This Is How It Feels

This Is How It Feels brings together voices from across Aotearoa to describe lived experiences of mental distress through art, storytelling and poetry. Created from contributions offered by people with direct experience, the book gives readers a way to encounter those experiences in the contributors’ own words and images rather than through clinical explanation alone.

Key features

• Combines visual art, personal storytelling and poetry.
• Centres lived experience from contributors across Aotearoa New Zealand.
• Offers recognition to readers who may see aspects of their own experience reflected in the work.
• Can also help parents, teachers, therapists and other supporters better understand how distress may feel from the inside.

Product details

• Author / compiler: Heidi McIlroy
• Format: Paperback
• Focus: Lived experience of mental distress in Aotearoa New Zealand

A thoughtful collection for readers looking for first-person perspectives, whether for themselves or to better understand someone they support.