Kintsugi Heroes

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

ADHD in women is one of the most missed diagnoses in adult mental health, and for three professional women, understanding why took decades.

This is Too Much, Not Enough: Late Diagnosis of ADHD in Women, a live online panel from Kintsugi Heroes' Our Stories Matter series. Three women share what it's really like to get a late ADHD diagnosis as an adult, including the relief of finally understanding your own mind and the grief of every year that diagnosis didn't come. They talk openly about ADHD symptoms in women that often get mistaken for anxiety, what a neurodivergent diagnosis changes in your day-to-day life, and the self-compassion that comes once you finally understand how your brain works. Recorded live via Zoom as part of Kintsugi Heroes' monthly panel series, this episode is for anyone wondering if they have ADHD, anyone recently diagnosed, or anyone supporting a woman navigating a late ADHD diagnosis.

Key Takeaways

• Why ADHD in women is so often missed: Girls and women are frequently misdiagnosed with anxiety, or missed altogether, because ADHD symptoms in women don't always match the stereotype.
• ADHD grief is real: Alongside the relief of a diagnosis, there's genuine grief for the years spent not understanding yourself.
• ADHD and everyday life: How undiagnosed and diagnosed ADHD shapes work, relationships, parenting and daily routines.
• Strength in a neurodivergent diagnosis: The self-compassion and resilience that comes once you understand your neurodivergent mind.

About the Panel

Karise McNamee — counselling social worker, founder of Paths with Purpose, supporting ADHD, AuDHD and autistic women. pathswithpurpose.com.au

Angela Raspass — ADHD business coach and strategist, author of Your Next Chapter: A Business Book for Women with ADHD and Sparky Brains. angelaraspass.com.au

Patricia Falcetta OAM — founder of Social Living Solutions, neurodiversity advocate and keynote speaker. sociallivingsolutions.com.au

Resources Mentioned

Paths with Purpose (Karise McNamee): https://pathswithpurpose.com.au/

Angela Raspass, ADHD Business Coaching: https://www.angelaraspass.com.au/

Your Next Chapter (Angela Raspass' book): https://www.angelaraspass.com.au/book

Social Living Solutions (Patricia Falcetta): https://sociallivingsolutions.com.au/

Event Details

Live online panel, hosted by Kintsugi Heroes Ltd, part of the monthly Our Stories Matter series. Held via Zoom, 23 July 2026 (confirm your actual AEST time before reusing this date/time anywhere).

Timestamps

00:00 Introduction and welcome

01:54 Meet the panel: Karice, Angela and Patricia

08:00 Why ADHD in women is missed or misdiagnosed

09:31 How ADHD symptoms show up differently in women

14:00 Masking, overworking and what late diagnosis really means

16:53 The diagnosis moment: relief, grief and self-compassion

24:12 Living with the grief that comes after diagnosis

26:53 How undiagnosed ADHD showed up in work, relationships and parenting

34:40 What actually helped: therapy, community and workplace support

44:10 Addiction, undiagnosed ADHD and finding what works long term

54:25 Audience Q&A

63:01 Closing reflections and thanks

If this episode landed for you, hit follow so you don't miss the next Our Stories Matter conversation, and if you know a woman still wondering if she has ADHD, send her this one. Kintsugi Heroes is a not-for-profit, so if our stories matter to you, consider partnering or donating to help us keep telling them.

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/dxgcadlJRs0

About Kintsugi Heroes

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

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

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

Donate: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate#donate

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

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084850387170

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

SByfoGayOfTc7xxw2B2g

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 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 light in the tunnel

⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses mental health & wellbeing, 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

John left school at 15 written off as a slow learner, worked manual jobs, and felt trapped. An art teacher gave him a chance on an art course despite his inability to draw; that opened a career in education and social work. Over decades, he worked with youth in diversion programs, people with disabilities, children in care, and finally prisoners in corrections. In each role, he discovered the same truth: people who've been excluded, abused, or labelled criminal carry trauma that systems punish rather than heal. He learned to see the person beneath the label, to lead with respect, and to believe that connection and opportunity prevent crime better than law and order ever will. Now retired from government work but still volunteering, he supports ex-prisoners through peer friendship. His message is clear: before you judge someone, find out their story. Goodness still outweighs the crisis narrative.

John Milham is a social worker, educator, and corrections leader who spent decades working in some of Australia's most challenging environments: youth diversion programs, disability services, child protection, and prisons. He volunteered his way into these roles after leaving school at 15 with no qualifications, shaped by a mentor who helped him unpack his own biases and rebuild his moral compass. He now volunteers with ex-prisoners, believing that second chances and human connection are the only path out of cycles of trauma and incarceration.

In this Kintsugi Heroes conversation with John Milham, Phil shares the story behind the moments below.

🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:

• Second chances are rooted in someone seeing potential you don't see in yourself.

• Labelling people disempowers them and makes it easier for institutions to dehumanise.

• Trauma is the root cause; punishment is the symptom we treat instead.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Why second chances matter

01:58 Written off at school

04:50 The art teacher's chance

08:15 Unpacking bias, rebuilding values

14:59 Building community access programs

18:55 Corrections: seeing the person

29:01 Labels dehumanise

45:58 Youth crime and crisis politics

53:27 Diversion over detention

56:09 A walk to Woolworths

1:01:02 Finding light in darkness

1:06:24 Embrace the light

🎧 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 (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 #StoriesThatMatter #SecondChances #CriminalJustice #MentalHealth #Incarceration #HumanConnection #Redemption #SocialWork #Trauma #YouthJustice #PeerSupport

———

Show notes by TBC · Approved by TBC · Australian English

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.

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.

⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses addiction & recovery and trauma & healing, 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

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

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

Holly Deane-Johns grew up in a stable home until her mother's involvement with a man who introduced the family to heroin. By 16, Holly was using; by 20, she was imprisoned. Over the next nine years, she cycled through Australian jails while her family spiralled into addiction, culminating in her mother's heroin overdose. Arrested in Thailand at 29 during her husband's flight from authorities, Holly received a 31-year sentence. Seven years into a Bangkok prison, sitting on filthy ground, she had a clarity moment and made a decision to never use drugs again. She returned to Australia, completed her sentence, and studied while inside. Today she works directly with men leaving prison, using her lived experience to build trust and show them a different path. She's written a book and gives talks in schools, driven by the belief that her fractured life was always meant for this work of helping others rebuild.

Holly Deane-Johns is a youth and community worker who spent 17 years in various prisons across Australia and Thailand after struggling with heroin addiction from age 16. She now works with Wadjining Aboriginal Corporation in the RESET program, supporting men transitioning out of prison, and has written a book about her journey to help others see a future beyond addiction and incarceration.

In this Kintsugi Heroes conversation with John Milham, Holly shares the story behind the moments below.

🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:

• Addiction is rarely about drugs; it's about masking pain from trauma, and understanding this shifts how we approach people struggling with substance use.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome and Holly's Work Today

02:40 Working with RESET: Supporting Men Leaving Prison

07:34 The River: How Holly Ended Up in Heroin

10:51 A Man Entered the Family Home

13:06 The 110% Rule: Why Addicts Don't Stop

16:12 Loss: Her Mother's Overdose in Prison

20:36 Thailand: The Arrest and 31-Year Sentence

27:29 This Life Was Always for This Reason

33:00 The Heartbreaking Gap: Housing and Survival

40:48 Studying Inside: Planning for a Future

46:16 What the Community Needs to Know

48:38 Going Forward: Books in Schools and Prisons

🎧 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 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

#KintsugiHeroes #StoriesThatMatter #GoldenJoinery #TheGoldInTheCracks #LivedExperience #PrisonReform #AddictionRecovery #CommunityWork #SecondChances #HolidayDeaneJohns

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.

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.

Jason Blyth: The Gold in the Cracks, How Pain Refines and Purpose Is Built

⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses abuse & exploitation, addiction & recovery and 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

• 1800RESPECT (family, domestic & sexual violence): 1800 737 732 · 1800respect.org.au

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

• ReachOut: au.reachout.com

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

Born from rape after his mother's catastrophic accident left her brain-damaged and emotionally dysregulated, Jason entered the world under profound darkness. The child protection and mental health systems failed him repeatedly as he cycled through twenty clinicians between ages 2 and 15. He left home at 15 believing his circumstances would change, only to discover trauma travels inward. A gifted athlete and musician, he spent 15 years seeing himself as a victim, living with rage, engaging in escapism through drugs, prostitution, and even satanic cults. At 29, drinking a litre of wine three times daily to pass out, he hit rock bottom. In rehab on his 30th birthday, a single realisation shifted everything: no one was coming to save him. His wife's ultimatum to check himself in became his turning point. Now, nearly 8 years sober with a wife of 13 years and an infant son, Jason is using his voice and storytelling gift to champion systemic child protection reform and help others recognise that pain refines rather than defines us.

Jason Blyth is a speaker, advocate, and systemic change champion who survived profound childhood trauma, addiction, and a near-fatal descent into alcoholism before rebuilding his life with intention and faith. Now 8 years sober, he channels his lived experience into work protecting children and helping others recognize their own agency in rewriting their stories.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 The Riptide: A Story Shaped Before Birth

01:51 The Fracture: How Jason Came Into the World

04:46 The System That Failed: Fifteen Years in Psychology

08:58 The Hero's Journey and Necessary Trials

13:39 Being the Story: Narrative and Presence

16:50 Why Pain is the Great Initiator

22:09 One Person's Love Stops the Spiral

28:44 Marriage, Miracles, and a Son

33:54 Purpose From Pain: The Systemic Change Mission

43:27 Discipline and the Daily Regimen

59:13 Seeking His Biological Father: Closure Without Redemption

1:07:46 What's Next: Growing Into the Mission

🎧 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 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

#KintsugiHeroes #KHMainFeed #JasonBlyth #HeroJourney #GoldInTheCracks #TraumaRecovery #Redemption #ChildProtection #Faith #SystemicChange #SecondChance #PainToPurpose

⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses abuse & exploitation, 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

• 1800RESPECT (family, domestic & sexual violence): 1800 737 732 · 1800respect.org.au

Mahir entered high school as an energetic, curious kid thriving in primary school. By year 10, whispered jokes became systematic exclusion; by year 11, he was trapped between two new friends and a school full of people who had already decided who he was based on rumours. The day before his HSC exams, 15 bullies attacked him on the oval, humiliating him publicly. That same day, a compassionate teacher on his bus ride home convinced him to break his silence. His mother called the principal; the bullies apologised; he began counselling. University became his reset. Journalism reignited his expressive nature; the Big Lift volunteer program gave him the deep friendships he'd been searching for. Today, Mahir mentors emerging journalists, speaks publicly about mental health, and is building a career in broadcast media, turning his darkest chapter into fuel for helping others.

Mahir Manot is a journalism and law student at UTS who survived severe bullying throughout high school. Now an ambassador for mental health charities including Headspace and Are You Okay?, he uses his story to help younger Australians find their voice and build genuine connection.

In this Kintsugi Heroes conversation with Mark Henderson, Mahir shares the story behind the moments below.

🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:

• Rumours and preconceived notions can be as damaging as direct bullying because they prevent victims from forming new friendships and force them to suppress their authentic selves.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction: Who Mahir Was Before

02:15 Primary School: Energy, Curiosity, and Belonging

03:37 The Transition: A Broken Arm and Changing Dynamics

10:01 Corridor Confrontations: The Ripple Effect of Rumours

13:34 The Breaking Point: Physical Attack Before HSC

16:24 Breaking Silence: A Compassionate Teacher and Telling His Mother

19:01 After the Assault: School Response, Loss, and Academic Resilience

22:13 The Navy Dream and the 1% That Changed Everything

22:51 Golden Joinery: University and the Uncaging of Expression

37:48 Forward: Curiosity, Impact, and Broadcasting Dreams

41:00 Core Message: Using Your Voice to Uplift, Not Drown

44:06 Closing and Gratitude

🎧 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 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

#KintsugiHeroes #GoldInTheCracks #AustralianStories #BullyingRecovery #MentalHealthMatters #FindingYourVoice #JournalismMatters #YouthMentalHealth #SharedAdversity #CommunityConnection

Colin Parsons spent decades people-pleasing and chasing externally imposed goals until a move to Luxembourg, the birth of his children, and therapy catalysed a complete reckoning. He took paternal leave in a country that supported it, discovered his gift for genuine human connection through a Chief Happiness Officer role, and later questioned everything: money, marriage, identity, and what it meant to show up authentically. A divorce forced him to surrender the shame and labels others placed on him. Today, he runs free weekly LinkedIn Live conversations with people worldwide, building trust through imperfection, and has learned that confidence isn't a destination but a compound return on small daily acts of courage and self-kindness.

Colin Parsons is a Luxembourg-based conversationalist, former Chief Happiness Officer, and founder of unscripted LinkedIn Live interviews. After a career in banking and consulting, a divorce, and six years of therapy, he now facilitates genuine human connection globally through intentional dialogue and has built confidence through small, compounding acts of courage.

🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:

• Taking time to genuinely connect with your children reveals what parental responsibility actually means and builds deeper bonds than any schedule can predict.

• Money is a borrowed value, not a true one; when we make it the primary goal, we sacrifice alignment with ourselves and justify pain we didn't need to endure.

• Vulnerability and therapy are not signs of weakness but courageous acts that disrupt the conditioning and narratives holding you back from living authentically.

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Welcome and introduction to Colin's story

02:28 Paternal leave in Luxembourg and the gift of deep parental bonding

07:15 From frustrated consultant to Chief Happiness Officer

14:53 How job loss and relocation sparked a career pivot

20:06 Questioning money as a primary value and reclaiming intentionality

27:38 The turning point: therapy, self-discovery, and disrupting old narratives

35:43 Awareness as a superpower and the art of reframing self-talk

43:49 Divorce, shame, and learning to stop people-pleasing

56:11 Building confidence through small, compounding daily acts

01:05:42 LinkedIn Live: creating genuine connection in a digital age

01:14:47 Why human imperfection matters more than AI perfection

01:19:00 Closing: gratitude and where to find Colin's 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 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

#KintsugiHeroes #GoldInTheCracks #RebuildingAfterDivorce #SelfCompassion #MentalHealth #Authenticity #PersonalGrowth #Therapy #HumanConnection #Vulnerability #IntentionalLiving #Fatherhood #Confidence

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.

Gene Moore grew up in a fundamentalist Christian household where his sexuality was framed as sin. He married, became a pastor, and spent 14 years denying who he was before a near-suicidal crisis forced him out of the closet. After losing his partner Victor to a plane crash in 1994, Gene channelled his grief into studying gay identity and eventually transforming military and police cultures by reframing homophobia not as prejudice against gay people but as a masculinity enforcement system that damages all men. His paradigm shift, grounded in research by David Plummer on homophobia phobia (the fear of being labelled gay), has proven effective in the most resistant institutional environments, creating what he calls a fellow victim paradigm where straight and gay men become allies against a common enemy. After 20 years of silence driven by safety concerns, Gene has begun publicly sharing this work.

Gene Moore is a scholar, former pastor, and cultural change specialist whose decades-long career has focused on understanding and eliminating homophobia in military and police organisations across New Zealand and Australia. Born in Texas into a fundamentalist Christian home, Gene came out as gay after years in the closet, a trauma that sparked his lifelong mission to dismantle the systems that damage both queer and straight men.

In this Kintsugi Heroes conversation with John Milham, Gene shares the story behind the moments below.

🎙️ IN THIS CONVERSATION:

• The closet is not a secret kept by individuals but a performative system that damages everyone in an environment, particularly in hyper-masculine institutions like the military and police.

• Homophobia phobia (the fear of being labelled gay) is the invisible driver of toxic masculinity enforcement, and naming this fear breaks its power by making the mechanism visible and absurd.

• Straight men…

🕒 CHAPTERS:

00:00 Introduction and Gene's Interdisciplinary Mosaic

05:09 From Texas to the Pacific: Geographic and Intellectual Wandering

08:42 Fundamentalist Upbringing and the Denial of Desire

14:46 The Closet as Performance: Crisis and Escape

19:02 From Grief to Academia: The Birth of a Mission

25:28 The Military Paradigm Shift: From Tolerance to Attitude Change

32:27 Homophobia Phobia and the Fellow Victim Framework

44:00 Operational Effectiveness and the Rational Case for Change

50:17 Twenty Years of Silence and the Decision to Speak

01:02:14 Victor Neo: Love, Fate, and a Plane Crash

01:10:09 Breaking the Silence for Suicide Prevention

01:13:05 The Unpublished Book and the Path Forward

🎧 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

#KintsugiHeroes #KHMainFeed #FirstPersonStories #masculinity #homophobia #mentalhealth #suicideprevention #culturalchange #lgbtq #military #toxicmasculinity

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.

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.

EPISODE SUMMARY

Not every journey to purpose is a straight line. For Matt Tulle, it wound through stigma, addiction and some of the darkest corners of mental health — all while growing up queer in rural Queensland.

Matt didn't just survive that journey. He transformed it. Today he works as a peer worker in alcohol and other drugs (AOD) support, walking alongside men who are exactly where he once was. In this honest, generous conversation, Matt unpacks ten years as a "functional drug addict", the cocaine years in a Melbourne ops manager role, the breakdown that followed, and the night he felt his late father's presence and chose a different path.

This is a story about lived experience as a connection multiplier — and why peer work might be one of the most important roles in modern recovery.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

LIVED EXPERIENCE IS A CONNECTION MULTIPLIER

Matt explains why "me too" lands in a way no textbook can — and how peer work uses it with intention, not as a trauma dump.

SHAME TO GUILT IS THE MOVE

"I'm a bad person" becomes "I had a bad moment." Matt walks through how that single reframe rebuilt his self-worth.

ADDICTION CAN BE THE THING HOLDING IT TOGETHER

For ten years, the drugs weren't the problem — they were the unprocessed solution. Real recovery meant doing the harder, slower work underneath.

THE WORK TAKES AS LONG AS IT TAKES

Eight years into healing and still going. Matt's view: time doesn't matter, you'll do it when you're ready.

YOU MAY NEED A NEW POT

On outgrowing people, redrawing boundaries, and why moving on isn't betrayal — it's growth.

GUEST BIO

Matt Tulle is an AOD peer worker based in Queensland, supporting men through addiction, mental health and recovery. A social work graduate, Matt brings a decade of lived experience to a workforce he believes belongs at every multidisciplinary table.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

- Lifeline Australia (24/7): 13 11 14 — https://www.lifeline.org.au

- Beyond Blue: 1300 22 4636 — https://www.beyondblue.org.au

- QLife (LGBTI peer support): 1800 184 527 — https://www.qlife.org.au

- 13YARN (First Nations crisis line): 13 92 76 — https://www.13yarn.org.au

TIMESTAMPS

00:00 Introduction

03:11 Growing up queer in Gympie

13:20 Melbourne, burnout and cocaine

15:42 Breakdown, withdrawal and first attempt

22:00 Losing Dad and the cat moment

26:00 Uni, therapy and doing the work

30:48 Peer work — shame to guilt

52:21 Future of peer work and LGBTQI+ hopes

CALL TO ACTION

If this conversation moved you, share it with one person who needs it. Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen, and please leave a rating and review — it helps others find these stories.

Support Kintsugi Heroes with a tax-deductible donation: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

THE KINTSUGI CONNECTION

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

If this resonated, you may also like:

- KH episodes on men's mental health and recovery

- KH episodes on lived experience and peer support

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 — we believe our breaks make us more valuable, not less.

PARTNER WITH US

Sponsorship and partnership enquiries: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

DONATE

Make a tax-deductible donation: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au

CONNECT

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

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

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

Theme music: "Broken" by Colin Lilly, used with permission.

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.

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.