Led By A Heartstring

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode, we will be one step closer to connecting with my birth family. You will also have a first-hand insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia.

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can easily find the page on Facebook for other live updates as they happen.

Led By A Heartstring is a 'Long Way Entertainment' production and is recorded in Brisbane, Australia. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on a Monday. Send questions and other correspondence to: [email protected]

Original Music by Jonah Bobongie

Produced by Jonah Bobongie.

Joining me today to discuss Aaron, David and Emmett’s storyline in Australia’s longest running and one of the most famous TV soapies, Neighbours is Executive Producer, Jason Herbison. Jason also has personal and deep connections to adoption which we will chat about later in the episode, so stay tuned for that. 

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode, we will be one step closer to connecting with my birth family. You will also have a first-hand insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia.

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can easily find the page on Facebook for other live updates as they happen.

Led By A Heartstring is recorded in Brisbane, Australia. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on a Monday. Send questions and other correspondence to: [email protected]

Original Music by Jonah Bobongie

Episode produced by Jonah Bobongie & Lauren Pollock for Long Way Entertainment.

During discussions with people in my support network, I came across the knowledge and learnings of how the brain connects and controls how your body reacts to certain events. These reactions form from very early ages that you may not even remember clearly as a memory. 

I wanted to delve into the topic of neuroscience as this genuinely interested me and made me wonder. I didn’t necessarily want to do this episode on my own, so I invited neuropsychologist, Dr. Hannah Korrel (AKA.No Bull Pysch) to share her knowledge as a qualified clinician. We caught up the other day via Zoom and had a fun and inspiring chat about mental health, neuroscience, how early stages of life is so important and her new book, ‘How to Break Up with Friends’.

Next week on the podcast, the executive producer of Neighbours, Jason Herbison, joins me on the show to discuss the storyline surrounding foster care that featured on the show last year. 

Jason also shares his story about adopting his own child with his partner recently and how that impacted the way the Neighbours depicted foster care and the thought of adoption in Australian media.

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode, we will be one step closer to connecting with my birth family. You will also have a first-hand insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia.

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can easily find the page on Facebook for other live updates as they happen.

Led By A Heartstring is recorded in Brisbane, Australia. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on a Monday. Send questions and other correspondence to: [email protected]

Original Music by Jonah Bobongie

Episode produced by Jonah Bobongie & Lauren Pollock for Long Way Entertainment.

We all face the birth lottery when we are welcomed to this world. We don’t get to choose the family we grow up with or where we are born or what colour our eyes are. I think most people in this world have dreams and ideas of how different their life would be growing up elsewhere. We are all in different socioeconomic regions with different benefits and downfalls. 

For adoptees, we can go through this lottery many times. Sometimes our families do choose us. Today I chat with social work student, Keren Rowaro, about the birth lottery and her adoption from Papua New Guinea to Brisbane as well. We discuss how we sometimes question how life would be different had we not have been adopted.

Join me next week as I chat with neuropsychologist and author, Dr. Hannah Korrel about anxiety, depression and PTSD which can be caused from growing up in unstable or inconsistent homes. 

Adoptees, foster children and vulnerable children are at are higher risk of developing these mental illnesses than those who grow up with their biological families. We have a super chill and cool chat about mental health which ties in with Episode 2 from this season. 

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode, we will be one step closer to connecting with my birth family. You will also have a first-hand insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia.

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can easily find the page on Facebook for other live updates as they happen.

Led By A Heartstring is recorded in Brisbane, Australia. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on a Monday. Send questions and other correspondence to: [email protected]

Original Music by Jonah Bobongie

Episode produced by Jonah Bobongie & Lauren Pollock for Long Way Entertainment.

Steph from Melbourne discusses the difficulties adoptees face if they aren't fully made aware of their birth culture or heritage isn't incorporated into the households they grow up in.

Growing up she was taunted and called names above her darker skin tone, but never really knew why. It wasn't until she was an adult that she completed a DNA test to find out her origins.

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode, we will be one step closer to connecting with my birth family. You will also have a first-hand insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia.

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can easily find the page on Facebook for other live updates as they happen.

Led By A Heartstring is recorded in Brisbane, Australia. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on a Monday. Send questions and other correspondence to: [email protected]

Original Music by Jonah Bobongie

Episode produced by Jonah Bobongie & Lauren Pollock for Long Way Entertainment.

Phoebe was adopted from an orphanage in war torn Vietnam - at just ten days old. When they returned to Australia, Phoebe’s parents found out she was cross-eyed and she required several operations over many years under the late Fred Hollows to correct her eyesight.

Phoebe is also an ambassador for Adopt Change Australia and Shake It Up Foundation. Listen as she describes what is was like growing up as an inter-country adoptee from Vietnam, growing up in rural New South Wales, Australia.

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode, we will be one step closer to connecting with my birth family. You will also have a first-hand insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia.

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can easily find the page on Facebook for other live updates as they happen.

Led By A Heartstring is recorded in Brisbane, Australia. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on a Monday. Send questions and other correspondence to: [email protected]

Original Music by Jonah Bobongie

Episode produced by Jonah Bobongie & Lauren Pollock for Long Way Entertainment.

As an adoptee, we all have that scenario in our head that the search and reunion will have the perfect outcome, where all of those questions will be answered, the feelings will be mutually happy, internal wounds healed and our culture reconnected with us. We imagine it will be like those years spent apart never happened. For some that’s not so much the case. For me, I’ve found many obstacles and roadblocks in my search and I’m still awaiting the reunion. 

What I’ve learnt or gathered throughout this journey from speaking with other adoptees and just from other people’s support in my life, is to prepare for any and every outcome. Which I am. Someone who I believe has had an incredibly successful and wonderful journey, searching and reuniting with his family is Alex Gilbert (I'm Adopted).

Alex was born in Russia (Arkhangelsk) and was placed in the local orphanage for the first two years of his life until he was adopted by his New Zealand parents in 1994. In high school, he wanted to start search for his family at the basic level, 2009. Again, in March 2013 he started searching for his Russian birth parents, with whom he had no connection with growing up. He found his birth mother and then his biological father, who did not know about Alex’s existence until he contacted him in 2013 whilst in Russia meeting his mum for the first time. The story of his search for his birth parents first aired on New Zealand television in 2014 and he has since launched the I’m Adopted project, filmed ongoing vlogs on his YouTube channel, released two books and a documentary.

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode, we will be one step closer to connecting with my birth family. You will also have a first-hand insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia.

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can easily find the page on Facebook for other live updates as they happen.

Led By A Heartstring is recorded in Brisbane, Australia. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on a Monday. Send questions and other correspondence to: [email protected]

Original Music by Jonah Bobongie

Episode produced by Jonah Bobongie & Lauren Pollock for Long Way Entertainment.

Subconsciously I have felt that my relationship with my adoptive mother Carol has changed over the last 6 months whilst searching for my birth mother. I’ve sort of felt a guilt, or an awkwardness form between us during this journey. It may and truly just be one-sided for me feeling this but there has been a shift in dynamics for myself. 

Carol returns to share her perspective on this last 6 months of the journey.

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode, we will be one step closer to connecting with my birth family. You will also have a first-hand insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia.

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can easily find the page on Facebook for other live updates as they happen.

Led By A Heartstring is recorded in Brisbane, Australia. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on a Monday. Send questions and other correspondence to: [email protected]

Original Music by Jonah Bobongie

Episode produced by Jonah Bobongie & Lauren Pollock for Long Way Entertainment.

Content Warning / Trigger Warning: Suicide, mental illness, substance abuse, addiction

LIFELINE 13 11 14

Throughout the closing months of 2020, Jonah was discovering a lot of information about his adoption and his past. Going into this journey, he felt like he was prepared for what was to come, however the news surrounding his conception rocked his world and Jonah found himself spiralling down into a dark mindset of suicidal thoughts. This episode is designed to continue the conversation of suicide awareness and combat any stigma that is attached to telling others about your true feelings so that they can be there for you during those times.

Suicide and intentional self-harm are complex and can have multiple contributing factors, yet with timely and appropriate interventions they may be preventable.

The following episode of ‘Led By A Heartstring’ discusses suicide and presents material that some people may find distressing. If this episode raises any issues for you, the following services can help and can be reached on the numbers following the organisation name:

• Lifeline 13 11 14
• Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467
• Kids Helpline 1800 55 1800
• MensLine Australia 1300 78 99 78
• Beyond Blue 1300 22 4636.

Crisis support services can be reached 24 hours everyday.

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode, we will be one step closer to connecting with my birth family. You will also have a first-hand insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia.

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can easily find the page on Facebook for other live updates as they happen.

Led By A Heartstring is recorded in Brisbane, Australia. New episodes of the podcast are released weekly on a Monday. Send questions and other correspondence to: [email protected]

Original Music by Jonah Bobongie

Episode produced by Jonah Bobongie & Lauren Pollock for Long Way Entertainment.

Hello, welcome to Season 2 of Led By A Heartstring! Jonah shares his last 6 months of investigation to find his mother and how he wants to shift listeners focus away from his story and onto other adoptees experiences in Australia and New Zealand.

Subscribe and stick around, because by the end of every episode this season you will have a deeper insight on the psyche of an adoptee and other issues surrounding adoption in Australia. 

Find this project easily on socials @LedByAHeartstring on Instagram, @HeartstringPod on Twitter and you can find the project easily on Facebook.