Exploring endometriosis as a catalyst for creativity and community.
Voices, visibility, validation; when local author Natalie Hampshire decided to write Endo Empathy, these were her motivations.
Taking her creative passion as a writer, professional experience in communications, and lived experience navigating the emotional rollercoaster of life with endometriosis, she created an emotional companion for the people of Aotearoa living with this disease.
The result is Endo Empathy; a beautiful and vulnerable book that features the emotional experiences of 33 members of the Aotearoa endometriosis community, alongside self-compassion practices and expert medical interviews.
Now that her book is here, Natalie wants to celebrate with members of the Tauranga community who are living with diagnosed or suspected endometriosis – or love someone who does.
Not your traditional book launch, this free public event will feature an engaging and inspiring panel discussion with Endo Empathy author Natalie, endometriosis empowerment photographer Ainsley Duvestyn-Smith, and Tap. Health founder Maxine Lindsay.
Conversation will centre around how they took their life experiences, passions and skills, and used them as catalysts for developing positive resources for the endometriosis community.
Hosted at Natalie’s workplace, the University of Waikato’s Tauranga campus, this event promises to be an uplifting and emotional look at how we can let life-changing health conditions propel us toward positive change.
Attendees will also hear a short reading from the book and have the opportunity to purchase a copy (thanks to Red Square Books) and have it signed by Natalie.
About the panellists
Natalie Hampshire
Natalie Hampshire is an author and communications professional. After years of pain and suffering, in 2022 she was diagnosed with Stage IV endometriosis in her bowel. In 2023, she had a bowel resection and endometriosis excised from her pelvis. She then lived for four months with a temporary loop ileostomy. The self-compassion tools she discovered through her emotional journey of diagnosis and recovery motivated her to write Endo Empathy. It is her first nonfiction book. A lover of sunshine and the beach, Natalie lives in Tauranga with her husband, daughter, and two cats.
Ainsley Duvestyn-Smith
Ainsley is an empowerment portrait photographer, visual storyteller and health advocate whose work sits at the intersection of art, advocacy and community care. With more than a decade of experience through Ainsley DS Creative, Ainsley creates human-centred imagery grounded in relationship, trust and manaakitanga. Living with endometriosis herself, she created Now You See Me to make the invisible visible, challenge narrow representations and ensure diverse experiences are seen, heard and valued.
Maxine Lindsay
Maxine Lindsay is an occupational therapist, menstrual health educator and founder of Tap. Health. Her own experience of living with pelvic pain has shaped her work in women’s health, where she is passionate about better education, evidence-informed support and helping people with pain continue to participate in the lives they want to live.
What the critics are saying
“Endo Empathy is a compassionate and deeply validating resource that captures the often- unseen emotional realities of living with endometriosis. Through lived experience, expert insight, and practical emotional support tools, this book helps readers feel less alone while also acknowledging the complexities, barriers, and diversity of experiences that exist within the endometriosis community.” Yessenia Sandoval, Endo Warriors Aotearoa Founder.