The Raw Truth with Harriet Bremner

At 25 years old Zoe, a nurse at Christchurch hospital received the news that her father had been in a farming accident and was in critical condition. With sisters overseas and the media releasing photos before her whole family had been told the news, Zoe battled with grief and trauma in its entirety. 8 years on Zoe bravely shares her story and fantastic insight into how people helped her along the way while talking about her personal journey with grief, trauma and all the things that go with losing someone dear to you. You don't want to miss Zoe's honest and raw account and as she told me, listening to the previous podcasts has helped her and I know that Zoe's will help someone out there too.

Imagine being on a plane, heading overseas for that first big family holiday but you arrive in a country that is foreign to you and your husband has passed away on the plane en route. Helen talks to her Raw Truth about that horrendous trip where she was left stranded in an airport with two small children, suddenly widowed. She speaks openly about her traumatic experience and also about the pure kindness of strangers when her world was tipped upside down. An amazing woman, who has courage beyond her years and one hell of a story to share.

A fresh 15-year-old school girl attends the funeral of her beloved mother just before 5th form begins. Catherine, looks back, sharing her story about loss through the eyes of her teenage self while sharing what she has learnt from life along the way. She knows better than anyone how harsh and unfair the world can be, yet she is such a positive uplifting and beautiful person. As her friends, we feel we let her down as we were not educated during that time to know how to support Catherine with her grief. Catherine believes that we should be able to talk about our loved ones and share stories about them to keep their memories alive and often jokes that all our phone calls could be turned into podcasts.

Imagine this… you are a trained primary school teacher in a rural area in your early 20’s and there is a high school teacher shortage in the area school that you work in. Next minute you are called upon to teach a group of students in a specialised subject you have never taught before. Then… one of your students passes away. Not that much younger than herself, Sam found herself as a teacher, a role of leadership, while having to support her students through such a tough time. Living and working in a small rural community, the ripple effect that something like this has on the community as a whole is massive. Since then Sam has continued to be a teacher while supporting her husband on their farm and their two children. She spent years as a volunteer for St John ambulance where she has seen immense tragedy and hardship. With the loss of her mother and supporting me through my loss, Sam knows all too well how rural communities need to band together in times of need and how important it is for us to speak up so that we are less likely to feel alone and isolated.