Chris Ranui-Molloy: Recovering from addiction using drama therapy
Chris Ranui-Molloy's journey from a declining Bay of Plenty logging town to founding Recovery Street is a story of transformation through the most unlikely medium - theatre. Growing up with a 'FTW mentality' in Murupara, Chris nearly ended up in gang life before heading to drama school in Auckland where isolation, depression, and addiction left him struggling to fit into an unfamiliar world.Time in prison followed, before he sought treatment at Higher Ground. Eight years clean and sober, Chris now runs Recovery Street - a revolutionary addiction programme where people act out their own trauma stories on stage. In this conversation, Chris opens up about transformation, pride, and finding his way back to helping his people."We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text here!If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
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Rhonda Hāpi-Smith: Surviving 20 years as a female prison officer
Rhonda Hāpi-Smith describes her career as a female prison officer in New Zealand as "wonderful, devastating, fantastic and heartbreaking" - and those contradictions tell the whole story. For 20 years, she walked among dangerous criminals at Rimutaka and Hawkes Bay men's prisons, loving the brotherhood, the resilience she witnessed, and the humour that got her through each day. But the career she loved also slowly broke her down - sometimes compromising her principles, destroying relationships, and driving her to alcohol.When Rhonda discovered an inmate's suicide, everything changed. In this raw conversation about her book "Inside the Wire", she reveals the personal cost of corrections work - the PTSD, the broken marriages, the numbness that kept her functional but disconnected from herself. We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text here!If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
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Teen leader Lola Fisher: How to give young people a voice
At 17, Lola Fisher is living proof that young people don't need to wait their turn to lead. What started as COVID lockdown boredom became her vision for Create Happy Media - a youth-led platform reaching 30,000+ readers after Lola discovered how negatively young people were portrayed in headlines. This conversation reveals what it's really like being young in New Zealand today - from social media debates to demanding a seat at the decision-making table. Lola's driving philosophy: "If not now, when? If not me, who?"We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text here!If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
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Lisa McDonald & Veronica Shale: Why we're giving up alcohol
This July, thousands of New Zealanders will go alcohol-free for Dry July - but for breast cancer survivor Lisa McDonald, the cause is deeply personal. After facing aggressive treatment including bilateral mastectomy and chemotherapy, Lisa experienced firsthand how the Dry July-funded support services like "Look Good Feel Better" made her feel "a million bucks" during her darkest days.Dry July NZ Campaign Director Veronica Shale reveals how the cause has raised over $11 million since 2012, supporting the 25,000+ New Zealanders diagnosed with cancer each year. This raw, honest conversation shows why sometimes the smallest acts of support create the biggest impact.For more info, visit https://www.dryjuly.co.nz/We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text here!If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
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Grace Curtis: How to find hope after suicide grief
In 2020, Grace Curtis faced an unimaginable tragedy when she discovered her father's body after he died by suicide, and had to break the devastating news to her family. What followed was a long period of being bedridden with depression, convinced she would never feel peace again. Five years later, Grace has transformed her darkest experience into a mission of hope. She's the author of a new book, The Best Is Yet To Come and a powerful advocate for suicide loss survivors.This raw, honest conversation explores Grace's journey from the depths of grief to finding purpose in helping others heal. Grace shares how writing about her most painful experience became both therapeutic and a way to reach others going through similar losses, proving that even in our darkest moments, the best truly can be yet to come.This episode of Take It From Us deals with suicide, depression and loss. Please take care. We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text here!If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
Take It From Us is the voice of lived experience. In this podcast, you'll hear real people share honest stories about mental health, addiction, trauma and recovery - straight from their own journeys.They'll tell you what actually worked, what didn't, and what they wish they'd known sooner.Host Kent Johns is a former broadcaster-turned-health-coach who believes everyone has a story to tell if people take the time to really listen. So settle in, you're going to hear some stories. Take it from us - and from them.***If you need support, click here for helpful links, phone numbers and resources:https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
New Zealand