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
Dave Burnside: 'The man at my prison cell door who changed my life'
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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.
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If you need support, here are helpful links, phone numbers and resources: https://ember.org.nz/resources/in-a-crisis/
