Take It From Us with Kent Johns
If you're navigating mental health struggles, addiction or recovery — your own or someone else's — you'll hear what actually worked, what didn't and what people wish they'd known sooner.
Take It From Us is the voice of lived experience, featuring people sharing their own journeys, unscripted and unfiltered.
Host Kent Johns is a broadcaster and health coach who believes everyone has a story worth hearing if someone takes the time to really listen.
Press play — you might hear your own story in someone else's.
If you need support, click here for helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
Episodes
61 episodes
The 4000 kiwi adults stuck living at home with Mum and Dad
Flynn Mitchell spent three years in a Dunedin university flat built for wheelchair users — accessible kitchen, accessible bathroom, full independence. Then he moved home to Auckland and lost all of it. Now he needs a carer just to wash his own ...
Sam Cox survived the car crash. Then he had to relearn everything he'd lost
On New Year's Eve 2022, Sam Cox went through the windscreen of a car doing over 100km/h down a gravel road outside Rangiora. His best friend Kaide, who was driving, didn't survive. Sam did — with a brain injury so severe it took him five months...
Shane Cameron thought he was a dumb kid. Boxing was his answer.
Shane Cameron spent 17 years as a professional heavyweight boxer — a Commonwealth Games bronze, a world title shot and the 2009 fight against David Tua that ended with him in an ambulance. He didn't watch the footage back until last year. ...
The second time he was asked, Tai Tupou finally told the truth
At 22, Tai Tupou learned that the man who raised him wasn't his biological father. He told no one. For three years he isolated himself, burned bridges and had no idea he was living with depression — until a colleague asked him a simple question...
For 15 years, she studied eating disorders. She was hiding one too.
Five years ago, Meg Vardy was a UK-based researcher studying treatment for anorexia. What most of her colleagues didn't know: she'd been living with anorexia herself for 15 years.She's since stepped away from academia to launch
Rob Brown: 'Who the f*** you really are underneath all the other shit'
"Who the f*** you really are underneath all the other shit." That's the question Rob Brown puts to every man he coaches — and it's the one he couldn't answer himself for most of his life. Two businesses built and lost, a marriage that ended and...
Grant Robertson: 'I am a catastrophiser' — the panic attack that changed how he copes
"I'm a catastrophiser," admits Grant Robertson, New Zealand's former Deputy Prime Minister. It's a confession that sits behind a high-profile political career — years of COVID decisions, and eventually, a panic attack he didn't see ...
Justine & Blain: Running a 24/7 recovery centre after their own addiction
Blain Collinge was once the reason his parents started Red Door Recovery — refusing help, deep in addiction, with "no desire to change." Over a decade later, he co-leads the very organi...
Recovery isn't a straight line — Suzy Morrison on 35+ years sober
She took her first drink at 14 — and for a moment, everything made sense.Suzy Morrison chased that feeling for years, through other substances and eventually heroin, before it nearly cost her everything. She's been in recovery sin...
Jamie Summers: I thought I was invincible. Then I had a stroke at 39
Jamie Summers thought he was invincible. At 39, working in construction, high stress and no downtime felt like just part of the job.Then he had a stroke.Six and a half years later, he's still living with it — fatigue that doesn't ...
Heidi McIlroy: A book for young people who can't find the words
Heidi McIlroy teaches kids who can't make it into a regular classroom. They're too anxious, struggling with their mental health, autistic - kids who carry shame because they think they're broken.She gets it because she's been there. Year...
Kent Johns: 'I slept rough for one night - here's what I learned'
A different kind of episode this week. Host Kent recently slept rough for one night at the Big Sleepout. He bedded down on cardboard at the AUT campus, part of a group of 70 community leaders raising funds and awareness for people experiencing ...
Joe Daymond: 'Showing up to therapy isn't the same as doing the work'
Joe Daymond is a Kiwi comedian who makes you laugh about the hard stuff - the things most of us hide. He talks about things like mental health and relationships on stage in a way that makes people feel less alone.He's had low times, incl...
Todd Muller: One step away from being Prime Minister - then it all fell apart
Todd Muller was elected leader of the National Party in May 2020, a tantalising final step towards achieving a boyhood dream of one day being Prime Minister. Within five days, he was experiencing waves of anxiety he'd never felt bef...
Chris Bowden: How men grieve the suicide of a mate - and what we misunderstand
Chris Bowden lost 5 friends to suicide when he was a young man. He coped badly - drinking, drugs, anger, violence, getting into fights. He was spiralling.A university lecturer noticed something wasn't right and pointed Chris toward help....
Melanie Rauth: 'The drug was the problem, not me'
Melanie Rauth grew up in Australia. When her parents separated at 13, she started making different choices - cannabis, the wrong crowd, trouble at school. She had her daughter and in 2010 they moved to New Zealand.Rural isolation and met...
Dave Burnside: 'The man at my prison cell door who changed my life'
Dave Burnside started drinking at eight. He was drawn into the gang scene and drugs in Auckland. Multiple prison sentences followed - he was angry, railing against the system.Then one day in Spring Hill Prison, a man from his past appear...
Shelwin Khan: 'I wanted to join the 27 Club. Instead I got sober'
In 2026, Auckland man Shelwin Khan is thriving as a peer support worker and lived experience advisor. But it wasn't always like this.Shelwin started drinking at 13. By his mid-20s he was, by his own admission, 'unemployable', had three s...
Lotta Dann: 'The world loved my skinny body - then the binging started'
Lotta Dann is a well-known author and advocate in the addiction recovery space. This year marks 15 years since her last drink.Six years ago, Lotta had a second awakening - this time about diet culture. She'd found a guru with strict rule...
Dean Clarkson: I spent 20 years in an abusive relationship — now I'm helping other men find safety
Dean Clarkson established Wana Charitable Trust in 2024 to help men and their families who've suffered family violence. Based in Takanini, South Auckland, Dean provides safe housing, group therapy, and o...
Freddie Bennett: 'I had the Porsche, the Rolex.. and was falling apart inside'
Freddie Bennett co-founded Bay Paediatrics in Tauranga, and in his words, is leading the neurodiversity revolution.Less than 10 years ago, Freddie had the Porsche, the Rolex, the corporate life in the UK. From the outside, it looked like...
Kevin Hollingsworth: 16 years in recovery from Methamphetamine addiction
Kevin Hollingsworth is a clinical practitioner, addiction counsellor, and executive director of Mana Enhancing Stop Group in Rotorua. He's been in recovery from methamphetamine addiction for over 16 years.Kevin started using cannabis at ...
Kelsey Waghorn: Surviving White Island - and the PTSD that came later
Kelsey Waghorn survived the Whakaari White Island volcanic eruption on December 9, 2019. In two minutes, the volcano changed the trajectory of her life.Kelsey made split-second decisions that saved lives - staying still when she wanted t...
Liz Downes: Living with bipolar and supporting others as a peer
Liz Downes is a Peer Support Specialist and Associate Professional Lead at Counties Manukau Health, working alongside people with shared lived experience of bipolar disorder.Liz trained as a nurse. After having her first baby, she develo...