ABSTRACT
Fright or Light: Surviving Mental Illness (Nabukavou & Teaiwa, 2008) was a booklet commissioned by an organization of young professionals called Leadership Fiji 2006. The year refers to the start of activities undertaken by this group, which chose mental health as their focus for fundraising and improvements to facilities at the St. Giles Hospital, Fiji's principal mental health facility. The booklet project resulted from encouragement given to Leadership Fiji 2006 by a young Australian volunteer who had described the positive effect on Australian readers of stories and poetry by recovering patients, published by mental health consumer groups there. Having their experiences in print seemed to help humanize the survivors in the eyes of the public and destigmatize mental illness. Fiji has a high literacy rate, uses the English language widely, and has a thriving printing industry, so producing a booklet was a viable project to support financially and expect to have completed in 3 months' time.
