Take It From Us

Hear from those with lived experience of mental distress and discover pathways to recovery. An award-winning show that gets to the heart of things with the experienced and the expert.

This week Kent Johns speaks to Katie Rose Pemberton and Ellen Thompson, both winners at the recent Girl Boss awards, a nationwide search for trailblazing young women. Ellen, a 17 year old from Tauranga, has been researching sleep hygiene and is developing a free sleep therapy app aimed at 10,000 users by 2025 to combat insomnia and mental health issues. Auckland University student, Katie Rose’s advocacy for neurodiverse students has impacted over 500 families. Through her work in the Unlocking the Enormous Potential of Neurodiverse Learners campaign, she’s pushing for systemic changes that create more inclusive learning environments. .

Liam Scopes is the Senior Manager for Strategic Wellbeing at Air New Zealand. He is charged with looking after the wellbeing needs of a diverse, global organisation, one that was particularly challenged through the Covid period as the company downsized in response to the pandemic. Liam speaks to Kent Johns about the importance of managing wellbeing in the workplace, and how to do it well.

Hear from those with lived experience of mental distress and discover pathways to recovery. An award-winning show that gets to the heart of things with the experienced and the expert.

Hear from those with lived experience of mental distress and discover pathways to recovery. An award-winning show that gets to the heart of things with the experienced and the expert.

Hear from those with lived experience of mental distress and discover pathways to recovery. An award-winning show that gets to the heart of things with the experienced and the expert.

This week we have the pleasure of speaking with Todd Astle, former NZ Cricketer, peak performance mental skills coach and co-founder of BetterMan NZ, a charity building a community of people working to make positive change and become better versions of themselves. Along with Ged Robinson and brother Ryan Astle the group uses learnings from sport to focus on enhancing quality relationships, challenging social norms and being positive disruptions.

Tamara Waugh is a trauma recovery advocate and practitioner and the founder of EmpowerMe. After overcoming childhood sexual abuse and sexual assault in her 20's, she put her focus to healing and years of dedicated research, Tamara created EmpowerMe to provide a supportive community and practical tools for women on their healing journey. Currently pursuing a Master's in Technological Futures at Academy EX, Tamara is at the forefront of innovation in mental healthcare. Her research focuses on developing an AI-powered, trauma-informed avatar therapist, incorporating biofeedback into the mixed reality space. This groundbreaking project aims to reduce harrowing waitlists and expand access to compassionate and effective mental health support, revolutionizing the way we heal from trauma. Tamara explains this innovative project to Kent Johns

Junior Tia is behind a new service called Kahurangi, that is looking to imbed peer support workers into medical and clinical settings. Junior tells Kent Johns that his aim is to get peer support people into clinical situations working alongside psychologists, doctors and in-patient clinics to help take the stigma out of treatment, change the language so it is more consumer focused and have people alongside who understand what the person is going through. Junior has worked in mental health services for over 20 years and has his own lived experience with addiction.

This week we talk to one of the co founders of Youth In Transition, an organisation dedicated to supporting young people at risk of suicide and helping them find purpose and meaning to their lives .

Tina Jones is a registered practitioner with many years of experience working with youth in crisis. She has spent eight years working with Victim Support and the New Zealand Police, as part of the suicide bereavement team. Having discovered there were far too many young people in our community who were suffering and in need of quality and timely support services, Tina co-founded Youth in Transition Charitable Trust in 2014 to improve the wellbeing and mental health of young people and to help them get back into a life worth living. She speak to Kent Johns along with Grayson Nipper who has been supported by the programme on his own journey.