The Butterfly Diaries
The Butterfly Diaries is a creative book that shares stories of hope and transformation from people who have made it through the experience of being suicidal. True, Kiwi stories of recovery as told by New Zealand writers in a variety of different forms.
From 2014 through to 2016, just over a thousand paperback copies of The Butterfly Diaries were distributed across New Zealand with an encouragement for people to ‘pay it forward’ and pass their copies on when they were finished reading them. Volume 1 is now available as a free pdf download only. I encourage people to continue to ‘pay it forward’ and help to give these stories wings.
The Butterfly Diaries: Volume 1
In Aotearoa, New Zealand, 1 in 6 people have suicidal thoughts each year. It is a normal human response to feel hopeless sometimes. It takes a great deal of distress tolerance, brute determination, skill development, support and understanding to survive the urge to act on those thoughts and feelings when they arise. But hardly anyone ever talks about suicidal thoughts and feelings, making it even harder for people to find out how to get through. The Butterfly Diaries gives voice to the stories of those who have been there and made it out alive. Sean, Jane, Mary and Brad* have all been suicidal, survived their own suicide attempts and found their way to a place where they are glad to be living their lives. In The Butterfly Diaries they share how they strengthened their wings and learned to fly.
Volume 1 shares stories by written by Raewyn Alexander, Henrietta Bollinger, Owen Bullock and Phoebe Wright, with a foreword by Mike King, and summaries of the survival strategies each storyteller shared. Edited by Miriam Larsen-Barr and Michelle Bolton. Cover art and graphics by Erin Gaffney Jensen. * Storyteller’s names have been changed to protect their privacy.
Download the e-book edition of The Butterfly Diaries Vol 1 here.
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