From Unemployment to Peer Support Specialist Conversation With Shelwin Khan

From Unemployment to Peer Support Specialist Conversation With Shelwin Khan

From unemployment and years of struggling with mental health and addiction challenges, to becoming a leader in the lived experience workforce, Shelwin Khan shares his remarkable journey into peer support. In this episode of the Authentic Leadership Podcast, Shelwin speaks openly about finding purpose through lived experience, the realities of rebuilding confidence after long-term unemployment, and why peer support has transformed his life. He also discusses the growing professionalisation of the peer workforce, the importance of training and volunteering, and what employers are looking for when hiring peer support workers. This conversation offers hope for anyone considering a career in peer support and provides an honest look at both the rewards and challenges of walking alongside others on their recovery journeys. From years of unemployment to becoming a peer support leader, Shelwin Khan shares how lived experience, recovery, and purpose shaped his journey and what it really takes to work in peer support.

Athlete. Music Executive. Entrepreneur. Migrant. The Extraordinary Journey of A.K. Yap

A.K. has lived many lives. She grew up in poverty, survived a difficult childhood, became a national-level athlete, built a career in the music industry, started and ran her own successful business, left everything behind, became an international student at 40, and then rebuilt her life again in New Zealand. From growing up in a one-bedroom flat in Kuala Lumpur to leading organisations in New Zealand, A.K. Yap's story is one of resilience, humility, and continual reinvention. In this episode, we explore migration, identity, burnout, leadership, and the courage to begin again. A conversation that reminds us that success is not just about achievement, but about finding meaning, balance, and becoming who we are meant to be.

Intercultural Navigation Workshop

What do migrants bring in their luggage besides clothes? Migration is never just about moving countries — it is about carrying invisible luggage: identity, language, hopes, grief, values, responsibilities, and ways of understanding the world. This workshop explores the migrant journey through a unique, practical lens of intercultural communication, helping participants better understand the hidden challenges many migrants face as they adapt to a new environment. Using powerful metaphors, real-life stories, and cross-cultural frameworks, the workshop unpacks how culture shapes the way we communicate, build trust, make decisions, seek support, and navigate belonging. Topics explored include: • The migrant journey and hidden challenges of settlement • Why communication styles differ across cultures • Individualistic vs collective cultures • High-context and low-context communication • Trust, relationships, hierarchy, and cultural expectations • The experience of 1.5 and second-generation migrants navigating two worlds • Practical ways to strengthen intercultural understanding and connection. Grounded in lived experience, migration realities, and established intercultural communication frameworks, this workshop invites participants to move beyond assumptions and deepen understanding of how culture shapes everyday interactions — in communities, workplaces, services, and relationships. Whether you work with migrant communities, lead diverse teams, or simply want to better understand the human experience of migration, this workshop offers practical insights into building stronger connections, communication, and a sense of belonging.

How Do We Create Systems That Heal | Kerri Butler

In this deeply moving and powerful conversation, I sit down with Kerri Butler — founder of Take Notice, mental health advocate, and lived experience leader — to explore a journey shaped by resilience, whakapapa, injustice, healing, and the courage to keep fighting for change. Kerri shares her personal experiences navigating the mental health system, the profound impact of her beloved nana’s journey through institutional care, and how witnessing systemic harm ignited a lifelong commitment to advocacy and transformation. Together, we discuss Māori wellbeing, lived experience leadership, rangatiratanga, intergenerational trauma, compulsory treatment orders, restraint and seclusion, and what true healing and partnership in mental health care could look like. This is not just a conversation about mental health systems — it is a conversation about dignity, voice, identity, cultural connection, and the importance of creating spaces where people feel genuinely seen, heard, and understood. Kerri also shares the story behind Tūmata Kōkiritia, a kaupapa grounded in whānau voices and collective healing, and why community-led solutions matter now more than ever. There are moments in this kōrero that are heartbreaking, confronting, hopeful, and deeply human. At its heart, this episode asks an important question: How do we create systems that heal?

Malaysian Perspectives on Migration, Identity, Queerness and Belonging in New Zealand

A Generational Conversation: Malaysian Perspectives on Migration, Identity, Queerness and Belonging in New Zealand. In this deeply honest and reflective conversation, we explore what it means to leave home, search for belonging, and navigate identity as Malaysian Chinese queer migrants in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Together, we unpack the realities of migration, cultural identity, queerness, racism, belonging, family expectations, and the hidden emotional journey of building a life between worlds. From leaving Malaysia in search of safety and authenticity, to finding unexpected connections with Māori and Pacific values, this conversation explores both the struggles and beauty of living between cultures. We also reflect on questions many migrants quietly carry: What is home? How do we remain authentic while adapting? Can we belong to more than one place? And perhaps most importantly — in a world increasingly divided, what role does love, culture, and community play in bringing us back together? This is more than a conversation about migration. It is a conversation about identity, healing, courage, and learning to honour all the parts of who we are.