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 features real people sharing their own journeys, unscripted and unfiltered. No theory, no talking points — just the honest, specific version of what recovery actually looks like.
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. Each episode is that time.
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/
Take It From Us with Kent Johns
Chris Bowden: How men grieve the suicide of a mate - and what we misunderstand
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
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. That counsellor changed his life.
Now Chris is a researcher passionate about understanding how young men grieve suicide loss. His PhD research revealed something crucial: men don't grieve wrong - they grieve differently. And we're not meeting them where they're at.
His work has led him to designing a new degree in trauma transformative support at Wellington's Victoria University. He takes walk-alongs with young men, goes to gaming nights, sits shoulder to shoulder with them.
And he's trying to be the lecturer who reached out - paying it forward.
We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.
If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
