Take It From Us with Kent Johns

Liz Downes: Living with bipolar and supporting others as a peer

Liz Downes is a Peer Support Specialist and Associate Professional Lead at Counties Manukau Health, working alongside people with shared lived experience of bipolar disorder.Liz trained as a nurse. After having her first baby, she developed postnatal depression. When her baby turned one, she had a psychotic episode and was diagnosed with bipolar.She's lived with bipolar for 30 years. Five years after diagnosis, a psychiatrist suggested she'd make a great peer support specialist. She found her calling - using her experiences for good instead of seeing them as just a 'bad part of her life'.Liz says peer support is about mutuality. No hierarchy, no advice-giving. The person navigates their own waka. Liz sits alongside, listening and reflecting back what she hears.We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text by clicking here.If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Rich Rowley & Bex Waugh: The power in being 'neuro-spicy'

Bex Waugh and Rich Rowley are self-described as 'neuro-spicy' - and they're on a mission to help workplaces understand the value neurodivergent people bring.They're the force behind Neurofusion, an organisation helping people and workplaces find their flow - doing work that suits their cognitive style, not fighting against it.Bex got her ADHD diagnosis after her daughter was assessed in Year 2. Rich spent years thinking negatively about himself until he discovered he wasn't broken - the systems were.Their approach: celebrate what you're naturally good at. When you're doing work you love and are good at, it stops being work - it's fun. About 32% of the population is neurodivergent. The future is designing workplaces where everyone can thrive.We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text by clicking here.If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Suzette Jackson: 'See women as people first, not just mothers'

Suzette Jackson has just submitted her PhD in social work at the University of Auckland, researching a unique drug treatment program for pregnant women and mothers at Higher Ground in Auckland.Suzette is 13 years in recovery from drug addiction. Her research followed seven women - five of them Māori - at the apex of need: living in cars, multiple children removed, severe family violence.Her big takeaway: be kind. See women as people first, not just mothers. Women who use drugs face double stigma.Suzette would love to see these women given five years of support post-treatment with a system navigator to help hack the maze of housing, health, and Oranga Tamariki. Not a cost - an investment.Content warning: This episode contains strong language.We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text by clicking here.If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Asha Munn: On the healing power of creativity

Asha Munn is an art psychotherapist, EMDR therapist and founder of Breathing Space Charitable Trust.At university, Asha got unwell and didn't think she'd return for her final year. Art healed her - she made work every day, figured out her future, and decided to become a therapist.Asha's approach: no assumptions, no judgment, no analysis. Art therapy isn't about analysing work - it's about turning up, sitting alongside, and creating safe spaces where people can be seen without words.Creativity is ordinary and human. It's accessible to us all.We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text by clicking here.If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Lynda Hills: Suicide survivor on the research that's her new purpose

Lynda Hills is a suicide researcher studying for a PhD at Auckland University, and her lived experience is informing her research.Seventeen years ago, Lynda tried to take her own life. She was left with critical injuries and has undergone nearly 50 surgeries. She had to learn to walk again.Lynda's research focuses on akathisia - a side effect of antidepressants and antipsychotics that research has connected to suicidality. Reading the research through the lens of her own experience was confronting.Lynda's personal conclusion: indigenous approaches to wellbeing are safer than Western approaches. She's found healing through Havening, a psychosensory therapy involving touch.Resources mentioned in this episode:David Healy - Information on akathisia and medication side effects https://davidhealy.org/Anders Sørensen - Crossing Zero https://crossingzero.substack.com/Dr Robin Youngson - Havening https://neuroscienceofhealing.com/We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text by clicking here.If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/