Kintsugi Heroes: Uncovering our Hidden Value

Shanice tells her extraordinary, heart-warming story with humility and grace. She has lived with constant pain all her life. As a child, she spent months in hospital and rehabilitation. Shanice has had nineteen surgeries since childhood and lives in a wheelchair. Her inspirational journey saw her facing many challenges with courage and endless determination. A single mother, she has two children a...

Michael Hughes tells the story of himself and his wife, Vicky, their personal tragedy of childlessness not by choice and they how transformed their suffering into participation in an international support network for couples who have been unable to have children. He describes the many personal, emotional and social implications for people in a similar situation in our society today and the  g...

Mark's story is about the tragic effect of severe mental illness on all family members. He married his beautiful wife for love and life. But over time, her erratic and challenging behaviour, its adverse effects on the family and several misdiagnoses resulted in a diagnosis of bipolar disorder. Mark felt trapped in their relationship but could see no way out until a series of incidents revealed the...

Jeni was married at twenty-two at a time when many women stayed at home after marriage. When her marriage broke up after twenty-two years, she had zero self-esteem, two kids and no idea how to move on as she felt she had no skills. She tells her remarkable story with humour, honesty and wisdom and describes how she tackled nursing first by training as an enrolled nurse but later moved into other l...

In this inspiring conversation, Ian Westmoreland and Kathleen Langmore discuss and share their experiences with the treatment of cancer. With Ian on the beginning of his treatment journey and Kathleen only just out the other side, they have kindly brought their discussion and learnings to share with us. In this episode we hear how mindset, in addition to the medicine, is crucial during cancer trea...

Intro In this uplifting conversation Martin tells his story about his successful but very stressful corporate career then overcoming personal trauma and family tragedy and Stage 4 cancer in 2012. The he describes how he transformed his life and health finding a team of mentors and new practices along the way as he discovers his passion for health and nutrition and moves into many kinds of help and...

Jimmy has a special perspective as he has autism and shares his often sad but heart-warming and uplifting story of growing up with autism being bullied and misunderstood but finding mentors and supporters during the ‘years of hell’ of his education. And now he’s a voice, with a quirky sense of humour, for others as a writer, blogger and motivational speaker as he shares with the world what it's li...

Remeny tells us her story about having a twenty-six week, stillborn baby - James. You will require tissues for sure as it is raw and very powerful. Along with describing the many emotional moments of this unthinkable experience, she shares with clarity and honesty where she found real support, including her group of ‘lost mums’ and what unintentional well-meaning comments made things worse. She re...

Scott’s story is about a man who had a beautiful early childhood, lived on the streets after a family breakdown, reinvented himself, created a business and lost it, just for starters. He discusses painful family issues including a terrible injury to his wife and major anger arising from his relationship to his father. Scott then describes his mentors, inspirational healing journey and recovery. Th...

Season 2 Teaser for Kintsugi Heroes We've been taking a bit of a break from the podcast to re-assess and evaluate the feedback we've been getting for Kintsugi Heroes, but now we're ready to return! The podcast will be back, beginning next Wednesday, March 8th 2023. Here is a quick message from our Founder, Ian Westmoreland, about what to expect from the podcast in Season 2. " Hi, I'm Ian Westmorel...

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...

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...

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...

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 w...

In this introductory episode, we meet Ian Westmoreland, the founder of Kintsugi heroes and Aveline Clarke, the podcast host.   Kintsugi Heroes is the realisation of Ian's long-term dream to share the stories of people who have been through adversity to give hope and inspiration to others.  Kintsugi comes from a Japanese emperor whose artisans created precious gold-encrusted pottery from...