Take It From Us with Kent Johns
If you're navigating mental health struggles, addiction or recovery — your own or someone else's — you'll hear what actually worked, what didn't and what people wish they'd known sooner.
Take It From Us features real people sharing their own journeys, unscripted and unfiltered. No theory, no talking points — just the honest, specific version of what recovery actually looks like.
Host Kent Johns is a broadcaster and health coach who believes everyone has a story worth hearing if someone takes the time to really listen. Each episode is that time.
Press play — you might hear your own story in someone else's.
If you need support, click here for helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
Take It From Us with Kent Johns
Liz Downes: Living with bipolar and supporting others as a peer
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
Liz Downes is a Peer Support Specialist and Associate Professional Lead at Counties Manukau Health, working alongside people with shared lived experience of bipolar disorder.
Liz trained as a nurse. After having her first baby, she developed postnatal depression. When her baby turned one, she had a psychotic episode and was diagnosed with bipolar.
She's lived with bipolar for 30 years. Five years after diagnosis, a psychiatrist suggested she'd make a great peer support specialist. She found her calling - using her experiences for good instead of seeing them as just a 'bad part of her life'.
Liz says peer support is about mutuality. No hierarchy, no advice-giving. The person navigates their own waka. Liz sits alongside, listening and reflecting back what she hears.
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/
