Stories of Hope and Resilience This book is a collection of eight stories about how real people coped with suicide, brain injury, dyslexia, alcoholism, sexual abuse, racism, teen parenting, and growing up gay in the 1960s. Alongside the personal stories, the authors - Julie Mulcahy and Debbie Knowles - have consulted "the experts" in order to provide practical commentary about complex issues. The stories themselves are of hope and wisdom and resilience. Julie and Debbie believe real stories of real lives are the most interesting stories of all. Both of them had life-changing experiences of their own. Could their experiences be helpful to others? Julie wrote about living with her daughter's brain injury and Debbie wrote about her brother's suicide. What had these painful things taught them? They wondered how other people coped with the things that had happened in their lives. They realised that things go wrong, even in the most sunny, well-regulated families. Put simply, if we can face up to these things, then there is a lot to learn from the honesty and courage of the contributors of these eight stories. Original works by New Zealand artist, Robyn Gibson, cleverly echo the emotions described in each story.