Chocolate and Coffee Break

What happens when we see the diagnosis before we see the person? When Jane Turner was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, she faced disbelief, grief and questions about what her future might hold. Yet today, she says something few people would expect: the quality of her life has never been better. In this episode of *Chocolate & Coffee Break: A Compassionate Proposition*, Andrea Putting sits down with Jane to explore the person behind the diagnosis. Jane shares how a series of falls and unexpected health concerns led to her diagnosis, the overwhelming emotions that followed, and the assumptions people make when they discover she has Alzheimer's. Still writing, publishing books and speaking publicly, Jane challenges the idea that we can understand someone's abilities or experiences simply by knowing their diagnosis. She also speaks openly about the memory difficulties she lives with and the practical ways she manages everyday life. Alongside these challenges, Jane has discovered something that was largely missing from her busy life: the ability to be present. That discovery inspired her remarkable wordless book, *Things to Worry About*. This conversation invites us to question how quickly we define people by their circumstances and what we might discover when we take the time to see the whole person.

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.

For 32 years, Justine Martin lived with a genital herpes stigma that shaped her life. Learn how speaking her truth brought healing. In this episode of Chocolate and Coffee Break, Justine opens up about the secret she carried for decades and the impact it had on her relationships. This personal story explores the weight of silence and the unexpected reactions she received when she finally chose to be honest with her children. We discuss the power of vulnerability and the freedom found in overcoming shame. By moving past the fear of judgement, we can foster a more compassionate conversation around the experiences we often find too difficult to share. **Brew the Change — Have the Conversation** This week, have a conversation about something you would normally avoid talking about. Share your perspective, invite theirs, and stay curious about what comes up. Find Justine Martin and her book: https://justinemartin.com.au https://resiliencemindset.com.au Subscribe to Chocolate and Coffee Break for conversations that challenge assumptions, bridge divides and explore what it means to be human. Pour yourself a cuppa, grab your favourite chocolate and join the conversation. Let Love Be the Loudest Voice.

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.

Why is it so hard to leave an abusive relationship, even when you know something isn't right? Content advisory: This article and the accompanying conversation discuss domestic abuse, emotional abuse and mental health struggles. Please consider whether this is the right time for you to engage with these subjects. If you or someone you know needs support, contact 1800RESPECT in Australia on 1800 737 732, or the National Domestic Violence Hotline in the United States on 800-799-7233. Rebecca Lazzelle was a successful corporate professional, building the life she believed she wanted. She had a career, a marriage, a home and a future that looked promising. To the people around her, she appeared confident, capable and independent. But behind closed doors, something very different was happening. In this conversation on Chocolate and Coffee Break: A Compassionate Proposition, Rebecca shares how she gradually lost herself in a relationship she didn't initially recognize as abusive. We explore the forms of domestic abuse that leave no visible injuries, the complicated relationship between love and harm, and why the question "Why didn't you just leave?" is rarely as simple as it sounds. Rebecca also helps us consider something important: what can we do when someone we care about may be experiencing abuse? How can we remain present without judgment, even when we don't understand their choices? This conversation is about more than domestic abuse. It's about the assumptions we make when someone appears to have everything together, the struggles we cannot see, and the compassion that can make a difference when someone needs support. Rebecca is the author of the memoir What the F Was That? and a guided mindfulness journal inspired by her own healing journey. ☕🍫 Pour yourself a cuppa, grab your favourite chocolate and join the conversation. BREW THE CHANGE This week, think of someone who always seems to have it together. The colleague who never misses a deadline. The friend who's always smiling. Reach out and ask how they're really doing. Then make space to listen. We never really know what someone is carrying, and sometimes the greatest act of compassion is simply letting someone know they don't have to carry it alone. ABOUT CHOCOLATE AND COFFEE BREAK Chocolate and Coffee Break: A Compassionate Proposition brings people together through honest conversations about our shared humanity. Through lived experiences, we explore difference, belonging, compassion and the things we can too easily misunderstand about one another. Every conversation is an invitation to look beyond assumptions, recognise the humanity in others and discover how we can build a more compassionate world. Let Love Be the Loudest Voice.

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.

How much do we really know about the people around us? Savannah Hauk spent much of her life keeping an important part of herself hidden, uncertain whether the people she loved would accept her if they knew. Growing up in a conservative environment, she learned early that being different could come at a cost. Today, Savannah lives as both Chuck and Savannah. She is an author, TEDx speaker and podcast host who openly shares her experience as a lifelong crossdresser. Yet being open is not a single moment of courage. Every new relationship can bring another decision about how much of herself to reveal. In this episode of Chocolate and Coffee Break: A Compassionate Proposition, Andrea Putting and Savannah explore the fear of rejection, the exhaustion of hiding, and the unexpected freedom that comes from allowing ourselves to be seen. Their conversation also raises a question for all of us. How often do we judge someone by a fleeting encounter without knowing anything about the life they are living? Savannah believes that asking a genuine question can change what happens between two people. We may not understand someone else's experience, but we can still discover the person beyond our assumptions. ☕🍫 Brew the Change

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.

Discover the unexpected power of chocolate and how a simple treat can become a bridge for deeper human connection. What happens when the place that welcomes you also gives you a way to belong? In this episode of Chocolate and Coffee Break: A Compassionate Proposition, Andrea Putting sits down with Tareq Hadhad of Peace by Chocolate for a conversation about belonging, culture, contribution and the unexpected power of chocolate to open a connection between people. Tareq shares memories of growing up in Syria, where chocolate was already woven through family life, celebrations and his father's work. He speaks about what it means to lose the familiar sense of belonging we often take for granted, and what happened when his family eventually found themselves rebuilding their lives in Nova Scotia. Their new community welcomed them, but the Hadhad family also arrived with something to contribute. Chocolate became a language people already understood. Made first in a home kitchen and sold at local farmers markets, it gave the family a way to share their skills, their culture and their story while forming new relationships within the community. Andrea and Tareq also explore why food can open doors between cultures, what chocolate has taught Tareq about human connection, and how Peace by Chocolate has grown from a family tradition into a wider commitment to contribution and peace. Brew the Change. This week, let chocolate be the invitation. Get yourself a good block. Get some Peace by Chocolate if you can. And share it with someone who you do not know well, a neighbour, a colleague or someone new to your community. Don't make it complicated. Offer the chocolate. Begin a conversation. Give them your attention. This welcome may begin with opening the door. Belonging begins when we take the time to know one another. Pour yourself a cuppa, grab your favourite chocolate and join the conversation. Let Love Be the Loudest Voice. Find Tareq Hadhad and Peace by Chocolate: Website: https://peacebychocolate.ca

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.

What can we know about another person's life if we've never asked what their experience has actually been? Steven Bouris was born with a large facial birthmark. As a child, he became accustomed to people staring and asking questions, but one experience at school affected him for decades: in a photograph of 720 students, a black square had been placed over the birthmark on his face. Steven carried what that experience meant to him without speaking about it for forty years. Then, in his early forties, a friend asked what it had been like growing up with his birthmark. Steven describes what happened when someone finally gave him room to answer without trying to reassure him, fix the situation or explain away his feelings. Our conversation moves beyond visible difference into something many of us may recognise: what we keep hidden, what happens when we feel safe enough to speak, and the difference between listening to understand and listening to solve. This week's Brew the Change is to think of someone whose story you know only from the outside, invite them for a coffee and ask: "What has that experience been like for you?" Then simply listen. Pour yourself a cuppa, grab your favourite chocolate and join the conversation. Find out more about Steven's book "Different" at StevenBouris.com Let Love Be the Loudest Voice.

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.

What happens when other people begin seeing one part of your life before they see you? Kijuan Amey spent ten years in the U.S. Air Force as an in-flight refuelling specialist. His life was full of adventure, responsibility, friendship and plans for the future. After a motorcycle accident left him blind at 25, far more than his sight changed. In this conversation, Kijuan talks about losing the career he loved, the people who disappeared from his life, and the assumptions people began making about what he could and could not do. He also shares the everyday moments that reveal how easily discomfort can become distance: people treating him like a child, apologising for ordinary words such as “see” or “watch,” and stepping in to help before asking whether help is needed. The deeper question is not simply about blindness. It is about what happens when someone’s circumstances change, and the people around them begin relating to the change rather than the person. At the end of the episode, this week’s Brew the Change is simple: Notice someone you normally recognise only by a role, a label, or first impression. Start one genuine conversation. Ask one question that invites them to share something about themselves. Listen without trying to fix, compare, or assume. Then ask yourself: Did I discover something about them that I never would have known if I’d stopped at what I could see? Pour yourself a cuppa, grab your favourite chocolate and join the conversation. Let Love Be the Loudest Voice.

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.

What does it really mean to come home from war? Jerry Clark returned from Vietnam in 1967 after thirteen months of service. The Marines had given him a place to belong, opportunities to lead and a growing sense that he mattered. But some of the ways of operating that had served him well in military life did not translate easily into being a husband and father. Jerry speaks candidly about treating his sons like Marine recruits, wanting to be in control, and eventually being confronted by people who helped him see how his behaviour affected those closest to him. He also shares what happened as those relationships changed, including the very different relationship he now has with his sons. More than twenty years after returning from Vietnam, Jerry experienced another kind of homecoming. Walking in a Houston parade in 1988, he heard people calling out their appreciation and welcoming the veterans home. He remembers crying for much of the two-mile walk. Through Jerry's story, our conversation opens a larger human question: How do we help another person know that they matter? Today, Jerry works with people experiencing emotional suffering and has spent years supporting fellow veterans. He explains why, when someone is struggling with whether they matter, he doesn't try to convince them. Instead, he uses gently curious questions and gives them the space to hear their own voice.

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.

How much do we change about ourselves in order to belong? For Anna Osherov, that question runs through a life shaped by different countries, languages, cultures and identities. Born in Kharkiv when Ukraine was still part of the Soviet Union, Anna came to Australia with her family on a humanitarian refugee visa as a child. She arrived without English and quickly discovered how important language, friendship and fitting in could become. Anna talks about pushing aside the things that made her different, refusing to speak Russian until she was fourteen, and a Grade Five diary containing a single entry titled “Anna’s Road to Popularity.” She describes assimilation as something that once felt necessary: “If you’re going to survive in this world, you have to fit in.” But identity does not always stay neatly where we put it. In our conversation, Anna shares what it means to carry Ukrainian, Russian-speaking, Jewish and Australian parts of herself, and how events in the world have complicated identities that are deeply personal. She also speaks about being told by people that they did not believe she was born in the USSR or that she was Jewish, and about experiencing fear around revealing her Jewish identity in a way she had never experienced before. This is a conversation about belonging, assimilation, identity and the parts of ourselves that may become quieter when we are trying to find our place. How much do we change to belong? And how much of another person’s story might we never see unless we take the time to listen? Pour yourself a cuppa, grab your favourite chocolate and join the conversation.

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.

For Meybell Cristina, childhood in El Salvador meant learning rules designed to keep her safe: keep your head down, don’t make eye contact, don’t talk to strangers, and know where to hide when danger comes. Then, at ten years old, she arrived in Australia — a place where children could play outside, make new friends and move through the world with a freedom she had never known. But what happens to the things we learn to survive when the danger is no longer there? In this conversation, Meybell and Andrea explore what we carry with us from the worlds that shaped us. They talk about the courage it took for her parents to begin again, why adapting to safety was different for a ten-year-old than it was for her parents, and how behaviour that may look distant or unfriendly from the outside can have a story behind it we cannot see. But El Salvador gave Meybell more than memories of war. She also carries the joy of her culture — family, food, music, dancing, celebration and a determination to live fully. Today, Meybell works across mental health, mentoring and leadership, helping others find their voice. Yet she also speaks candidly about why telling our stories can be difficult, particularly when vulnerability carries the fear of judgement. This is a conversation about safety and freedom, fear and joy, the stories we carry and what can happen when someone becomes curious enough to understand them.

A show, a movement, and a mission to break down the barriers that divide us. In a world growing louder with hate, division, and misunderstanding, we choose a different frequency: love, compassion, and the courageous power of connection.