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.
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Take It From Us with Kent Johns
Shelwin Khan: 'I wanted to join the 27 Club. Instead I got sober'
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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.
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If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
