STORIES ARCHIVE

• 2018
  • Mar 1, 2018 “Everything was frantic – this was my lead up to a first episode psychosis.”
  • Mar 2, 2018 “Postpartum psychosis made me feel vulnerable and forced me to experience feeling of extreme discomfort, intense pain, sadness, and grief.”
  • Mar 3, 2018 “Going into prison changed me. It broke barriers mentally that were holding back so many issues, and it all seeped out at once.”
  • Mar 4, 2018 “The silent anxiety attacks, hidden by smiles, confidence and perfectionist ways make every day feel like living a lie."
  • Mar 5, 2018 “No matter what we encounter we always seem to bounce back, get through and keep going.”
  • Mar 6, 2018 “I remember feeling like all the bones in my body had finally broken.”
  • Mar 7, 2018 “Planning, planning, endlessly planning how you're going to change.”
  • Mar 8, 2018 “What I feel our current culture lacks are the voices of reason to penetrate those emotions.”
  • Mar 9, 2018 “It felt like I had woken up one day and just suddenly hated everything.”
  • Mar 10, 2018 “I remind myself every day of how lucky I am to have a rhythm in my heart and a pair of lungs that fill with air."
  • Mar 11, 2018 “Brother didn’t like me when we were growing up.”
  • Mar 12, 2018 “Your life will be different because every day people are talking more about mental health."
  • Apr 3, 2018 “It was not the negative I sought, it was the positive; how to fix it all.”
  • Apr 3, 2018 “Either way, your experience is valid.”
  • Apr 3, 2018 “You are loved.”
  • Apr 3, 2018 “I want silence, peace and a life”
  • Apr 3, 2018 “I am the dog running running as fast as I can, depression snapping at my tail.”
  • Apr 3, 2018 “The whole time I was hearing voices but told no-one.”
  • Apr 3, 2018 “The greatest love you'll ever have is your own.”
  • Apr 3, 2018 “Don’t worry everything’s fine.”
  • Apr 3, 2018 “My brain is wired to automatic.”
  • Apr 10, 2018 “Nature’s happiness helps the pain to ease.”
  • Apr 18, 2018 "I call it a dark horse."
  • Apr 19, 2018 “I got out of bed today."
  • Apr 19, 2018 “It is a harrowing, debilitating, and lifelong illness but it is an illness where there is always hope.”
  • Apr 19, 2018 “Everyone wants to fix me with a quick solution…”
  • Apr 19, 2018 “Mental health and wellbeing is multidimensional and is reflected by a healthy society, community, whānau, community, spirit, body, heart and environment.”
  • Apr 19, 2018 “Have you ever experienced that deep, tight feeling of not being able to breathe?”
  • Apr 25, 2018 “It taught me a form of empathy I am so proud to have now, and it teaches me more every day.
  • Apr 25, 2018 “Managing to save my ten sick days a year is an annual challenge.”
  • Apr 25, 2018 “What had started as a simple commitment to weight loss had become an interminable battle with my anxious thoughts, perfectionism, and insecurity.”
  • Apr 25, 2018 “Psychiatrists will tend to err on the side of prescribing too much rather than too little, at least in my experience.”
  • Apr 25, 2018 “People experiencing psychosis don't need your fear, we need your compassion and understanding, your patience, your friendship.”
  • Apr 25, 2018 “My advice to those suffering: be open, in some way, whether it be through talking or touching someone/something, feeling fresh air or sun, or splash water on your face….”
  • Apr 25, 2018 “I was crafty with my trouble making.”
  • May 2, 2018 “Sleep became something of a rarity. I was too scared to let it take me.”
  • May 2, 2018 “There is strength in vulnerability.”
  • May 2, 2018 “I have dreams and ambitions again that I feel and know I can achieve. And I see a future after mental illness, because like most illnesses, I can and will recover.”
  • May 2, 2018 “My work is amazing at supporting me during these bad times and my clients actually help put a smile on my face.”
  • May 2, 2018 “To this day, being with horses is the one thing that can allow my brain to rest and simply focus on what I am doing in the moment.”
  • May 2, 2018 “I would like to give a massive pat on the back to everyone who suffers with any type of mental illness. You are so strong, and please be gentle with yourself.”
  • May 9, 2018 “I’m 51-year-old NZ male and my story starts at an early age of 12 years old.”
  • May 9, 2018 “No, you are not crazy! Proudly different but not crazy!”
  • May 9, 2018 “Does the panic come first, or the physical symptoms followed by the panic?”
  • May 9, 2018 “Empathy, intuition with a clear head, mindfulness, and appropriate medical treatment, all of a sudden became a massive part of my life.”
  • May 9, 2018 “Depression doesn't need a reason and it doesn't mean you aren't aware of how great your life already is.”
  • May 9, 2018 “Right now I know I will always get better because today I am feeling good. Tomorrow could be different.”
  • May 16, 2018 “I didn’t understand why I felt so much pain.”
  • May 16, 2018 “I want to be a part of the solution in whatever way I can.”
  • May 16, 2018 “I can be happy one minute and then the next I’m just overthinking…”
  • May 16, 2018 “I take responsibility for my life.”
  • May 16, 2018 “What singing does do is provide relief from the dark cloud or the black dog, that constant companion that depression is.”
  • May 16, 2018 “I look back on my life now and recognise that actually my mental illness and emotional deregulation started in my teens.”
  • May 23, 2018 “But I also know that it’s not forever. Dark states of the mind don't last.”
  • May 23, 2018 “Writing my mental health story is an accomplishment I never thought I would achieve.”
  • May 23, 2018 “I have now been diagnosed with severe PTSD, anxiety and depression.”
  • May 23, 2018 “There is no right or wrong to a mental health journey. There is only your own journey.”
  • May 23, 2018 “My sleep has improved, medication is down, self-esteem and self-belief is on the up.”