Ins and Outs of a Locked Ward: My 30 Years as a Psychiatric Nurse

One flew east, one flew west, one stayed thirty years in the cuckoo's nest. This is his story.

Kevin O'Hara worked for three decades as a psychiatric nurse at Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. There he brought to his patients the same warmth and humor that won him acclaim for his first two memoirs, the beloved Irish travel saga Last of the Donkey Pilgrims, and A Lucky Irish Lad, his precise and witty evocation of growing up as an Irish Catholic immigrant in the 1950s and 60s.

Now he tells the stories of the many colorful characters he encountered on the locked ward over all those years, and of the camaraderie of hospital workers. Though intended to be entertaining -- rollicking even - Ins and Outs of a Locked Ward has much to say about changes in the medical profession and mental health treatment over those years.

Set within the framework of a transformative week near the end of his career, O'Hara careens freely through the years to tell his story (and those of others) with characteristic energy, unbridled humor, and feeling for detail. Storytelling is the essence, both of the book and of his therapeutic practice.

Ins and Outs of a Locked Ward is a celebration of the helping professions, and an implicit exploration of what it means to be human. Darn funny too. Join Nurse Lite and his merry band for a marvelous series of adventures, some happy, some sad, but always moving.