Animals & Us with Natalie Stockdale

⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses addiction & recovery and mental health & wellbeing, which some listeners may find distressing.

If you need support, you're not alone — help is available:

• SMART Recovery Australia (addiction): smartrecoveryaustralia.com.au

• ReachOut: au.reachout.com

• Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au

Melanie grew up in a loving, faith-based family with early exposure to addiction through her grandfather and mental health challenges through her sister. After 10 years in the Air Force, she entered a relationship with Rob, a man caught between his party lifestyle and his desire to be a family man. When their son Hayden was born, the pressure fractured Rob. He drank heavily, became emotionally absent, and refused professional help. Melanie wrote three letters spelling out the reality he faced, each clearer than the last. When she finally withdrew her support to force him toward help, he broke down. He moved closer to his family for better support, and they became closer friends apart than together. She prepared her young son for the possibility of losing his father. Rob died on a bender less than a week after their last conversation. Melanie now speaks about processing rage and grief safely, accepting what she cannot control, and the cost of loving someone through addiction.

Melanie Marshall is a leadership executive, author of Adaptive Excellence, and former Air Force intelligence analyst. She spent a decade as a reality partner to her partner Rob, navigating his addiction and mental health crisis while protecting her two children, until his death by overdose.

In this Grit Diaries conversation with Mon & Mazz, Melanie shares the story behind the moments below.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Reality partner, not carer

04:05 Growing up in faith, seeing addiction close

08:12 Her sister's crisis, learning where to draw the line

16:23 Exam anxiety to Air Force service

24:39 Meeting Rob, naming what needed to change

31:45 Becoming a parent, watching him fracture

36:37 Coming home to find him paralytic on the couch

39:29 Writing three letters that forced the truth

43:01 His breakdown, her moment of knowing

46:50 Telling Hayden his father could die

47:45 His final thank you, her last wish for him

49:29 Rage, grief, and the validity of everything unsaid

🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Lifeline Australia: https://www.lifeline.org.au

Carers Australia: https://www.carersaustralia.com.au

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Welcome.

We're glad you found your way here.

Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.

Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object's history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.

This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't go to plan.

Here you'll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:

• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham

• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale

• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova

• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd

• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

• Pride in Stories, hosted by John Dwyer

Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.

Whether you're navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you're welcome here.

New episodes are released fortnightly across our series.

If you'd like to help us keep these stories freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate

Thank you for being part of this community.

We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONNECT WITH US

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌐 https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

📘 https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiheroes

📸 https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes

#KintsugiHeroes #LivedExperience #ResiliencePodcast #GritDiaries #AddictionAndMentalHealth #CarerWellness #FamilyResilience #BoundariesInLove #ProcessingGrief #RealityPartner

Mentioned in this episode:

Support Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, and every story we share is free for the people who need it. If this show has meant something to you, you can help us keep going. Visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and click donate. Every contribution helps us keep telling these stories, and it's tax-deductible.

Kintsugi Heroes

Follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, or share your own story at kintsugiheroes.com.au. Your story matters.

What I do while I can walk

Alyssa grew up in a Cambodian Australian family shaped by her parents' escape from genocide. In high school, she learned her father and sister carried the spinocerebellar ataxia gene. After years of uncertainty, she found courage to test for the gene herself through a partner's unconditional support in Turkey, only to learn she did not carry it. The relief turned to guilt watching her sister's mobility decline. Now, as an NDIS plan nominee and researcher, Alyssa confronts the gap between what her family inherited-duty, sacrifice, resilience-and what she wants to change. She channels that tension into work on inclusive employment and deliberate choices about her own future.

Alyssa Chhim-Michelle is a Cambodian Australian researcher, NDIS plan nominee, and PhD candidate studying neurodivergent employment. Born in Melbourne to parents who fled the Cambodian genocide, she navigates dual cultural obligations while managing her sister's progressive disability and her own family responsibilities.

In this Golden Threads conversation with Daniel Dougherty, Alyssa shares the story behind the moments below.

🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:

• Duty to family is not guilt; it is how Cambodian culture frames love, but it can trap you in patterns you do not want to repeat.

• Genetic uncertainty creates impossible choices for young people about their future, love, and family planning.

• Disability reveals how much of 'normal life' is built on unstated physical assumptions; small breaches become life-changing crises.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome and introduction

02:34 Growing up in an immigrant household with cultural tensions

06:05 Family history of the Cambodian genocide, what her parents endured

14:39 Her dual role as NDIS plan nominee and caregiver for her father

16:51 Spinocerebellar ataxia explained, the diagnosis of her father and sister

22:02 Learning she does not carry the gene, guilt about her sister's reaction

28:16 Her sister's generosity before the disability worsened, shared travel memories

39:40 Challenges with paid support workers and intimate care

41:29 The guilt Alyssa carries and the day-to-day realities of caregiving

47:32 Finding silver linings and what disability has taught her

50:18 How to communicate and connect with her sister

57:49 Closing: reflection on how she and Daniel met, future conversations

🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Welcome.

We're glad you found your way here.

Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.

Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object's history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.

This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't go to plan.

Here you'll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:

• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham

• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale

• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova

• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd

• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

• Pride in Stories, hosted by John Dwyer

Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.

Whether you're navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you're welcome here.

New episodes are released fortnightly across our series.

If you'd like to help us keep these stories freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate

Thank you for being part of this community.

We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONNECT WITH US

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌐 https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

📘 https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiheroes

📸 https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes

#KintsugiHeroes #LivedExperience #ResiliencePodcast #GoldenThreads #DisabilityAndRehabilding #disability #caregiving #familyduty #geneticuncertainty #cambodianamerican #ndis #inclusion #mentalhealth

Mentioned in this episode:

Support Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, and every story we share is free for the people who need it. If this show has meant something to you, you can help us keep going. Visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and click donate. Every contribution helps us keep telling these stories, and it's tax-deductible.

Kintsugi Heroes

Follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, or share your own story at kintsugiheroes.com.au. Your story matters.

The elephant's eyes changed everything

⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses trauma & healing, which some listeners may find distressing.

If you need support, you're not alone — help is available:

• Blue Knot Foundation (complex trauma): 1300 657 380 · blueknot.org.au

• Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au

Saengduean 'Lek' grew up in a Karen tribe where girls had strict limits on movement and education. Her mother, defying family and community pressure, let her attend school 14 kilometres away. At 16, Saengduean witnessed loggers beating a starving elephant, jabbing it with knives and forcing it to haul massive logs uphill. The elephant's eyes, full of fear and hopelessness, haunted her. She worked as a dishwasher and took any job she could find to buy medicine and care for injured elephants. Her grandfather's teaching-that true happiness comes from lifting others out of pain-shaped her resolve. With help from a man from Texas who offered 50 acres of land, she built a sanctuary that has grown far beyond her original dream of helping one elephant. She has faced threats, physical danger, and backlash from industries and officials, yet continues rescuing animals and using education and social media to change how people treat and interact with animals in Thailand and across Asia.

Saengduean Chailert, known as Lek, grew up in a Karen hill tribe in Thailand where women had few choices beyond motherhood and farmwork. Against community pressure, she became the first woman in her village to graduate from college. At 16, she witnessed an elephant being brutally beaten in the logging industry, and that moment redirected her entire life. She founded the Save Elephant Foundation and has rescued hundreds of elephants from circus, riding camps, and street begging, building a sanctuary that now shelters elephants, dogs, cats, horses, bears, and other animals.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Meeting Tongkam, the first elephant

01:45 Learning from her grandfather

03:14 Her mother's choice to let her study

06:44 Raising piglets while learning empathy

09:53 The moment everything changed

12:50 Dishwashing for elephant medicine

17:01 Working to find true happiness

19:05 A candle in the darkness

23:18 Facing threats and danger

27:11 Namtip's journey from cruelty to healing

29:51 Singing lullabies to calmed elephants

32:32 Education and change through social media

🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Save Elephant Foundation: saveelephant.org

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Welcome.

We're glad you found your way here.

Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.

Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object's history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.

This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't go to plan.

Here you'll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:

• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham

• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale

• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova

• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd

• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

• Pride in Stories, hosted by John Dwyer (launching 31 July 2026)

Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.

Whether you're navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you're welcome here.

New episodes are released weekly across our series.

If you'd like to help us keep these stories freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate

Thank you for being part of this community.

We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONNECT WITH US

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌐 https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

📘 https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiheroes

📸 https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes

#KintsugiHeroes #LivedExperience #ResiliencePodcast #AnimalsUs #AnimalsAndUs #TheGoldInTheCracks #AnimalWelfare #Conservation #Compassion #Courage #SocialChange #ElephantRights

NGinbaVI8OeKbT13vOaq

The 20-year fog

Karl grew up in apartheid South Africa in a wealthy but emotionally distant Austrian-South African family, experiencing what he now understands as complex trauma rooted in his mother's narcissism and his father's clinical detachment. For decades he dissociated, unaware he was queer until his late twenties when he met a partner and came out to indifference from his family. He moved to London at 27, then Australia, but remained numb and disconnected from himself until the last two years. Only recently, after leaving corporate work and experiencing a workplace sexual harassment case, has he begun to reclaim his creativity, healing practice, and authentic self. He now writes, mentors others in isolation, and teaches people that the answers we seek live in the quiet spaces we're taught to fear.

Karl Germann is a queer South African-born Australian now based in Port Macquarie. He spent two decades navigating dissociation and emotional distance from a privileged but cold family before recognizing his lived experience as trauma. He has since become a Reiki practitioner, author of the children's book The Land Where Unicorns Are Made, and community support worker dedicated to healing and connection.

In this Kintsugi Heroes conversation with John Dwyer, Karl shares the story behind the moments below.

🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:

• Dissociation and small-t trauma can persist silently for decades without dramatic incidents, rooted in emotional distance and hypervigilance from childhood.

• Coming out as queer or reaching any milestone does not instantly resolve the foundational trauma that shaped you.

• Authenticity attracts more meaningful connection and professional success than conformity or self-censorship ever will.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome and introduction

01:27 Growing up in apartheid South Africa

08:00 Dissociation, trauma, and the Austrian father

14:30 A narcissistic mother and emotional distance

19:22 Coming out as queer at 27

27:50 Leaving South Africa for London and Australia

35:00 Corporate work, authenticity, and walking away

41:00 Climbing Kilimanjaro and metaphors for life

46:35 Writing, creativity, and The Land Where Unicorns Are Made

50:14 Reiki practice and community connection through Ankali

54:20 Building community, smiling, and winning people over

57:51 Advice for younger selves and closing reflections

🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Out of the Fog: outofthefog.website

carlfox.com: carlfox.com

Lightunitedreiki.com: lightunitedreiki.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Welcome.

We're glad you found your way here.

Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.

Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object's history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.

This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't go to plan.

Here you'll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:

• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham

• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale

• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova

• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd

• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

• Pride in Stories, hosted by John Dwyer (launching 31 July 2026)

Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.

Whether you're navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you're welcome here.

New episodes are released weekly across our series.

If you'd like to help us keep these stories freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate

Thank you for being part of this community.

We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONNECT WITH US

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌐 https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

📘 https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiheroes

📸 https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes

#KintsugiHeroes #LivedExperience #ResiliencePodcast #PrideInStories #GoldenJoinery #QueerJourney #MentalHealth #Dissociation #AuthenticSelf #FamilyTrauma #HealingWork #CommunityConnection #CreativityHeals

———

Mentioned in this episode:

Thank You For Listening

Follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, or share your own story at kintsugiheroes.com.au. Your story matters.

Support Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, and every story we share is free for the people who need it. If this show has meant something to you, you can help us keep going. Visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and click donate. Every contribution helps us keep telling these stories, and it's tax-deductible.

The gold in the herd

⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses some heavy themes which some listeners may find distressing.

If you need support, you're not alone — help is available:

• Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au

Matt and Jezey both grew up with animals-Jezey as the 'Pied Piper' of a semi-rural childhood, Matt on his grandparents' farm working horses and cattle. They met through martial arts and fighting communities, relocated to acreage in Queensland, and started collecting animals. Visitors repeatedly said they felt profoundly calm and safe at the property. Both independently began studying equine-assisted therapy. COVID crystallized what they already knew: people desperately needed reconnection to nature and animals. They formalized their practice into Wolfpack Health & Wellness, combining structured, evidence-based therapy with the healing power of animals. Now they run individual and group programs, corporate workshops, teenage girl circles, monthly men's fire chats, and farm stays. Young people disengaged from school and heading toward crisis have reconnected with family and education through working with horses. Adults report breakthroughs after years of stalled therapy. The animals-especially horses trained in partnership rather than dominance-sense incongruence and create space for clients to practice vulnerability, boundaries, and self-awareness in a container held by nature itself.

Matt & Jezey Wolf are co-founders of Wolfpack Health & Wellness, a healing sanctuary in Queensland that combines equine-assisted therapy, Internal Family Systems work, and immersion in nature to support mental health and community belonging.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome and introduction

01:02 Jezey's childhood: the Pied Piper and animals

05:42 Matt's early years on the farm and leaving school at 14

09:11 How they met through martial arts and fighting

11:30 Visitors report healing; the spark of Wolfpack

16:45 The meaning of Wolfpack: community and belonging

19:43 The menagerie: 13 horses, buffalo, and beyond

27:00 How different animals show up in therapy and healing

31:31 Young people, boundaries, and the horse that says no

39:50 Do the horses choose their human? Invitation and consent

44:04 From breaking to partnership: Matt's shift in horsemanship

52:27 Final words: honor your draw to animals

🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Wolfpack Health & Wellness: wolfpackwellness.clinic

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Welcome.

We're glad you found your way here.

Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.

Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object's history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.

This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't go to plan.

Here you'll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:

• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham

• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale

• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova

• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd

• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

• Pride in Stories, hosted by John Dwyer (launching 31 July 2026)

Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.

Whether you're navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you're welcome here.

New episodes are released weekly across our series.

If you'd like to help us keep these stories freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate

Thank you for being part of this community.

We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONNECT WITH US

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌐 https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

📘 https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiheroes

📸 https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes

#KintsugiHeroes #LivedExperience #ResiliencePodcast #AnimalsUs #AnimalsAndUs #WolfpackWellness #AnimalHealing #MentalHealthMatters #EquineTherapy #NatureHeals #Wellbeing #Community #Belonging #TrustNotDominance

Mentioned in this episode:

Kintsugi Heroes

Follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, or share your own story at kintsugiheroes.com.au. Your story matters.

Support Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, and every story we share is free for the people who need it. If this show has meant something to you, you can help us keep going. Visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and click donate. Every contribution helps us keep telling these stories, and it's tax-deductible.

Ian Redmond describes himself as a naturalist by birth, fascinated by nature from childhood despite growing up in the English countryside far from the tropical wildlife he dreamed of. A chance letter to Dian Fossey in 1976 changed everything: he arrived at Karisoke Research Center in the Virunga Mountains as a research assistant and dog's body, encountering gorillas on his second day in the field. Over the next decades, he witnessed both profound loss, the murder of his friend Digit by poachers, and Fossey's own killing, and remarkable triumph: the mountain gorilla population rising from 250 to over 1,000. He later discovered elephants visiting caves on Mount Elgon and spent years building trust with wild elephants underground. Today, he channels his decades of field experience into international conservation policy, believing that personal encounters with wild animals inspire the protection they desperately need.

Ian Redmond is a conservationist and naturalist who has spent more than 50 years protecting gorillas and elephants across Africa. He worked as a research assistant to Dian Fossey at Karisoke Research Center in Rwanda, later introduced Sir David Attenborough to wild gorillas, and has since advised governments and led international conservation initiatives.

⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief, which some listeners may find distressing.

If you need support, you're not alone — help is available:

• Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 A Naturalist from Birth: Childhood in Yorkshire and Malaysia

07:07 Herding Reindeer in the Cairngorms

10:02 The Letter That Changed Everything: Writing to Dian Fossey

17:09 Arriving at Karisoke in '76: Into the Virunga Mountains

24:30 First Days in the Field: Confronting Poachers

29:04 Meeting Group 4: Gorillas and Nose Prints

39:34 Understanding Gorilla Society and Safety

45:54 The Death of Digit and Diane Fossey's Murder

51:36 David Attenborough and Life on Earth

57:51 Cave-Dwelling Elephants on Mount Elgon

1:04:04 Underground with Elephants: Trust and Conversation

1:12:32 The Three Ps: How Individuals Can Protect Wildlife

🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International: https://www.gorillafund.org/

The Gorilla Doctors: https://www.gorilladoctors.org/

Born Free Foundation: https://www.bornfree.org.uk/

Stop Ecocide: https://www.stopecocide.earth/

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Welcome.

We're glad you found your way here.

Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.

Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object's history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.

This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't go to plan.

Here you'll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:

• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham

• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale

• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova

• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd

• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

• Pride in Stories, hosted by John Dwyer (launching 31 July 2026)

Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.

Whether you're navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you're welcome here.

New episodes are released weekly across our series.

If you'd like to help us keep these stories freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate

Thank you for being part of this community.

We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONNECT WITH US

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌐 https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

📘 https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiheroes

📸 https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes

#KintsugiHeroes #LivedExperience #ResiliencePodcast #AnimalsUs #AnimalsAndUs #Gorillas #Elephants #DianFossey #MountainGorillaProject #Conservation #Wildlife #NatureLovers #EnvironmentalAction #AnimalWelfare #CommunityConservation

Mentioned in this episode:

Kintsugi Heroes

Follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, or share your own story at kintsugiheroes.com.au. Your story matters.

Support Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, and every story we share is free for the people who need it. If this show has meant something to you, you can help us keep going. Visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and click donate. Every contribution helps us keep telling these stories, and it's tax-deductible.

Jillian grew up obsessed with the ocean and marine life, sparked by an encounter with a nurse shark at age 8 in Florida. As she became a marine scientist, she noticed a stark disconnect: people hated and feared sharks intensely despite knowing nothing about them. Rather than accept this narrative, she committed to becoming a voice for these animals, diving with them, documenting their behaviour, and founding Sharks for Kids to teach children facts instead of fear. Now living in Bimini with her family, she witnesses daily how education reshapes attitudes. What drives her is not changing minds into love, but into respect and understanding that sharks, like all species, have irreplaceable value in ocean health.

Jillian Morris is a marine scientist and shark researcher based in Bimini, Bahamas, where she has spent two decades diving with and studying sharks across species. She founded Sharks for Kids, a free global education nonprofit that has reached students in over 80 countries, to shift how the next generation understands and values sharks in ocean ecosystems.

In this Animals & Us conversation with Natalie Stockdale, Jillian shares the story behind the moments below.

🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:

• Sharks have been in Earth's oceans for over 400 million years and are perfectly adapted to their role; understanding this ancient evolutionary success can shift how we see them.

• Education in childhood, grounded in facts rather than fear, genuinely reshapes attitudes and behaviour across generations, not just toward sharks, but toward ocean conservation broadly.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 A lifelong obsession: Growing up by the water

03:08 First spark: The nurse shark encounter at age 8

05:04 Why sharks? From fear to fascination

08:36 Eye contact underwater: What scientists see

12:00 Living in the shark diving capital: Bimini and its ecosystems

14:35 Witnessing birth in the mangroves: A turning point

18:45 Starting Sharks for Kids: From conversation to action

22:49 Changing minds in classrooms: The data of transformation

27:07 Myths and misinformation: Why sharks are misunderstood

29:35 Culling is not the answer: Ecology and alternatives

36:56 Where fear comes from: Media, primal instinct, and Jaws

42:42 The ask: Respect, understanding, and moving forward

🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

🌐 CONNECT WITH JILLIAN MORRIS:

Sharks for Kids (Sharks4Kids): sharks4kids.com

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Welcome.

We're glad you found your way here.

Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.

Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object's history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.

This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't go to plan.

Here you'll find five podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:

• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham

• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale

• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova

• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd

• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.

Whether you're navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you're welcome here.

New episodes are released fortnightly.

If you'd like to help us continue sharing these stories and keeping them freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate#donate

Thank you for being part of this community.

We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONNECT WITH US

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌐 https://kintsugiheroes.com.au

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

📘 https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiheroes

📸 https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes

#AnimalsUs #KintsugiHeroes #AnimalsAndUs #SharkAdvocate #BahamasWildlife #SharkConservation #MarineScience #OceanEducation #Wildlife #EcosystemHealth #SharkMyth #ConservationThroughEducation

Mentioned in this episode:

Kintsugi Heroes

Follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, or share your own story at kintsugiheroes.com.au. Your story matters.

Support Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, and every story we share is free for the people who need it. If this show has meant something to you, you can help us keep going. Visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and click donate. Every contribution helps us keep telling these stories, and it's tax-deductible.

Rick Fenney recounts how a reluctant choice to study veterinary science in 1966 led to a life of adventure across Australia's most remote regions. After failing second-year vet school in Brisbane, he was driven to complete his degree and repay a government cadetship. As a young government vet in the Kimberley and Pilbara, he improvised surgeries in hospital mortuaries and treated everything from cattle to circus animals. His encounter with Red Dog, a free-spirited kelpie who belonged to everyone and no one, became the catalyst for writing a four-book memoir series that preserves the story of outback life and his own journey. Now in his seventies, Rick continues building businesses, promoting his books, and preparing the definitive Red Dog account for publication.

Dr Rick Fenney is a Western Australian veterinarian, author, and businessman who has spent over 50 years in remote Australia. He is best known for his deep connection to Red Dog, a legendary red kelpie of the Pilbara, and has written a four-book memoir series linking his life stages to the red dogs who shaped him. He runs multiple vet clinics, pastoral stations, and an aquarium across Western Australia.

In this Animals & Us conversation with Natalie Stockdale, Dr shares the story behind the moments below.

🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:

• Failing at something important early in life-like Rick's second-year vet school-can be the most formative success, teaching resilience and maturity that propels later achievement.

• Rural veterinarians and farmers understand animal welfare better than urban advocates because they treat animals as animals and respect their essential nature rather than humanising them.

• Writing with strict principles of truth,…

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction: Margie and the Red Dog Legacy

00:01:26 Albany Childhood: Fishing, Freedom, and First Red Dog

00:05:10 The Accidental Vet: How a Chance Interview Changed Everything

00:08:27 Vet School in Queensland: Failure, Maturity, and Horse Manure

00:12:29 Derby to Port Hedland: Early Career Loss and Improvisation

00:23:36 The Chimpanzee: A Daughter Saved, A Monkey Treated

00:28:01 Red Dog Enters the Picture: The Wanderer Arrives

00:36:34 The Weight of Euthanasia: Responsibility, Guilt, Legacy

00:40:51 The Four-Book Structure: Life Eras and Red Dogs Aligned

00:51:15 Creative Tension: Building Multiple Businesses and Staying Alive

01:00:07 Brain-to-Brain: Telepathy, Animals, and Intuitive Communication

01:14:06 The Desert Vet: Television, Public Life, and Ongoing Work

🎧 If this story moved you, follow Kintsugi Heroes in your podcast app so you never miss an episode.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Welcome.

We're glad you found your way here.

Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.

Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object's history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.

This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn't go to plan.

Here you'll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:

• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham

• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale

• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova

• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd

• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience

Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.

Whether you're navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you're welcome here.

New episodes are released every week.

If you'd like to help us continue sharing these stories and keeping them freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate#donate

Thank you for being part of this community.

We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

CONNECT WITH US

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

🌐 https://kintsugiheroes.com.au

▶️ https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

📘 https://www.facebook.com/kintsugiheroes

📸 https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes

💼 https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes

#AnimalsUs #KintsugiHeroes #AnimalsAndUs #RickFenney #TheDesertVet #PilbaraStories #VetLife #veterinary #outbackaustralia #rurallife #animalwelfare #memoir #reddog #westernaustralia #humananimalbond

Mentioned in this episode:

Support Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, and every story we share is free for the people who need it. If this show has meant something to you, you can help us keep going. Visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and click donate. Every contribution helps us keep telling these stories, and it's tax-deductible.

Kintsugi Heroes

Follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, or share your own story at kintsugiheroes.com.au. Your story matters.

Catherine Grady spent five months in Mongolia this year — central grasslands, the Altai Mountains, and the snowy west — quietly setting camera traps for one of the most elusive predators on Earth: the snow leopard.

In this episode of Animals and Us, host Natalie Stockdale sits down with Catherine, a young American wildlife conservation biologist freshly arrived in Australia, for a beautifully grounded conversation about the lives of carnivores, the limitations of how science is taught, the quiet act of reframing “habitat” as “home”, and the universal truth she's seen across every species she's studied: everything just wants to be loved.

From acting student to wildlife biologist

Catherine pivoted 180° after two years of university — leaving acting to follow what made her feel “most alive”. Why that introspection is the foundation she now teaches young scientists.

Five months in Mongolia

From Khustai National Park to the Altai ice patches to setting traps for snow leopards in the snowy west — Catherine shares what it's like to live in a country where hospitality is automatic and strangers are fed at no cost.

The secret lives of snow leopards

The “ghost cat” is one of the most understudied predators on Earth. Catherine and her team want to challenge the assumption that snow leopards are isolated and antisocial — using satellite camera collars to capture the affection, play, and intelligence the public never sees.

Habitat is just a word — home changes everything

Why Catherine refuses to call an animal's place “habitat”. The single language shift that reframes how scientists treat the creatures and ecosystems they study — and the parallel she draws to Mongolian hospitality.

Everything just wants to be loved

Across grizzlies, wolves, freshwater fish and the shy cow she befriended in rural Mongolia, Catherine has seen one universal truth — and a Jane Goodall warning about apathy that every Gen Z conservationist should hear.

GUEST BIO

Catherine Grady is a wildlife conservation biologist from Seattle, Washington, recently arrived in Australia after almost five months of research in Mongolia. She has worked across the United States (including studying wolves at Yellowstone), Belize, and Mongolia — and her work centres on two equally-held values: wildlife and environmental conservation, and indigenous justice. Catherine is particularly drawn to carnivores, especially the misunderstood ones — wolves, snow leopards, and (next on her list) Australian dingoes.

Resources Mentioned

● Lucy Cooke — “Bitch: On the Female of the Species” (book) — https://www.basicbooks.com

● How to Train Your Dragon (2010 film) — referenced for the “everything we know about you guys is wrong” quote

● Jane Goodall — research approach and quote on apathy as the greatest danger to our future

● Joseph Campbell — “Follow your bliss and doors are open”

● Khustai National Park, Mongolia — https://www.hustai.mn

● Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary, Belize — https://www.monkeybaybelize.com

● Xavier Rudd — “Follow the Sun” (Animals and Us theme music)

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction

01:53 A Childhood Outside — Seattle and Salmon Recovery

04:07 Acting to Biology — A 180-Degree Pivot

09:42 Why Everything We Learn About Animals Should Be Questioned

17:48 Five Months in Mongolia

21:21 The Secret Lives of Snow Leopards

27:39 Universal Truths — From “Habitat” to “Home”

50:06 Advice for the Next Generation of Conservationists

CALL TO ACTION

If this conversation moved you, please follow Kintsugi Heroes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your preferred app, leave a rating or review, and share it with someone who loves animals as much as you do. To support our not-for-profit mission to share more stories like Catherine's, visit https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au and make a tax-deductible donation, or get in touch about partnering with us.

THE KINTSUGI CONNECTION

Watch every episode on YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

If this story resonated, explore more from Animals and Us — honest conversations about the creatures we share

this planet with, and what they have to teach us.

ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit storytelling platform sharing real stories of resilience, disability and transformation.

Inspired by the Japanese art of kintsugi — repairing broken pottery with gold so the cracks become the most

beautiful part — we believe every life can be made more beautiful through what it has survived.

THEME MUSIC

Thanks to Xavier Rudd for permission to use “Follow the Sun” as the theme music for the Animals and Us series.

PARTNER / DONATE / CONNECT

Partner with us — https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

Donate — donations over $2 are tax-deductible. https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

Web — https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

YouTube — https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes

Instagram — https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes

Mentioned in this episode:

Support Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, and every story we share is free for the people who need it. If this show has meant something to you, you can help us keep going. Visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and click donate. Every contribution helps us keep telling these stories, and it's tax-deductible.

Kintsugi Heroes

Follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, or share your own story at kintsugiheroes.com.au. Your story matters.

Episode Summary

Megan Hensley grew up outside Sacramento with animals as her closest companions — the kids at school didn't get her, but the animals always did. After dropping out of high school at 15, a stint in the US Army, conservation work that brought her to Australia, and a chance apprenticeship with a compassionate farrier, Megan found her calling: the care and welfare of donkeys. Nearly 20 years on, she is one of the most respected donkey farriers in the United States, founder of the Donkey Hooves and Health Academy with over a thousand students worldwide, and a tireless voice for an animal that has been misunderstood, misused, and underserved for far too long. This conversation is about donkeys — but it is also about trust, patience, and what happens when you meet another being exactly where they are.

Episode Pillars

● The Rebel Who Found Her Calling: From dropping out of school at 15 to the US Army to conservation work in the Australian outback — how Megan's winding path led her to a 20-year career as a donkey farrier.

● Donkeys Are Not Stubborn — They Are Discerning: The biggest misconception about donkeys, why they end up mistreated and mislabelled, and what it actually means to earn a donkey's trust.

● The Care Bear Stare and the Science Behind It: How Megan uses loving intention — and heart-centred energy backed by HeartMath research — to reach animals that no one else can get near.

● Romulus: Six Months to Liberty: The story of a mule so traumatised by a previous farrier experience that he trembled and broke into a sweat at the sight of tools — and how patience over six months changed everything.

● The Donkey Hooves and Health Academy: How COVID forced Megan online and led to a global school teaching donkey owners to trim their own animals' hooves — stress free, halter free, and with their hearts on.

The Kintsugi Connection

To see the visual story of Megan's journey and explore more episodes of resilience, visit our YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/@kintsugiheroes/videos

If Megan's story moved you, explore these related Hero conversations:

● Love animals and their power to heal? Listen to Ron King's story of building Oscar's Place, the donkey rescue at the heart of this episode.

● Drawn to stories of purpose found through unconventional paths? Explore how our other Animals and Us guests have found meaning through their relationships with animals.

About Kintsugi Heroes: An Australian not-for-profit (DGR endorsed) dedicated to strengthening mental wellbeing through the

power of storytelling.

Partner with Us: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/partners/

Donate (tax-deductible): https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate/#donate

Website: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kintsugi-heroes/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kintsugi.heroes/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Kintsugi-Heroes-100084850387170/

Mentioned in this episode:

Support Kintsugi Heroes

Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, and every story we share is free for the people who need it. If this show has meant something to you, you can help us keep going. Visit kintsugiheroes.com.au and click donate. Every contribution helps us keep telling these stories, and it's tax-deductible.

Kintsugi Heroes

Follow the show, share it with someone who needs it, or share your own story at kintsugiheroes.com.au. Your story matters.