WERE HERE: The Talk on Tap Podcast

Defamation: Beware the Leader who Shouts Defamation

Sycophants : Beware the Leader who Surrounds Themselves with Sycophants

short podcast on the dangers who leaders who live in echo chambers. 

BEWARE THE FRAGILE CEO

Short podcast on fragile leadership

Inside the Female ADHD Mind

Women with ADHD often grow up unseen, unheard, and misunderstood.
In this Talk on Tap episode, Isla, Sam and Kylie sit down for an honest, unfiltered conversation about living with ADHD as women, where symptoms are often internalised, masked, or misdiagnosed for years. Drawing on lived experience and clinical insight, they explore everything from chronic overwhelm and RSD to childhood labels of being “lazy,” the toll of masking, late-life diagnosis, and the unique challenges of being female in systems built for male presentations of ADHD.
Raw, funny, validating, and deeply human, this episode shines a light on what ADHD really feels like from the inside.

Lessons from the front line - how I learned that I had to help myself

Kath is a 64-year-old therapist, body-work practitioner and advocate with more than 38 years of experience supporting people through physical, emotional, and mental health challenges. She brings a deeply lived understanding of trauma, burnout, dissociation and recovery, shaped by a lifetime navigating both the mental health system and life at the margins of it.
Her story spans construction sites, workplace violence, trauma, gender identity masking, and multiple reinventions through natural therapies, somatic work, breathwork and self-education. Kath speaks openly about what it means to survive, unmask, and finally come home to herself after decades of carrying her story in silence.
She shares her lived experience not to be inspirational, but to be real — to remind others that healing is not linear, quick, or system-defined. Kath now advocates for trauma-informed, human-centred care built on safety, autonomy and the dignity of telling your own story in your own time.
 

Between Two Realities: A Conversation on Psychosis, Stigma, and Survival

We sit down with Sally, an educator and advocate with lived experience of psychosis, to explore what it’s really like to navigate mental illness, recovery, and identity. From her first psychotic episode at age 20 to her journey toward stability and meaning, Sally shares how she found strength, and insight through lived experience.
Joined by Richard and Samantha, the discussion unpacks the myths and realities of psychosis, the blurry boundaries between delusion and insight, and how community, compassion, and opportunity can shape recovery. Together, we challenge stigma, reflect on system failures, and highlight why human connection, not hierarchy, is at the heart of healing.
Recorded in Albury, this episode continues Talk on Tap’s mission to open grassroots conversations about mental health—raw, real, and respectfully human.
Disclaimer
This podcast was recorded in Albury, on the lands of the Wiradjuri people, near the Mighty Murray River, an ancient place of dialogue, connection, and healing.We pay our deepest respects to Elders past and present.
This is a lived experience–led podcast, created entirely by volunteers, with clinical support from professionals who also bring their own lived experience and do so without pay.
This podcast is for audiences aged 18 and over. It includes mature themes, including discussions of psychiatric illness, trauma, distress, self-harm, and suicide.The content shared is for general discussion and education only and not professional advice.
If you are in crisis or need immediate support, please contact your GP or call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Do You Feel in Charge? Leadership, Power, and Mental Health

This reflection, inspired by Bane’s line in The Dark Knight Rises, explores the fragility of authority in health and mental health leadership. The central idea is that titles, positions, or access to funding do not equate to genuine respect or legitimacy. Authority built on hierarchy and control is brittle, often collapsing under scrutiny, while authority grounded in dignity, partnership, and shared decision-making endures.
The piece highlights how leaders often cling to power when challenged instead of sharing it through co-design. This leads to tokenistic consultations, coercive practices, and cultures that value optics over outcomes. Such performative leadership is compared to narcissistic authority, sustained only by external validation, which quickly loses relevance when communities withdraw recognition.
For many with lived experience of mental health systems, this pattern is familiar: silencing, coercion, and the denial of agency. Yet moments of quiet defiance show that true power rests with dignity and voice, not imposed control. The message is that legitimacy in mental health leadership must come from collaboration, respect, and accountability. As communities demand co-design and call out tokenism, the illusion of top-down control crumbles, making way for genuine reform.

We transform by Love, Not Hate: Choosing Compassion in a Divided World

In this talk, I discuss the tension between hate and love, and why choosing compassion over bitterness matters. I reflect from lived experience, describing how carrying hate only tore me apart, while love and compassion create the conditions for healing.
The discussion begins with the death of Charlie Kirk, stressing that regardless of politics, the grief of his family is real and should not be mocked. From there, I examine how society often polarises, deciding who “deserves” compassion, forgetting that loss is loss, and all pain deserves respect.
The central argument is that hate rarely reforms anyone. Examples are drawn from history:
Nelson Mandela, who chose reconciliation over revenge.
Daryl Davis, who persuaded 200+ Ku Klux Klan members to renounce hate through dialogue.
Christian Piccolini, a former neo-Nazi turned peace worker.
Holocaust survivor Ava Call, who forgave her persecutor for her own healing.
These examples demonstrate that transformation comes through love, listening, and humanisation, not more hatred. Here I link this directly to healthcare and mental health: care must never be conditional, even for those with offensive or hostile views.
Compassion, I argue, is not finite, we can extend it without taking it from others.
Ill say it again... we can extend it without taking it from others. 
The episode concludes that hate shrinks and destroys individuals and communities, while compassion builds them up. The enduring truth: no one is transformed by hate, but many have been transformed by love. Choosing humanity every time, even toward those who oppose us, is the only sustainable path.

Holding It Together: Three Mates, Mental health, One Chat - and a bit of cricket.

This episode of Talk on Tap brings together three mates, Richard, JJ, and James - who sit down to enjoy each other’s company while tackling real conversations about men, mental health, and the weight of expectations. More than a discussion, it’s the bond of friendship that shines through: mates laughing, supporting, and opening up about the pressures men face to hold everything together. At its heart, it’s about connection- three friends finding strength in honesty, humour, and simply being together. 

Luck, Privilege, or Hard Work? Breaking Down the Myths

In this episode of Talk on Tap, Sam, Katie, and Graham unpack one of the most divisive questions in mental health and society: Am I really lucky, or is it something else? Drawing on their lived experiences, clinical insights, and personal stories, they explore how luck, privilege, resilience, and hard work intersect in shaping our lives.
From Katie’s journey as a mental health advocate and student navigating systemic barriers, to Grahams reflections on the struggles of small businesses, and Sam’s dual lens as a psychologist and a voice with lived experience, the discussion highlights the complexity behind labels like “privileged” or “lucky.” This honest conversation challenges societal assumptions and reminds us that what looks like fortune from the outside often masks years of persistence, pain, and determination.