Take It From Us with Kent Johns
Take It From Us is the voice of lived experience. In this podcast, you'll hear real people share honest stories about mental health, addiction, trauma and recovery - straight from their own journeys.
They'll tell you what actually worked, what didn't, and what they wish they'd known sooner.
Host Kent Johns is a former broadcaster-turned-health-coach who believes everyone has a story to tell if people take the time to really listen.
So settle in, you're going to hear some stories. Take it from us - and from them.
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If you need support, click here for helpful links, phone numbers and resources:
https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
Episodes
16 episodes
Seán Barnes: 'Social fitness' and why men need their mates
Sean Barnes co-founded the Christchurch chapter of WNOW (When No One's Watching) - a global movement where men gather at 6am every Wednesday for exercise, conversation, and coffee. It's simple, but that's the poi...
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31:07
Sand artist Wayne Webb: Finding hope on New Brighton beach
Wayne Webb was drowning in addiction and darkness when tragedy struck close to home. In his grief, his pain became visible to someone who asked if he was okay - that question changed everything.Now Wayne creates messages of hope in the s...
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39:59
Who cares for the carers? A story of duty, love and Alzheimer's
When Fiona Parrant's sister Charlene was diagnosed with terminal cancer, Fiona moved from Levin to Napier to help care for her - and for Charlene's husband, Alister, who had early onset Alzheimer's at just 60. After Charlene died, Fiona stayed ...
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30:44
Nicola Colman: I recovered from 15 years of anorexia... then helped my daughter do the same
Nicola Colman lived with anorexia for 15 years, outwardly functioning through marriage, motherhood and immigration, while giving most of her life to the eating disorder. Her turning point came when her son asked why she never ate dinner with th...
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35:26
Chris Reidy & Di Langdon: Raising a child with FASD in New Zealand
Chris Reidy and Di Langdon have spent 20 years advocating for their son with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) - a journey that started with multiple diagnoses and school refusals before finally getting the umbrella diagnosis of FASD at ag...
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27:30
Linda Collins: What suicide really does to families left behind
Linda Collins lost her 17-year-old daughter Victoria to suicide in 2014, on the first day of a new school term before she was to catch her bus. The grief changed everything - not just the unbearable pain, but how people saw her family, how rela...
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39:07
Waata Heathcote: How lived experience mentoring cut gang reoffending to 2%
Waata Heathcote spots a man in crisis at 8am in a coffee shop and has him connected to support within 15 minutes. It's just another morning for the Rangatira of Waiariki Whānau Mentoring, who leads a...
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32:35
Wellbeing champion Tim Mehrtens: Why I'm grateful for even the worst things that happened to me
Tim Mehrtens is passionate about helping people thrive - but that passion was born from his darkest moments. After experiencing severe trauma in 2012, Tim spiralled into PTSD and multiple suicide attempts, before facing the brutal reality that ...
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35:12
Kayla Schwalger: How Samoan culture became my mental health medicine
Growing up between two worlds, Kayla Schwalger felt disconnected from her Samoan heritage while trying to succeed in New Zealand - a struggle many second-generation Pacific Islanders know well. Moving to Samoa at 14 helped, but it a...
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29:59
Tui Taurua: How I used traditional Māori healing to get off countless psychiatric medications
Tui Taurua calls herself a "mental health warrior" - and after her journey, she's earned that title. From 1977 to 2001, she spent over two decades cycling in and out of psychiatric hospitals, hearing voices that doctors called "hall...
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36:38
Chris Ranui-Molloy: Recovering from addiction using drama therapy
Chris Ranui-Molloy's journey from a declining Bay of Plenty logging town to founding Recovery Street is a story of transformation through the most unlikely medium - theatre. Growing up wit...
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38:38
Rhonda Hāpi-Smith: Surviving 20 years as a female prison officer
Rhonda Hāpi-Smith describes her career as a female prison officer in New Zealand as "wonderful, devastating, fantastic and heartbreaking" - and those contradictions tell the whole story. For 20 years, she walked among dangerous crim...
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37:45
Teen leader Lola Fisher: How to give young people a voice
At 17, Lola Fisher is living proof that young people don't need to wait their turn to lead. What started as COVID lockdown boredom became her vision for Create Happy Media - a youth-led platform reaching 3...
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29:07
Lisa McDonald & Veronica Shale: Why we're giving up alcohol
This July, thousands of New Zealanders will go alcohol-free for
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27:20