CORRESPONDENT: JOHN HUDSON
PRODUCER: MELANIE JONES

It's a remarkable programme that's helping to save people from themselves and it's providing new hope where previously there was little, for teenagers who at one stage, wanted to end it all.

Campbell Lodge in South Auckland is helping 14, 15, and 16-year-olds, who months earlier had tried to kill themselves. Now, they are telling their 'Survival Stories'. They're not only alive - they're leading far happier lives and they say thanks to a unique programme, there's no way they'd attempt suicide again.

Mark Fisken was 14-years-old when he tried to end his life. He tried hanging himself because he felt there was no reason for his being here. And he's one of nearly 2000 young New Zealanders who made a significant attempt to take their lives last year.

"At the time all I could think about was myself, just everything that had gone wrong to me," says Fisken.

Mark's father Robert says seeing the rope that Mark tried to kill himself with has been the worst thing that's ever happened to him.

Campbell Lodge is where this nightmare and many others have found what really have been their fairytale endings. Psychologist and author Ron Phillips uses the ancient art of story telling to help young people reclaim their lives.

"Over and over we have seen kids come in in total denial and that denial flips in to a personal honesty. Kids are angry and the anger becomes communication and honesty."

Correspondent John Hudson also talks with Leah Jarvis, a 15-year-old who, while on medication for depression because of family problems, tried to overdose by taking every pill in the house.

"I didn't think that things could get better. I had no hope at all," she says.

The difference with Leah's situation is that her whole family is working on Phillip's programme - and it's working.