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.
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Take It From Us with Kent Johns
Jamie Summers: I had a stroke at 39 - now I'm warning other construction workers about their health
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Jamie Summers had a stroke in 2019. He was 39, working in construction. High stress, poor diet, no exercise. The lifestyle caught up with him.
Six and a half years later, he's still dealing with it. The fatigue is relentless. When his physical health dips - injuries, setbacks - his mental health crashes hard.
But Jamie's also doing important work as the co-founder of Health15, going into construction sites across Aotearoa testing workers' blood pressure and checking for atrial fibrillation. The numbers are stark: only 30% of workers tested have normal blood pressure. Some have been dangerously high. There have been ambulances called.
Jamie doesn't dress it up. A stroke changed his life forever. And he's trying to get construction workers to take care of themselves before something like that happens to them.
For more information: https://www.stroke.org.nz/
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If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
