Howdy, all!

Justina Ireland started a database of sensitivity readers. Guess who’s in that database? Me! (Click on “Sensitivity Reader Database” and scroll down to find “Mark O’Brien”—I’d tell you the row I’m listed in, but it will change regularly as the database is updated.)

So yes—I’m now offering sensitivity reading in the following areas:

• Gayness
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Psychosis (auditory hallucinations)
• Suicide/suicidal ideation/outpatient treatment

Some notes:

I am a cisgender guy. I haven’t faced sexism. I haven’t faced bi erasure or transphobia. There are other readers in the database who would be better suited to those topics, and I encourage you to seek them out.

Psychosis is probably not what you think it is. While it looks different for different people, my psychosis presented itself as voices I heard as a teen that were not real. That’s it. They did not make me violent—I’ve never so much as thrown a punch—and I sought treatment shortly after I started hearing them. If you’d talked to me at fifteen, I promise you never would’ve been able to guess I was hearing voices. So, while I’m more than happy to provide feedback on manuscripts of all genres that deal with psychosis or hallucinations, please do your research first.

I was not hospitalized for suicidal ideation. I went to an outpatient behavioral health facility. I know a little about hospitals, but not nearly enough that I should be your first choice if your project deals with inpatient treatment.

If you’re interested, check out the form (link opens as a Google Doc) and get in touch! My email is markobrienbooks [at] gmail [dot] com—please do contact me if you have any questions at all.

Thanks so much—I can’t wait to work with you!