FROM THE EDITOR

MENTAL. It’s a word that doesn’t need capital letters to be confronting, but that’s the idea: to encourage those with a mental health experience to tell their story. MENTAL launches with a website today – a safe space where anyone can share their own mental health journey – and a plan to also publish a book. Liv Young, the founder, has gotten this far thanks to reaching her target of $5000 via crowdfunding platform Boosted.

Young has already received a significant number of submissions from Kiwis of all ages, races and backgrounds and we publish four of these submissions this week (page 6). Here’s one more... I got out of bed today

That may be all I did but

It’s a step past yesterday

Past my ghosts

I thought I was pretty today

Standing in front of the mirror

For the first time

I saw my real face

I felt something in my chest today

Like I was coming back to life

After all the endless dark nights

I walked out the door today

Felt the wind on my face

The sun’s warm embrace

Took the steps along the path

As I let go of my past

I smiled today

At a stranger walking by...

Anonymous