Take It From Us with Kent Johns

In 2026, Auckland man Shelwin Khan is thriving as a peer support worker and lived experience advisor. But it wasn't always like this. Shelwin started drinking at 13. By his mid-20s he was, by his own admission, 'unemployable', had three stints in rehab he never completed, and wanted to end his life. He wanted to join the '27 Club' - a pop culture reference to a string of celebrities who died tragically at that age. Instead, he got sober at 27. He arrived early to a 12-step meeting by mistake ...

Dean Clarkson established Wana Charitable Trust in 2024 to help men and their families who've suffered family violence. Based in Takanini, South Auckland, Dean provides safe housing, group therapy, and one-on-one coaching. Dean spent 20 years in an abusive relationship - psychological abuse that escalated to physical violence. He ended up in a Pak'nSave car park in Mangere spitting blood, never once considering walking across the road to the police station. In less than two years, Dean has he...

Kevin Hollingsworth is a clinical practitioner, addiction counsellor, and executive director of Mana Enhancing Stop Group in Rotorua. He's been in recovery from methamphetamine addiction for over 16 years. Kevin started using cannabis at six. He transitioned to methamphetamine. In the grip of addiction, the desire to use was stronger than the desire to live. He was arrested 29 times and spent two and a half years in prison. Fast forward and these days, Kevin works with the same police who arr...

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 h...

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 s...

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 conf...

Ten years ago, online harassment followed Anna Ashton everywhere - she couldn't escape by changing schools or moving homes. She became agoraphobic, was misdiagnosed with social anxiety, and eventually attempted suicide. Her clinician didn't understand digital harm. There were no assessment tools, no training on grooming, catfishing, or sextortion. Anna had to teach her clinician the terms. These days, Anna is doing important work as a lived experience advisor in Canterbury working on digital ...

Riqi Harawira's band Dead Flowers used to play in front of tens of thousands, supporting acts like Guns N' Roses and Pearl Jam. Now Riqi works at Man Alive in West Auckland, helping men build better relationships. Riqi is a survivor of addiction, and sexual abuse in foster care. Now he's helping other men work through their own darkness. And he's making new music with a message. His new song "Pātua te Taniwha" means smash the shame. We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a v...

Dr. Moana Tane is the chief executive of Tauranga Living Without Violence, and she's challenging the assumptions we make about domestic violence. It's not rooted in socioeconomic hardship. Overwhelmingly, violence in the home is committed by men regardless of race or status. Moana's work began in Australia managing health services. When she moved into social services, she noticed something critical: programs for women fleeing violence, but nothing for the men perpetrating it. The women ...

Maree MacLean is an author and publisher who has helped countless people with her guides to sobriety. Her first book, The No Bullshit Guide to Getting Sober, became an Audible bestseller in 2023. Maree lost her brother Stu to alcoholism at 37 - he died in her arms at Auckland Hospital. Her own drinking started in her twenties, masked by media work and weekend partying. When she went freelance and her income became unstable, the problem became impossible to hide. She drank through a 10-year ma...

Ian Walker has survived two catastrophic spinal cord injuries - one in 2006 when his bicycle hit a truck, another in 2019 when a 4x4 dragged his hand-cycle 15 metres down the road. After 13 days in a coma, nothing woke him - until broadcaster Jason Pine started talking about his favourite football team, Liverpool FC, on Radio Sport. Ian clenched his fist and slowly came back. Instead of fixating on huge goals like walking again, Ian purposely chose to focus only on what was in fr...

Lisa Reid's first proper relationship breakup sent her spiralling. What started as weekend drinking turned into trying meth at a party - just to feel numb, just to forget. Within six to eight weeks, she was using daily. Within ten months, she'd lost $100,000, her dogs, her home, and nearly her life. At 3am one February morning, sitting on her bedroom floor in tears, Lisa wrote a letter from her addicted self to her true self. It wasn't quite a suicide note, but close. She knew she'd hit rock ...

Former All Black Steve Devine spent two years bedridden with migraines after multiple concussions ended his rugby career. Jack Newman got to 142 kilos, hadn't exercised since 2015, and in 2014 came dangerously close to ending his life - a moment he didn't talk about for nine years. Both are now Movember ambassadors, speaking openly about the hardest thing men struggle with: asking for help. Steve talks about battling trauma from his firefighting career and learning that if he expects his kids...