Champions for change: The accidental advocates who turn personal pain into public gain

With a challenging year ahead, we pay tribute to some of the Kiwis who have stepped up with their own stories to support others, becoming champions for lasting change. Joanna Wane asks nine “accidental advocates” whether the personal cost has been worth it and what the New Year holds. For the past decade, Lucy Hone has been reliving the death of her 12-year-old daughter Abi over and over again, helping others to find a way through their own unbearable loss .

Exposing her private grief in such a public way wasn’t something she planned. But when Abi was killed in a car crash in 2014 , Hone and her husband, Trevor, were told their marriage, their family and their mental health were unlikely to survive it. Instead, she says Abi’s death taught her that it’s possible to live and grieve at the same time.



Now a global leader in the field of resilience psychology and co-founder of the Coping with Loss online support programme, Hone says sharing her experience to help others keeps Abi’s memory alive and makes her daughter’s short life feel that it has a legacy..