Story tellers

Why we created Ō Mātou Kōrero

I am a lived experience advisor based in Canterbury, and I am one of three co-editors of Ō Mātou Kōrero, Our Stories of First Episode Psychosis, alongside Dr Eleanor Baggott and Annabelle Schurhammer.

Overcoming fear

This book has been five years in the making. It began with a simple need. Psychosis can be frightening and isolating, and it is often misunderstood.

We wanted to create something that helps people understand what it is actually like, and to make sure no one has to walk the path of a first episode of psychosis alone. At its core, this is a collection of stories, artworks, and poetry from young people and whānau who have experienced first episode psychosis.

Bringing stories together

We did not interview people in a traditional sense. Instead, we created spaces where people could tell their own stories in their own way. We ran storytelling workshops, art workshops, and poetry workshops. Some people dictated their stories and we wrote them down. Others went away and wrote their own. Some created artwork in the sessions, and others submitted work they had already made.

It is a community-supported process. The voices in the book belong entirely to the people who contributed them.

The contributors are mostly young people, roughly between the ages of 15 and 30. There are around 30 stories in the collection.

Different for everyone

What comes through is that psychosis is different for everyone. Some people describe how it shaped their perception of the world. Others reflect on medication, recovery, and what they might do differently.

What the book holds

There are stories of fear and confusion, but also messages of hope. The book brings together lived experience in multiple forms. It includes written stories, visual art, and poetry.

We describe it as a gathering of voices and artworks that offer insight into journeys that are often hidden or misunderstood. It is both honest and hopeful. It does not avoid the reality of psychosis, but it shows the strength that can emerge through it, and the role of connection in recovery.

Honest art

The artwork is not decorative. It is part of how people communicate experiences that words cannot fully capture. One contributor describes how their art reflects what they were going through in a way writing could not.

The imagery throughout the book draws on Aotearoa’s native flora, chosen for symbolism around resilience, healing, and connection.

What people told us

The impact of the book became clear as people engaged with it.

One contributor described how therapeutic it was to write their story down, and how having it in the book gave them a way to share their experience with others.
Another spoke about how the art workshops supported their recovery and helped them reconnect with themselves.
For someone who received the book, it became a way to communicate what a psychotic episode feels like to their whānau. They described it as a taonga, something that could speak on their behalf when words were difficult.

That is what this book does. It gives people language, and it gives people a way to be understood.

The idea

The idea came from the New Zealand Early Intervention in Psychosis Society, which recognised the need for something that could help people navigate recovery and better understand psychosis.

The production was funded by the Frozen Funds Charitable Trust. These are funds left behind by people who were in psychiatric care, and they are used to support lived experience projects.

Success at launch

We launched the book in October 2025 at the NZ Early Intervention in Psychosis Society Tūhonotanga Conference in Christchurch.

The launch shifted the tone of the conference. It was a clinical and research setting, but when the book was introduced, the young people who had contributed their stories became the experts.

They read their work, performed poetry, and presented their art.

Alongside the conference, we held a two-week public exhibition at Tūranga Library. People spent time with the stories and artwork, and many told us they felt validated and less alone.

Copies were also distributed to early intervention in psychosis teams across Aotearoa so that the book could reach people and families navigating psychosis and recovery.

Why it matters

My hope is that every mental health service, whether inpatient, community-based, or respite, has a copy of this book.

I want people to be able to pick it up and find the words for what is happening to them.
I want whānau to better understand what they are seeing.
I want people working in the mental health workforce to have a resource that connects them to lived experience in a direct way.

For the people who contributed, this is the first time many of them have seen themselves represented in this way.

Our hope

I hope people read it.I hope it leads to more projects like this, covering different mental health experiences.I hope it continues to be shared across Aotearoa.

Most of all, I hope it reinforces something simple. When people tell their stories in their own words, and in their own way, they are not just participants in the system. They are the experts.

Here is how to purchase the book: The book is available for purchase at $25 per copy, which helps us to cover our printing costs. We can post this out to you for an additional $5 to cover postage and packaging costs. Any proceeds will go back into the NZEIPS Charity, so we can use this for future projects.

You can find the bank details for transferring below:

Ō Mātou Kōrero, Our Stories Book

Bank Name The New Zealand Early Intervention in Psychosis Society

Account No 03 0883 0249589 000

Reference Your Name / Our Stories

Cost $25 (plus p&p)

Email: nzeips@gmail.com

Please let NZEIPS know if you require an invoice and/or receipt.

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