Tameka ‘Tami Tsansai’ Coley is a Jamaican author, poet & mental health advocate who most recently released ‘Hard Gal Fi Dead’, a collection of personal musings, poetry and affirmations fearlessly dissecting her own journey with Bipolar disorder in a country that hardly recognizes mental illness as anything more than ‘madness’.

Far from mad—other than insanely beautiful, talented and brave—Tami takes us eloquently into how she copes with the debilitating depths of depression in Jamaica. Her anecdotes chronicle her first memories as a child ‘wondering what is wrong with her’ to ultimately staring suicide in the face a few times, then continuing through to her despairing search for medical help and therapeutic support, only to find further loneliness and alienation in the system. The depth of her journey culminates in a stint at Jamaica’s infamous sanitarium that only can be described as frighteningly antiquated, and Tami wittily takes us through meeting her ward mates, reckoning with her own often paralyzing ‘woke-ness’ and how she ultimately found hope and a desire to live.

Hard Gal Fi Dead

Release Date: July 31, 2018
Paperback: 126 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1722844469
ISBN-13: 978-1722844462

After Tameka’s musings is her collection of poems. Assuaged by her earnest writing, I could only hope Tameka also found relief from her disease while she poured her soul into writing them. Following her section of poems are Tameka’s affirmations she wrote for herself during her darkest times. Most inspiring is her ability to affirm her place in this world despite her desire to leave it often. In reading her affirmations it’s easy to see why this world is a better place with Tameka in it.

You can purchase Hard Gal Fi Dead on Amazon or on her website at www.tsansai.com. Tami continues to document her battle with mental illness on social media at @tamitsansai, where you can follow her pursuit for mental health awareness and destigmatization in Jamaica and documents her evolution into a more positive mind state.

IRIE invites you to enjoy this special excerpt from Tami Tsansai’s Hard Gal Fi Dead! Respect!

From Notes to Self

Dear self,
You are enough.
You belong.
You are amazing… magnificent,
Smart, beautiful and kind.
Your life has meaning… purpose.
You are worthy of love.
You are worth being cherished and making an effort for.
You are not a burden.
You are a gift… a miracle, moonchild.
A wonderful and welcome cosmic surprise
You couldn’t be sexier or more awesome if you tried.
My dear, you are certainly not destined to fail, but know this, you and only you are responsible for your life
You have it within you to create, so you can make your life great.
Create that! No one can tell you who you are and what your life is meant to be.
You are meant to be here, so BE HERE.

Follow Tami Tsansai:

Facebook: facebook.com/HardGalFiDead
Twitter: twitter.com/TamiTsansai
Instagram: instagram.com/tamitsansai