Conversations: Health & Resilience

Nikki Goldstein was in a coma in the ICU at St Vincent's Hospital when she first 'met' Rabbi Eli Schlanger. When she woke, the pair embarked together on a project to share the wisdom, compassion and universality of several Jewish teachings. Although they were from very different worlds, when Nikki gained consciousness and met Rabbi Eli properly the two became fast friends. Then, they started writing a book together - based on the deep and expansive conversations they began having about hope, personal growth, spirituality and modern life. Rabbi Eli wanted Nikki's help to share seven ancient Jewish guidelines on living a good life, which he believed could be helpful to anyone, Jewish or not, who was looking for a way to live in a world that feels increasingly chaotic. While Nikki and Rabbi Eli didn't agree on everything all the time, they did both believe these teachings to be universal in their compassion and wisdom. The pair had just recorded their last conversation for the project in December last year, when Rabbi Eli was one of 15 people killed in the Bondi Beach terror attack. Nikki decided to honour his memory by finishing their book alone. Conversations with My Rabbi is published by HarperCollins. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores religion, faith, modern living, disconnection, hope, radical empathy, togetherness, multiculturalism, learning from others, spiritual, family, near-death experiences, autoimmune disease, anti-Semitism, terrorism, grief, tragedy, suffering, meaning of life, spiritual teachings, friendship, prayer, meditation, Judaism, secularism. To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Growing up, para powerlifter, Hani Watson’s passion for lifting had been ignited by her dad and the pack of Arnold Schwarzenegger-types in their string singlets who would accompany him to lift weights. The gym has seen Hani through agonising moments in life, and all the way to the Paralympic Games. Warning: discussion of sexual assault. Throughout her childhood she was having operation after painful operation, to try to straighten her bowed legs. After each surgery, the metal pins and screws would wreak havoc in Hani’s legs, and they resumed growing in the same way they always had. In high school, ruptures at home meant Hani had to move out and support herself, and she lost touch with her mum. During this distressing time, a kindly school principal gave Hani the keys to the school gym, and that place became an anchor once more. After another unsuccessful surgery in her 30s, Hani was enjoying the freedom of a wheelchair, compared to the agonising and exhausting effort of walking. She turned to powerlifting to recover, which led her to worldwide competitions, eventually earning a bronze medal at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022. Hani also competed at the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Further information If you need support, you can chat online with someone at Lifeline, or call on 13 11 14. Hani won a bronze medal for Australia in Glasgow at this year’s Commonwealth Games! Read more here . This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode covers weightlifting, powerlifting, para-powerlifting, paralympian, disability, athlete, bowed legs, osteotomies, plates and screws in your leg, divorce, marriage, trauma, domestic violence, family violence, mental health, mental illness, psychosis, weight training, drugs, drug mule, marijuana, high school, bullying, popular kids, assault, sexual assault, competition, bunnings, wheelchair, VAD, QVAD, voluntary assisted dying and chores. To binge even more great episodes of the 'Conversations podcast' with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

During her two terms as PM, Jacinda gained global attention for her response to the terror attack in Christchurch and for giving birth at the same time as running the country. Jacinda grew up as a good Mormon girl who planned on making a difference behind the scenes. But when she unexpectedly became head of the Labor Party, only weeks away from a federal election, Jacinda discovered she had a talent for leadership. Jacinda's memoir about her time as PM and her life before and after is called A Different Kind of Power. This episode of Conversations was produced by Jen Leake and Nicola Harrison is the Executive Producer. Further Information A Different Kind of Power is published by Penguin. For more information, Penguin authors Jacinda Ardern

James O'Loghlin had only just reconnected with one of his best and oldest friends, Jum Wallner, when Jum received some terrible news. What began next was a high stakes race with a fatal deadline. The two men had grown up in Canberra, where thousands of homes had been filled with asbestos, which was often carelessly installed and removed. Jum himself had grown up in one of these so-called "Mr Fluffy" homes, named after the local company that had installed the carcinogenic insulation. When Jum felt a pain in his side, it wasn't long before the father of two and husband was diagnosed with mesothelioma and given months to live. Jum had discovered that if you got sick from being exposed to asbestos in your workplace you were entitled to compensation, but if it came from your home, you got nothing. So Jum asked his old friend James for some help to petition the powers that be to help asbestos victims like himself and their families. James began a race against time, trying to convince both the ACT and Federal governments to help Jum and others, in the middle of a pandemic, before it was too late. Along the way, James and Jum reconnected deeply as friends who desperately wished they had more time together. The Missing Piece is published by Echo Publishing. More information about the Loose-Fill Asbestos Disease Support Scheme can be found at the ACT Government's website. This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. It explores friendship, male friendship, university days, terminal disease, James Hardie, cancer, terminal diagnosis, how to grieve a friend, activism, petition governments, Covid, pandemic, Greg Hunt, Angus Taylor, compensation, accidental activist, dying friends, mourning, funerals, Andrew Barr, ALP, Labor party, Liberals, bipartisan, Albanese, politics, Auspol, burnout, diagnosis. To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

At 18 years old, Mick Doleman miraculously survived when his ship capsized in the freezing Southern Ocean off Tasmania. But as he floated in a life raft with his nine crewmates, his ordeal at sea had only just begun.

Professor Lorimer Moseley is neuroscientist, who specialises in the complexities and mind-boggling nature of pain - what it is, why it exists, how it works and when it can go wrong. For most of us, pain is a fundamental part of being alive, and staying alive and yet none of us will ever experience the exact same pain as someone else, which makes it incredibly difficult to understand. Every day, we stub our toes and burn our tongues. Some of us break bones and suffer from more serious illnesses and conditions. What you feel when your skin is broken or a ligament is torn is there to tell your brain to be careful, that something is wrong and needs to be protected. But what happens when doctors can't find any damage? When the tissues in your hips or the pictures of your brain seem perfectly fine, but still, there is agonising pain that refuses to leave you alone? Lorimer was a physiotherapist who came to this very specific neuroscience after his own experience with chronic pain, following a pretty gruesome sporting injury that by all accounts had been fixed by surgery. He realised that as he was learning more about how changes in the body are detected (like temperature and pressure), and communicated as pain to the brain through the central nervous system, his own chronic pain started to diminish. Since then, Lorimer has published hundreds of papers and several books on the topic, in his pursuit to help people also dig themselves out of the hellish cruelty of chronic pain. Further information You can find more resources from Professor Moseley about tackling persistent or chronic pain online at TameTheBeast.org Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. The Executive Producer of Conversations in Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris and presented by Richard Fidler. It explores persistent pain, migraine, arthritis, neurology, psychology, distrust of the medical system, pain relief, hypersensitivity to pain, doctors who believe you, chronic conditions, endometriosis.

In 2008 Nathan Dunne was night swimming in Hampstead Heath in the middle of winter when a psychological catastrophe struck him. He felt his sense of self split in two, and an unbearable pain overtook him. He couldn’t work out what had happened to him, and neither could the doctors. CW: This discussion contains sensitive mental health details and mentions suicide. Nathan was driven to attempt suicide, and endured years of misdiagnoses from doctors and medications that didn't work. Nathan didn't have the words to describe the confusion, pain and splitting of self he was experiencing. For years, water was the symbol of his undoing. When Nathan returned home to Australia and his parents' care, his mum gave him a copy of his grandfather's war memoirs. Here, Nathan found a link that showed him the healing qualities and the beauty that were possible in water. Eventually, Nathan found a doctor who could explain his symptoms and finally give them a name — depersonalisation. Further information If you need help, you can phone Lifeline on 13 11 14. When Nothing Feels Real is published by Murdoch Books. Read more about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation on the NHS website . Read about dissociative disorders and depersonalisation specifically in relation to young people on the Orygen website . Find out more about the Conversations Live National Tour on the ABC website. Conversations' Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

The Irish novelist has always been open to where life can unexpectedly take him, and the excitement that comes with that kind of freedom. Colm Toibin's first big move was from rural Ireland to Dublin after his father died when he was young. Then, it was off to experience the wild hedonism and sexual liberation of post-Franco Spain, a pleasant shock after needing a prescription to buy condoms in Ireland. Since then, he's journeyed to Sudan, Los Angeles, New York and beyond. Wherever Colm goes, he keeps a running list in his head of tiny details — observations of seemingly mundane encounters, an offhand comment or the cut of a lady's suit on a train. Every now and then, these details bubble up in Colm's memory and another of his well-loved novels, like Brooklyn, Nora Webster or The Master, is born. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski. It explores film adaptations, death of a parent, grief, Ireland, homophobia, growing up gay, Catholicism, epic adventure, John Crowley, Nick Hornby, Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Julie Walters, Dublin, immigrant experience, the Irish immigrant experience, family separation, origin stories, falling in love, books, writers, novels, life-story, family dynamics, reflection, loss, funny, comedy, repression, orgies, condom prescriptions, journalism, foreign correspondents. Colm's latest novel Long Island is published by Pan MacMillan. He was in Australia as a guest of the Wheeler Centre, RMIT, Melbourne Writers Festival and Sydney Writers Festival. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

When Hilde Hinton was on the cusp of adolescence, her mother died. For years she protected her younger siblings from the truth about their mum. Despite the great grief of her mother's shocking death when Hilde was just 12 years old, there was also a sense of relief for Hilde. She shielded her younger siblings, Samuel and Connie Johnson, from the truth of how and why their mother died. But when Connie also died, decades later of cancer, Hilde was propelled into writing her first novel, in between shifts as a prison officer. Her debut book, The Loudness of Unsaid things, was intensely autobiographical. While Connie never got to read the book, Hilde's brother Samuel finally 'met' their mother through Hilde's writing, and learned all that his big sister had done for them growing up. Now, from her home in Melbourne, where people who need solace freely come and go, Hilde explores in her writing the ordinary things that make life extraordinary. This episode was produced by Meggie Morris. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Richard Fidler. This episode of Conversations explores mental health, suicide, grieving, grief, death, mothers, single fathers, bipolar, mothers with mental health issues, mental health hospitals, institutionalisation, prisons, writing, books, novels, siblings, Love Your Sister, nuns, Australian Story, childhood cancer. Further information The Opposite of Lonely is published by Hachette. You can watch the episode of Australian Story, which features Hilde's brother, Samuel Johnson, online at ABC iview.

The bestselling Irish author grew up on a farm set on “50 acres on the side of a hill”. Growing up, she witnessed a harsh, misogynistic country that convinced her she would never marry. Claire shares what she has learned about writing from a litter of newborn piglets. Her works Small Things Like These and Foster have both been made into movies. Claire's stories often take place in the landscape where she grew up — the farms and small towns of Wexford in Southeast Ireland. Claire was the youngest of six children, and when she was born their farmhouse had no running water and few books. Instead, Claire fell in love with horses. As a small child she would go to the wood with her brother, who was a lumberjack. Amongst the chainsaws and workmen, little Claire would drive a harnessed horse from behind, to the roadside, to help clear the heavy trees. And as she grew older, she developed a fierce determination to live life on her own terms. This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison. Presented by Sarah Kanowski. This episode of Conversations touches on marriage, Magdalene laundries, contraception, Ireland, Catholicism, big Irish families, horsemanship, starting brumbies, skewbald Connemara pony, New Orleans, writing, literary prizes, farms, personal stories, epic life stories, family dynamics, Cillian Murphy and modern history. Further information Listen to Sarah's interview with Queensland horseman, Ken Faulkner . To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Jamila’s craniopharyngioma had been growing for years, unbeknownst to her. In hindsight, it was her son who gave the first clue, when he stopped breastfeeding overnight at 11 months old. Today Jamila is an author, a broadcaster and the deputy managing director of Future Women, dedicated to achieving gender equity in Australian workplaces. A few years back, her life was on a powerful trajectory — she had been the chief of staff for a federal MP, written best-selling books and was a regular guest on TV panel shows. Then in 2017, she realised something was wrong with her health. At first she wasn’t worried. Then, at 31 she was diagnosed with craniopharyngioma — a rare and recurring brain tumour. When Jamila left the world of the well, her life changed completely, in funny, strange, and harrowing ways. Jamila's book Broken Brains: For anyone who's been sick or loved someone who was is co-authored with Rosie Waterland and published by Penguin Random House. This interview was produced by Alice Moldovan. Conversations' EP is Nicola Harrison. The presenter was Richard Fidler. Conversations Live is coming to the stage! Join Sarah Kanowski and Richard Fidler for an unmissable night of unforgettable stories, behind-the-scenes secrets, and surprise guests. Australia’s most-loved podcast — live, up close, and in the moment. Find out more on the Conversations website. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Journalist and author Sonya Voumard on the rare neurological condition that has stalked her since a family tragedy during her childhood. Sonya Voumard was on the precipice of teen hood when her father suddenly and unexpectedly died. In the months following his death, Sonya developed a tremor in her right hand, not dissimilar to the shaking she sometimes noticed in her father when he was cutting the top off her boiled egg at breakfast. The tremor got worse as she got older, but working late nights as a dogged journalist, fuelled by coffee and nicotine, it almost became a badge of honour for Sonya. One day, though, a terrifying moment while driving set her off on a decades-long quest through Australia's medical system. This episode of Conversations explores disability, neurological condition, brain surgery, experimental medicine, grief, untimely death, death of a father, journalism, Port Arthur massacre, Mabo, Melbourne, substance abuse, alcohol, shaking, Parkinson's, being queer, unexplained medical anomalies, neurosurgeon, neuroscience, St Vincent's hospital, writing, books, memoir, Dystonia, essential tremor, familial tremor, MS, multiple sclerosis, medical system, medicare, public versus private patients. Tremor: a movement disorder in a disordered world is published by Finlay Lloyd. Learn more about dystonia from the Dystonia Network of Australia.

Martha Jabour was a young mum when her baby son Michael died suddenly. In the thick of her grief, she worried for the devastated young police officer who had come to her home that day, before he unexpectedly reappeared in her life (CW: this conversation discusses the death of a child). Martha Jabour has lived through the worst possible day for a parent. When she was a young mum, she put her baby Michael to bed one night, and by the morning he had died in his sleep. Michael was just 7 weeks old, and because his was an unexplained death, there were police on her doorstep, and a post-mortem, and an ambulance which took away her baby boy. At the time of Michael's death in the 1980s, not much was known about Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Martha threw herself into support groups, fundraising, and helping to change the story for parents like her, affected by the shocking and unexplained loss of their babies. Within a few years, research discovered more about the causes, and today rates of SIDS have fallen by nearly 90%. Martha trained as a grief and trauma counsellor, and her work with grieving parents saw her tapped on the shoulder to start a Homicide Victims Support Group. It was a job she initially said she’d only do for a year - but it became her life’s work. This episode of Conversations explores SIDS, death of a child, grieving, grief, policing, community policing, motherhood, fatherhood, parenting, birth stories, sick children, sudden loss, cot death, trauma, shock, counselling, therapy, support groups, where to find support. Help and support is always available. You can call Lifeline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on 13 11 14, or text them 0477 13 11 14. Red Nose also offers counselling services to parents who have lost a child. Their number is 1300 308 307.

When Dannielle Miller became a teacher, she was given the classes no one else could handle. She was given a whistle on her first day, to call for help. She didn’t need it — in fact, she had something in common with some of her students. Dannielle Miller is the CEO of Enlighten Education and Director of Education for Women's Community Shelter. As a young teacher, fresh from university, Dannielle was given a class of vulnerable students no other teacher could handle in a Western Sydney school. Dannielle took to these students immediately, and found they responded to her with trust and affection. Dannielle shared a certain understanding with her students —as a child, she saw domestic abuse and gaslighting in her house. When she was very small, Dannielle was burned in a shocking attack. The care she received following her burn has stayed with Dannielle and has informed her resilience, which she now uses to shepherd teenage girls and boys through one of life's most challenging times. This episode of Conversations touches on epic life stories, origin stories, domestic violence, family violence, respectful relationships, teenage girls, teenage boys, teens, adolescence, burns, women's shelters. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities. Further information Learn more about Enlighten Education here . Read about the Walk The Talk respectful relationships program for Women's Community Shelters here

Dave Pearson runs Bite Club, a support service for anyone who has survived a shark attack. Dave’s own brush with death came in 2011, when a three-metre-long bull shark almost tore his arm off. Dave lived that day, but it’s what happened during his recovery that he didn’t see coming. Dave Pearson was with his mates on the NSW mid-north coast back in 2011, and couldn’t get in the water fast enough to try out his brand new surfboard. He’d caught a few ripper waves when he was slammed by what felt like a freight train. Under the water, through the bubbles and the shock, Dave saw something huge, brown and grey. Dave survived that day, but it’s what happened during his recovery that he didn’t see coming. He founded Bite Club to support survivors through the mental heath challenges following their shark attacks. This episode of Conversations touches on an epic personal story, grief, shark attacks, PTSD, surfing, and mental health. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities. Further information Bite Club is a closed Facebook group available to those who have survived an attack by an apex predator.

Lech Blaine with the strange true story of his childhood, shaped by love, religious zealotry, and four wildly different parents. CW: descriptions of foster care and child removal. Lech Blaine grew up in a big family in country Queensland, where his Dad Tom ran pubs for a living. He had six older siblings, who had come to the family as foster kids before he was born. It was a happy, knockabout, sports-obsessed childhood. But in the midst of all the love and warmth, Lech's mum Lenore lived with a creeping sense of dread. She knew that one day the troubled biological parents of three of the children in the family would appear in their lives. Michael and Mary Shelley were Christian fanatics wandering from place to place, in and out of jail and psychiatric hospitals, and notorious for stalking politicians and judges. One evening, when Lenore was at home with some of the children, Mary Shelley knocked on her door, changing the family's life forever. This episode of Conversations explores family, origin stories, adoption, foster care, religion, Christianity, mental health, mental illness, family dynamics, parenting.

For years Claude Robinson was doing crime to fund his heroin addiction. He was eventually locked up with murderers in Goulburn Prison, where he shared a dentist with Ivan Milat. But in 2006 he made a big change, to turn his life around. (CW: descriptions of drug use, addiction, and crime) Claude Robinson is the manager of Rainbow Lodge, a home in inner Sydney for men just out of prison. Claude knows the place well because nearly 20 years ago he was sent there himself. Claude was a heroin addict who had taken to crime to pay for his habit and wound up in a minimum security jail. But after he assaulted a prison guard, he ended up in one of Australia's toughest jails - Goulburn Correctional Centre. While Claude was inside, his father died, and he found out that he had inherited $60,000. It was a chance to start a new life when he got out of prison. But instead, he and a girlfriend checked into a hotel in Kings Cross and bought some backs of heroin. Within weeks, all of Claude's inheritance was gone. In 2006, Claude was back in prison when he decided to finally change his story. He got off drugs, went to TAFE, and started working his way back to Rainbow Lodge, where he helps men who have walked a similar path to his own. Help and support is always available: The National Alcohol & Other Drug Hotline is a free and confidential 24/7 phone service that provides counselling, advice, and information for those struggling with addiction. Call 1800 250 015. This episode of Conversations discusses drug use, substance abuse, addiction, crime, mental health, toxic masculinity, manhood, fatherhood, parenting, turning your life around, getting clean, rehabilitation, rehab, intervention, AA, NA, sponsors, inheritance, heroin, methadone, ice, meth, illicit substances, incarceration, recidivism. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Louise Philip had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, in Bellbird, when a horrific car crash threatened to derail the life she was forging for herself. Louise Philip was 15 years old when she convinced her parents to let her drop out of high school to become an actress. She had just scored her breakout role on Australian television, but within a few months a terrible car crash threatened to derail the life that she was forging for herself. Louise broke her back and permanently lost the use of her legs, and she was told that the silver screen was no longer a place for her. But Louise fought to get back to work, and thrived on Australian television sets for years until she did something else that people told her was impossible -- she became a mother. This episode of Conversations discusses disability, acting, paraplegia, wheelchair users, love, family dynamics, guilt, personal stories, origin stories, love, reflection,. motherhood, parenting with a disability, pregnancy with a disability, creativity, Bellbird, Cop Shop.

Gina Chick, the winner of Alone Australia on her life as a creative, outrageous, nature-loving misfit who grew up to live through great depths of love, and grief (CW: discusses the death of a child). In 2023, Gina Chick spent 67 days by herself, in the wilderness of Tasmania’s West Coast, surviving on worms, fish, and one unlucky wallaby. After those 67 days, Gina became the first-ever winner of a reality show on SBS called Alone Australia, but her approach to the competition was very different from the other contestants. For Gina, the wild was not an enemy to be overcome but a place with no hierarchy, where she feels completely herself. It’s always been that way, since she was a 'weird' little girl with a rare affinity with birds and nature. As an adult, Gina spent years inside Sydney’s queer club scene and working for an all-girl security firm, but life changed completely for Gina when she became a mother herself. This episode of Conversations explores motherhood, parenting, reality television, Alone Australia, winner of Alone, hunting, survival, did Gina catch the wallaby? adoption, adoptees, Kiama, South Coast NSW, ADHD, birds, neurodiversity, bad boyfriends, debt, sexually transmitted debt, scent, pheromones, younger men, Oxford Street, survival, nightclubs, podium dancing, synaesthesia, breast cancer. To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Psychiatrist Duncan McKellar wrote the report that triggered the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. He has seen how care changes when we take someone's life story into account. Duncan McKellar is a psychiatrist specialising in the care of older people with dementia and serious mental health conditions. When Duncan first started working with these patients, he was shocked to find elderly people tied to chairs and left in locked rooms. His advocacy helped trigger the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety and he devoted himself to running a very different kind of care facility — one where everyone’s story is understood and respected. This episode of Conversations discusses aged care, elder abuse, older Australians, aging, Alzheimer's, dementia, aging population, family dynamics, grief. Further information Duncan's book An Everyone Story: Finding our way back to compassion, hope and humanity is published by Wakefield Press Read more about Duncan and his daughter, Erin's musical A Box of Memories here . To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.