Kintsugi Heroes: Uncovering our Hidden Value

Shannan came from a dysfunctional, abusive family with intergenerational addiction issues. She shares her story of overcoming her past and using her experiences to empower herself to change. She has worked very hard to overcome her addiction and realised, "If you want to make a difference in your life, you will invest in yourself because that is the only way you will grow and expand." Shannan now...

Kerrie grew up with alcoholic parents and began her own intense but successful struggle with alcoholism and mental health when she became an instant alcoholic after her first drink at fifteen. At eighteen, she joined Alcoholics Anonymous and has remained clean and sober since that day forty years ago. For thirty years, Kerrie has worked and volunteered in the business and community sector, helping...

Fran Garton’s story is about how she overcame severe fibromyalgia which was undiagnosed for many years. She describes the long pain-filled path through the medical system while she tried to maintain her work and family life until she finally found someone who knew what was wrong. She was told ‘You are a plant with no soil. You're literally just pouring the water in and it's just coming out the bot...

Bishoy Tadros was born in Egypt. At the age of three the family immigrated to the US when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. He grew up in Long Island, NY where he received treatment for ten years. On his thirteenth birthday, Bishoy underwent brain surgery and remains cancer-free. Bishoy shares his passion for health and fitness. He is an Iron Man and a six-time marathoner and ha...

Barb spent her childhood in New Hampshire then went to Boston University on a full athletic scholarship majoring in Elementary, Special, and Physical Education. She married in 2001 and had two children. After the terrible pain of losing her daughter Molly in 2016, her husband was ill, and Barb was suffering from brain tumours, she fell into a deep, dark place. She shares that harrowing journey and...

Adam begins his story in the Solomon Islands where he grew up. At seven, he was traumatised by psychological abuse from a teacher which instilled a very deep fear of rejection. This resulted in not being able to display any abilities or skills and becoming introverted and an unhappy underachiever at work. Eventually he had a breakdown at a conference but met someone who loved his business idea and...

Susan’s story is a harrowing and detailed account of an intense period in her life involving the U.S. medical system. Susan grew up as the daughter of the only doctor in a rural western Kansas town. After being a caregiver for her husband and a breast cancer survivor she has seen health care from three different angles. This has led to a passion to help doctors form better connections in all their...

The first part of Francois’ story is a gripping account of his life changing experience in the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia. Losing friends there and elsewhere caused him to take the decision to accept his own mortality, live every day to the fullest, to inspire others to do the same and live their best life. He advises seeking professional help when its required is one of the most powerful things yo...

Dinesh Palipana is an extraordinary human being. He was the first quadriplegic medical intern in Queensland and is a doctor, lawyer, disability advocate, and researcher. Halfway through medical school, he was involved in a motor vehicle accident that caused a cervical spinal cord injury. Biography Dinesh has completed an Advanced Clerkship in Radiology at the Harvard University. He works in the em...

Joanne talks about her inspiring journey into becoming a true entrepreneur beginning with a conventional bank job after school as decided by her father, then an early marriage as was expected of her. She moved up through promotions in the banking and finance world that made her a role model for women, breaking the glass ceiling of that time as she developed and refined her skills. When she suffere...

Ian was born in Hamilton, Canada, a poor working-class steel town. His childhood was extremely challenging as his mother’s partner was president of an outlaw motorcycle gang. He tells his story of the violence and criminality which traumatised him in his early years. He describes how he survived and later thrived because of his placement with exceptional foster parents and his positive contact wit...

Melissa’s story is very inspiring. She shares with us how she grew up in a dysfunctional family in California and suffered childhood trauma, undiagnosed ADHD and alcoholism as a teenager. Despite this adversity, her courage and determination led her to meet amazing support groups, healers and mentors and eventually become sober and live an authentic and productive life. She has a long and successf...

Alan’s remarkable story describes overcoming the challenges that go with building relationships. He raised three young boys after his first marriage broke up. This was followed by business failure, then another failed marriage.  His life began to change when he discovered his healing gift. Then he met a group of Aboriginal Elders for a year around a campfire. Because he wanted to learn, not t...

Don Mathewson is a true champion who shares his extraordinary story of courage, determination, a passion for athletics, and overcoming major physical challenges alongside a life of service to others.  He is a Masters track athlete who has been World Champion on three occasions across different age groups and received fifteen other medals. During his pursuit of excellence, he has completed Wor...

Today Traci shares her very personal journey helping save her mom’s life… and colon… from Crohn’s disease, which doctors said was impossible, as well as her own experience with a terrifying combination of lead paint poisoning and toxic mould sickness that challenged her will to live. These struggles put everything she thought she knew to the test and drastically changed the course of her life. And...

Gregory’s story begins in a violent and destructive home environment fuelled by anger and alcohol. He describes in graphic detail a life of neglect and trauma through his years as uncontrollable child in an orphanage. When he left at nineteen, he had no life skills and eventually ended up living as a recluse living alone in a rainforest in Northern NSW. He shares his experiences, the wisdom he acc...

Lena describes her dysfunctional family and a long struggle with depression, including suicidal ideation. The loss of a close friend to suicide without her being aware of his pain provided the basis of her passion for creating safe places for other people to find acceptance and support when they need help. Lena faced her own fears to create a pathway for people of different cultural backgrounds to...

In this first guest podcast, the Kintsugi Hero is John Milham. He describes his journey from the crippling grief of losing his childhood sweetheart and beloved wife to how he survived and later thrived. At the same time, he completely changed his life's direction and identity while raising his three young children. He tells his harrowing story with humility, emotional truth and engaging honesty. H...

If you've been with us from the beginning, you'll know we've had an incredible year of episodes for the podcast, hearing inspiring stories of our guests rising above their addiction, trauma, mental illnesses and more. The Kintsugi Heroes Team has also grown and, as I'm sure you can understand, 50 episodes of a podcast is a lot! With this in mind, we will be taking a short break from new episodes o...

Natalie shares her story about the experiences she had that enabled her to create her resilience tools and shares several of them with us. As a young woman she experienced the heartbreak of drought in the outback when suffering stock were lost or had to be destroyed. Drought was the first of the three D’s that led to working in animal welfare. Her second challenge was divorce, and she believes not...

Terry is an early baby boomer. His life plan to become an archaeologist changed when he was conscripted into the Australian Army in 1966. He shares some of his traumatic experiences as an elite soldier. After two years he left the army and became an accountant and put the military out of his mind. Over time, the memories flooded back, and he had to give up his job at the time. He eventually receiv...

Danny grew up in Guernsey Channel Island, bullied for being grossly overweight. He had a good home with a hardworking single mum but didn’t fit in. He was surrounded by wealth and privilege and felt trapped and became involved with drinking, drugs and violence. After many other experiences and now living in Australia, Danny had a moment in time where everything changed, and he began to work in reh...

Judy’s truly remarkable story begins at the age of fifteen after a childhood of unimaginable fear and torment as a victim of sexual enslavement by her father. She had the first of several extraordinary 'transcendent' experiences that gave her insight into the extraordinariness of who we are. She learned that we could access the universal intelligence of infinite knowledge and align our frequency i...

Paul’s story is very moving, confronting but overall filled with hope. Over the past two decades, Paul has spent multiple nights in some of the darkest places on the face of the planet, rescuing children who have been sold into the global sex trade. He has felt a drive to do what he can to mobilise a movement of people to help bring an end to the abuse that is handed out to kids who are trapped in...

Derek has always been active and healthy, playing sports, in clubs and involved with communities. He was in scouting for eighteen years and is a Queen Scout. He has researched and studied food, human behaviour, and longevity for the last twenty years. As a single parent, he suffered from burnout and depression, and this is where he begins his story of what happened and how he was healed. Derek als...