Jamie Summers had a stroke in 2019. He was 39, working in construction. High stress, poor diet, no exercise. The lifestyle caught up with him.

Six and a half years later, he's still dealing with it. The fatigue is relentless. When his physical health dips - injuries, setbacks - his mental health crashes hard. 

But Jamie's also doing important work as the co-founder of Health15, going into construction sites across Aotearoa testing workers' blood pressure and checking for atrial fibrillation. The numbers are stark: only 30% of workers tested have normal blood pressure. Some have been dangerously high. There have been ambulances called.

Jamie doesn't dress it up. A stroke changed his life forever. And he's trying to get construction workers to take care of themselves before something like that happens to them.

For more information: https://www.stroke.org.nz/

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If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Heidi McIlroy teaches kids who can't make it into a regular classroom. They're too anxious, struggling with their mental health, autistic - kids who carry shame because they think they're broken.

She gets it because she's been there. Years of agoraphobia, hiding it, convinced something was wrong with her.

So she created a book called "This Is How It Feels". It's not advice or expert opinions. It's just real people explaining what their struggles actually feel like - a kid with anxiety, someone who self-harms, what withdrawal feels like, what panic looks like.

The impact has been real. Parents reading it and finally understanding their kids. Teachers using it. Young people picking it up and going, "Yes, that's what I'm trying to say." 

You can pick up a copy of Heidi's book here.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

A different kind of episode this week. Host Kent recently slept rough for one night at the Big Sleepout. He bedded down on cardboard at the AUT campus, part of a group of 70 community leaders raising funds and awareness for people experiencing homelessness in Auckland.

One night. Terrible sleep. But he was safe, fed, warm and dry. Which made him realise something: people living on the streets don't get that. They go to bed not knowing what tomorrow looks like.

In this episode, Kent reflects on what that one night taught him. Plus, a conversation with Daryl Bishop, CEO of Ember Korowai Takitini, who has his own story of sleeping on the streets when he was younger...  and now fights for systemic change.

If this is a cause you care about too, you can donate to Lifewise here.

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If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Joe Daymond is a Kiwi comedian who makes you laugh about the hard stuff - the things most of us hide. He talks about things like mental health and relationships on stage in a way that makes people feel less alone.

He's had low times, including two periods where he slept rough in his car for a bit. The first time in 2018, nobody knew. The second time three years later, after he'd already been on TV. He didn't tell his closest friends either time that he was struggling.

His parents raised him to show up for people. They volunteered, they helped, they made it their priority. Now Joe supports Lifewise's Big Sleepout, raising funds for people experiencing homelessness. 

He's also learned the hardest lesson: showing up to therapy isn't the same as doing the work. The real change happens between the sessions, when you're alone with yourself.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Todd Muller was elected leader of the National Party in May 2020, a tantalising final step towards achieving a boyhood dream of one day being Prime Minister. 

Within five days, he was experiencing waves of anxiety he'd never felt before - panic attacks so severe he could barely get through speeches, the words on the page constantly moving and disappearing.

After 53 days, he stepped down as leader. He spent the next three years trying to rebuild. He got reelected. He climbed back to the front bench. But he couldn't sustain it. In 2023, Todd made the hardest decision of his life and walked away from Parliament entirely.

Based in Tauranga, he's now rebuilding around family, fitness, and community. His willingness to be vulnerable has opened conversations with hundreds of men who've said the same words back to him. "I've had a bit of that too."

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Chris Bowden lost 5 friends to suicide when he was a young man. He coped badly - drinking, drugs, anger, violence, getting into fights. He was spiralling.

A university lecturer noticed something wasn't right and pointed Chris toward help. That counsellor changed his life.

Now Chris is a researcher passionate about understanding how young men grieve suicide loss. His PhD research revealed something crucial: men don't grieve wrong - they grieve differently. And we're not meeting them where they're at.

His work has led him to designing a new degree in trauma transformative support at Wellington's Victoria University. He takes walk-alongs with young men, goes to gaming nights, sits shoulder to shoulder with them.

And he's trying to be the lecturer who reached out - paying it forward.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Melanie Rauth grew up in Australia. When her parents separated at 13, she started making different choices - cannabis, the wrong crowd, trouble at school. She had her daughter and in 2010 they moved to New Zealand.

Rural isolation and methamphetamine came next. Her life spiralled into crime and five prison stints between 2017 and 2021.

But on her last arrest, her young daughter had had enough of empty promises. "Show me," she said, and hung up the phone.

That conversation woke Melanie up. She got referred to the Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Court, where people believed in her for the first time. They understood the drug was the problem, not her character.

Two years post-graduation, Melanie works as team leader at Auckland City Mission Social Detox. She's thriving in recovery and has found a calling helping others navigate the path she's walked.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Dave Burnside started drinking at eight. He was drawn into the gang scene and drugs in Auckland. Multiple prison sentences followed - he was angry, railing against the system.

Then one day in Spring Hill Prison, a man from his past appeared at his cell door. Another Dave, someone just like him - gangs, drugs, the same story. But this Dave had found recovery and peace.

Dave didn't remember the words, but he remembered the feeling. "I want what you've got," he thought. That moment shifted everything.

Now Dave mentors incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people, visits prisons, campaigns for drug law reform, and challenges public perception around crime. He's doing a PhD, lecturing at universities, and travelling globally with a message of redemption.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

In 2026, Auckland man Shelwin Khan is thriving as a peer support worker and lived experience advisor. But it wasn't always like this.

Shelwin started drinking at 13. By his mid-20s he was, by his own admission, 'unemployable', had three stints in rehab he never completed, and wanted to end his life. He wanted to join the '27 Club' - a pop culture reference to a string of celebrities who died tragically at that age.

Instead, he got sober at 27. He arrived early to a 12-step meeting by mistake and met a man with 28 years sobriety - longer than Shelwin had been alive. That changed everything.

Seven years sober now, Shelwin has learned sobriety is an ongoing journey of personal growth. When he got a cancer diagnosis this year, his reaction showed him how different his thinking is: he really didn't want to die.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Lotta Dann is a well-known author and advocate in the addiction recovery space. This year marks 15 years since her last drink.

Six years ago, Lotta had a second awakening - this time about diet culture. She'd found a guru with strict rules: no snacking, weigh everything, eliminate flour and sugar. She lost over 15 kilos and the world loved her skinny body. The praise was intoxicating.

Then the binging started - hiding her eating, terrible mental anguish. It felt like the end of her drinking days all over again.

That's when Lotta woke up to diet culture and the lies we're told about diets, bodies and health. 

You can purchase Lotta's book 'Mrs D is Not on a Diet' here.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/

Dean Clarkson established Wana Charitable Trust in 2024 to help men and their families who've suffered family violence. Based in Takanini, South Auckland, Dean provides safe housing, group therapy, and one-on-one coaching.

Dean spent 20 years in an abusive relationship - psychological abuse that escalated to physical violence. He ended up in a Pak'nSave car park in Mangere spitting blood, never once considering walking across the road to the police station.

In less than two years, Dean has helped 109 men. When people think family violence, they think male assaults female. Dean is showing the invisible side - that some men are victims too.

Family violence affects everyone. Dean is changing the narrative.

We'd love to hear from you. Send us a text or a voicemail by clicking here.

If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/