In The Heart Of The Vault

The day before her mum passed away, everything felt completely normal. Tahnee had FaceTimed her that morning, exchanged messages throughout the day, and went to bed expecting they’d speak again the next morning. Instead, she woke at 3am to missed calls from a Brisbane hospital. Just 12 weeks after welcoming her baby girl into the world, Tahnee’s life changed forever. In this heartfelt conversation...

🎙️ Forever Five: Ozzies Legacy — A Life Measured in Love, Not Years with Maria Raggio This week, Maria Raggio opens the vault to share the story of her beautiful son, Oskar — known and loved by everyone as Ozzie. Born with the ultra-rare Nicolaides-Baraitser Syndrome, Ozzie faced more challenges in his five years than most people will face in a lifetime. Yet despite countless hospital stays, proce...

At 18 years old, Kate Seselja walked into a pokie room for the first time. What started as a night out with friends quickly became a secret battle that would consume the next 12 years of her life. Over that time, Kate lost approximately $500,000 through refinanced mortgages, credit cards, and years of gambling losses. Alongside the financial toll came overwhelming shame, secrecy, and a desperate s...

There’s so much pressure to get back to normal after something life-changing. As adults… we learn to step away. From conversations that don’t feel right. From people who say the wrong thing. From environments that feel too heavy. But kids don’t always have that choice. They sit in classrooms. They hear comments. They carry expectations they don’t understand — from people who think they’re helping....

In this episode of In the Heart of the Vault, Nicola shares the deeply personal journey that began when her baby boy Louie was born prematurely at 32 weeks. Just days after his birth, Louie’s intestine twisted and strangulated, leaving only 8cm of small intestine able to be saved after multiple emergency surgeries. Nicola and her husband were told to prepare for palliative care. They were warned t...

BONUS EPISODE : Finding Your Voice as Your Child’s Advocate Sometimes in medicine, decisions aren’t made by just one doctor. Teams come together. Surgeons, specialists, consultants — all sharing knowledge and experience to make the best possible decisions. And that matters. But there’s another voice that belongs in that room too. The parent. Because no matter how skilled the medical team is, no on...

⚠️ Trigger Warning: Baby loss. Some conversations stay with you long after the microphones are turned off. This was one of them. In this episode of In the Heart of the Vault, I sit down with Rochelle — a woman whose life story is layered with strength, heartbreak, love and resilience. We talk about life before everything changed. Her upbringing, relationships, marriage, and the journey that eventu...

⚠️ Trigger Warning: Baby loss. Some conversations stay with you long after the microphones are turned off. This was one of them. In this episode of In the Heart of the Vault, I sit down with Rochelle — a woman whose life story is layered with strength, heartbreak, love and resilience. We talk about life before everything changed. Her upbringing, relationships, marriage, and the journey that eventu...

Content Warning: This episode contains discussion of suicide attempts, mental health, trauma and eating disorders. Please listen with care. When Ashleigh was just seven years old, her life changed forever. Her mum attempted to end her life. She survived — but the attempt caused severe brain injury, leaving her mum needing full-time care for the rest of her life. Ashleigh describes this as “the oth...

Finding Sunshine When Your World Has Fallen Apart Sometimes the hardest part of trauma… isn’t just what happened. It’s the fear of the unknown that follows. When your nervous system has lived in survival mode, it’s so easy to stay there — constantly waiting for the next thing to go wrong. In this solo episode of In the Heart of the Vault, I talk honestly about how I’ve navigated that space. People...

She Held Three Hearts Together — Through Love, Loss & Survival | Candice Randall ⚠️ Trigger Warning: This episode discusses suicide, infidelity, substance abuse, and complex medical trauma. Candice Randall was just 19 when she became a mother — and almost immediately, a medical advocate. Her eldest child has endured multiple open-heart surgeries. Her two younger children also live with heart c...

To close out the year, I sat down with Evie. Not as a host and a guest — but as a mum with her daughter. We talk about grief, bullying, kindness, and growing up. From my perspective — and from hers, when she was right in the middle of it. This conversation is honest, raw, and full of love. FIND EVIE HERE: INSTAGRAM

NEW EPISODE — Amanda Anderson | In the Heart of the Vault 🎙️ Today’s conversation is with the incredible Amanda Anderson — public speaker, storyteller, and one of the most resilient women you will ever meet. Amanda has lived through moments that could have broken her… yet she rebuilt her life with radical honesty, humour, and a courage that hits you square in the chest. From the shock of experienc...

✨ New Episode — with Amanda from @AddictionMakesthree This conversation opens the vault on the side of addiction most people never talk about — the impact it has on the partners, the families, and the people silently holding everything together behind closed doors. Amanda shares the hidden reality of living alongside someone in addiction: the chaos, the hyper-vigilance, the constant checking, the...

This conversation hit differently. You know those episodes where it doesn’t feel like an interview — it feels like two women sitting together, soul-to-soul, honouring the truth of what life can take… and what it can give back? Phoebe Stuart’s life changed in a single moment. First year of uni. Healthy. Happy. Future laid out in front of her. Then — an unexpected medical emergency that placed her i...

Trigger Warning: This episode contains discussion of domestic and gender-based violence, including physical assault. Please take care while listening. Support service links are provided below. In this deeply moving episode, Simone O’Brien shares her journey of survival after a brutal act of domestic violence that almost took her life. What happened to Simone is confronting — but what she’s done si...

In this powerful episode, Margot Priestly opens up about the nightmare her family has endured. When her step-children’s mother was sentenced for murdering her partner, it might have seemed like an ending — but for Margot, the ripple effect was only beginning. Despite a life sentence, parental control remained, leaving Margot and her family to navigate the ongoing impact of domestic violence and it...

In this powerful episode, Margot Priestly opens up about the nightmare her family has endured. When her step-children’s mother was sentenced for murdering her partner, it might have seemed like an ending — but for Margot, the ripple effect was only beginning. Despite a life sentence, parental control remained, leaving Margot and her family to navigate the ongoing impact of domestic violence and it...

This week on In the Heart of the Vault, we sit down with Donna Thistlethwaite to continue the story first shared in Australian Story’s episode “The Bridge.” This conversation explores love, loss, mental health, and the courage to keep going. It touches on suicide and sensitive topics, so please listen with care. 💛 If you or someone you know is struggling, support is available:     •    Lifeline A...

In this deeply personal solo episode, host Lindsay Taylor opens her heart and reflects on what it’s really like to live with loss — long after the funeral, the flowers, and the “checking in” texts stop. She speaks about what it feels like when the world remembers your person on the anniversary… but no one sees the pain in the quiet, ordinary days in between. This is an unfiltered, honest look at g...

Grief doesn’t only come after death — it comes when love ends, too. In this raw and relatable episode, Lisa Jenkinson opens up about the deep grief she felt after the end of a significant relationship. From losing the future she thought she was building, to rebuilding her identity from the ground up, Lisa shares how heartbreak shattered her — and how she slowly began to heal. If you’ve ever felt l...

What if your past pain wasn’t the end of your story — but the beginning of your power? In this deeply empowering episode, author and coach  Pamela Millican-Hartnoll  shares how she turned unimaginable tragedy and trauma into fuel for success, freedom, and inner peace. Pamela opens up about her belief that  you are not your trauma , and how we can hold space for our past without letting it define o...

Trigger-Warning:  suicide, self-harm, eating-disorders In this compassionate conversation, Mia Bannister shares the life of her son Ollie, who faced anorexia, depression and, at fourteen, died by suicide. Mia speaks gently about the warning signs she missed, the stigma around boys and eating-disorders, and the ways she now honours Ollie’s memory while advocating for early mental-health support. Ol...

In this powerful and emotional episode, Nicola Marshall shares the heartbreaking story of losing her 12-year-old son, Lucas, in a tragic balcony fall in 2019. Nicola opens up about the unimaginable shock, the weight of sudden grief, and the long, painful path of learning how to live after losing a child. She reflects on how that single moment changed everything, how grief has shaped her identity,...

In this heartfelt episode, Tegan Irvine shares the emotional story of losing her dad to stage 4 brain cancer. From the moment of diagnosis to his final days, Tegan opens up about the grief, the moments she treasures, and how she continues to honor him in her everyday life. If you’ve ever lost a parent or are navigating anticipatory grief, this episode will speak to your soul. TEGAN'S TIKTOK: @...