The Shape of Stress: Walking with stress, not against it

The Shape of Stress: Walking with Stress, Not Against It is a timely, compassionate, and deeply practical guide for navigating the pressures of modern life across Aotearoa New Zealand and Australia. This powerful book weaves together lived wisdom, clinical insights, and cultural understanding to help readers explore their relationship with stress and, importantly, transform it.

The writing is based on personal experiences and the author's work in emergency services across three countries. The author shares knowledge and experience gained over more than thirty-five years in various roles and in many situations.

Rather than promoting quick fixes or rigid self-help formulas, The Shape of Stress encourages readers to walk alongside their challenges with curiosity and courage. From parenting and burnout to grief, trauma, neurodiversity, and marginalisation, this book explores the realities of stress across communities, professions, and life stages. It offers grounded advice, personal reflections, shaded call-out boxes for immediate takeaways, and culturally attuned insights that honour both Māori and First Nations perspectives.

You'll discover:

• What stress really is-and how to engage with it, not fear it

• How cultural safety, identity, and community shape wellbeing

• Practical tools for self-regulation, resilience, and post-traumatic growth

• Reflections on burnout, neurodiversity, LGBTQIA+ experiences, and moral injury

• A glossary of key terms and an extensive resource index for deeper support

Whether you're a healthcare worker, teacher, parent, or someone feeling overwhelmed in a fast-changing world, this book offers validation, empathy, and a roadmap for healing.