, for the main part, a simple story; but we hope that does not mean that the complexities and subtleties of the life story are overlooked. Life is simple – we are born, we live and then we die. The story of that simple progression can be made to appear complex, full of dark, impenetrable secrets and mysteries. But, the same events can reveal wonders and joy and wisdom and amazement. It all depends on the storyteller – and the listener.

Our story of the Tidal Model mirrors closely our own development us professionals in the field of what we would like to call ‘human services’. The Tidal Model probably says more about our interest in people and their problems of living, than it does about patients, or clients or users or consumers. Some of the people whom we have worked with over the years, have become our friends, always our teachers, or at the very least people whom we have grown to respect, if only from afar. Indeed, it has been our privilege to work with these people, some of whom stretched us in challenging ways; others who shaped us into more effective version of our original selves. Few of them could be called anything other than ‘interesting’. We hope that we seemed half as interesting to them.

We have spent more than 38 years together as a couple, and have spent most of that time talking, often with no particular purpose, other than because it felt good or necessary to talk. From those conversations we came to understand ourselves better, as individuals and also as a couple. Maybe we just crafted a different story that seemed better. As we talked, the original notion of the Tidal Model seemed to flow, effortlessly, into our stream of consciousness. The more we talked about it, the more real it became – as is the case with most things. In time it flowed into a reflection of many of the things we had been doing, or trying to do, or wished we could do, or dreamed of doing. The more we saw flickers of our reflection in the Model, the calmer the waters became and soon it became inviting; something we wanted to get into, and to feel for ourselves. In time, more people wanted to do the same, and so the experience of the Tidal Model broadened and developed new horizons.

We are often asked to summarise the Tidal Model in a few sentences. This is always a challenge as, in keeping with its basis in chaos, its form keeps shifting. However, if pushed we say that it is an approach to value-making in the world. For us, value-making is the point of life; it is why we are here; it is the sole purpose of our existence – to make something of value that previously did not exist. The Tidal Model describes various assumptions about people, their inherent value, and the value of relating to people in particular ways. It also describes how people might come to appreciate differently, and perhaps better, their own value, and the unique value of their experience. Roll all this together and the Tidal Model is a paper template for engaging in value-making. Does this generate ‘mental health’? We are not sure, as there appear to be a multitude of definitions of mental health. However, we believe that value-making and the appreciation of value in our lives must be healthy activities, for the whole person. So, if that is true, then value-making will also foster mental health.

We hope that this book will be able to be read by anyone with an interest in mental health care, whichever discipline they belong to, or even if they have no special professional affiliation. We hope that the book will be read by people who have a wide range of interests in mental health care and way beyond. We hope that we shall not merely be ‘preaching to the converted’. We have tried to keep the use of professional jargon and high-sounding philosophical and technical language to a minimum. If the reader stumbles over any of these boulders in the text, we apologise. We shall try to be even more careful next time.

Now, some years further out to sea, the Tidal Model seems to have a life of its own. Maybe we did not develop it at all, perhaps we only wrote the story. Certainly, the story of the Tidal Model now seems to be feeling the wind in its sails. As Huxley might have put it, the idea has now gained a life of its own, and is beginning to chart its own course. It is our privilege to be blown along a similar course.

Newport on Tay, Scotland