Best-selling author Osher Günsberg’s new book, So What? Now What? is a mental health toolkit and a compelling follow-up to his critically-acclaimed 2018 memoir, Back, After The Break.
The passionate advocate’s widely publicised journey to sobriety and mental health has inspired many. In collaboration with illustrator Campbell Walker, the book provides an engaging and practical guide to getting ‘unstuck’ and taking action.
“The first book was what happened to me, a descent into a period of incredibly difficult mental ill health, and the second book is the best way I could find to describe what to actually do about it,” Günsberg said.
“It resonated with a lot of people, that experience of knowing they’re not alone. People were coming up to me and often disclosing issues for the first time, and I was looking at what I could do for those who might not have the means to get the help that I accessed.
“Starting that journey was to give them this book, which is the very method that I used, aside from the prescription pharmaceuticals, to get myself a lot better.
“I made the book as digestible as possible. That’s why it’s a graphic novel, if it wasn’t, it would probably be 200,000 words long.
“To help others and be of service is an important part of any ongoing recovery, and some of this stuff is pretty dark which is sometimes difficult to write about.”
Günsberg is also a familiar presence on Australian television, including hosting roles on Australian Idol, The Bachelor, and The Masked Singer. He is comfortable in the writers’ festival circuit.
“I discovered this thing that I can do in front of a crowd when I was very young, it’s something that I do well, I study it, and I pursue mastery at it,” he said.
“I enjoy connecting with people through performance, whether on radio, on a podcast or on stage. I enjoy being in a crowd of many, and there’s a feeling that comes through a room when they all reach a kind of collective recognition.
“If you get a big laugh in the room, that means that among the 300 or 3,000 people, or however many people, most are feeling the same way, and in that moment, we are who we are as humans.
“We are told every day that we are different, polarised, fractured. It’s important to recognise in those moments we might vote differently from the next person, but we both laughed at that thing; therefore, we have something in common.
“It’s important to have that, and I like making those moments happen.”
His dedication to supporting others’ mental health remains a driving force.
“One in five Australians is affected by complex mental illness, that’s a lot of people,” he said.
“Things got better once I understood it wasn’t just me, I wasn’t alone, and I want to give others what I received.”
• Osher Günsberg will appear at Byron Writers Festival 2026.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
