Content note: This episode includes discussion of suicide and mental health. Please listen with care. If you need support, Lifeline is available 24/7 on 13 11 14.
Some conversations change the way you see everything.
In this episode, Jules sits down with Leah Ashton, the founder of Hand in Hand in Ballarat, an organisation dedicated to supporting people experiencing mental health challenges and social isolation. The story behind Hand in Hand is one Leah tells here with extraordinary honesty and courage. It began with a chance conversation on a flight. Then, at the end of 2023, Leah's world fell apart. A phone call in the early hours of the morning. Her 21-year-old son, seven hours away in South Australia. Her husband overseas. What was first thought to be a car accident turned out to be something else entirely, and it was her son's best friend who finally told her the truth.
Out of that came a truth she now shares with every parent who will listen. You cannot fix your child. They do not want to be fixed. They want you to be present. Just sit with them, in it.
Jules and Leah talk about why mental health does not discriminate, why the conversations we are most afraid to have with our kids are the ones they most want to have, how loneliness and disconnection are quietly hurting communities, and the simple, small ways any of us can reach out to someone who might need it.
Connect with Leah Ashton and Hand in Hand:
Hand in Hand: https://www.handinhand.org.au/
Sebastian Foundation: https://www.sebastianfoundation.org/
If this episode raised anything for you:
Lifeline — 13 11 14 (24/7) — https://www.lifeline.org.au
Beyond Blue — 1300 22 4636 — https://www.beyondblue.org.au
Kids Helpline — 1800 55 1800 — https://kidshelpline.com.au
CHAPTERS
00:00 — Introducing Leah Ashton and the Work of Hand in Hand
01:16 — All the Way From Ballarat: A Community That Rallied
03:16 — A Chance Conversation on a Flight That Started Everything
04:43 — Hand in Hand Begins, and Then the World Falls Apart
05:15 — The Phone Call in the Early Hours of the Morning
06:20 — Forty-Eight Hours in a Hospital, and the Truth From a Best Friend
07:48 — "He Had a Loving Family, a Job, Friends. It Doesn't Discriminate."
10:52 — The Voicemail, and the Longest Twenty Minutes of Her Eldest Son's Life
12:08 — The Ripple Effect: How It Moves Through an Entire Family
14:55 — The Questions That Haunt a Parent: Was There a Reason? Did I Miss Something?
17:44 — "You Can't Fix Everything. Your Child Doesn't Want to Be Fixed."
19:19 — Letting the Whole Family In, and the Phone That Stays on Override
20:32 — The Burning Building: Understanding What That Moment Feels Like
21:42 — Living With the Demons: Why Mental Health Isn't Ever Simply Fixed
23:53 — Turning Pain Into Purpose, and the Cost of Reliving It
26:40 — Putting the Smile Back on the Dial
29:33 — The Talk at the School and the Student Who Ran Across the Room
31:49 — It's Not About Saying the Right Thing. Just Be There.
32:39 — The Stories People Carry, and Why Sharing the Load Matters
34:19 — Feeling Alone? Practical Ways to Build a Community From Nothing
36:03 — The Friday Night Cocktail Hour That Sparked Its Own Communities
37:21 — Why the Person You'd Least Expect Might Be the One Struggling
38:40 — Why a Generation That Can Handle Their Emotions Changes Everything
41:07 — One Thing For Yourself: Forgive Yourself
43:09 — One Thing For Someone Else: Never Assume
43:57 — Leah's Pearl of Wisdom: "Life Doesn't Get Easier, But We Can Be More Honest About It"
45:25 — Wrapping Up Tea with Jules
Credits
Produced by ME Entertainment
Producers: @lisajohnston_, @julessebastian, @Eggoau
Sound Engineer, Video, Editor & Music: Mathew Eggleston – @Eggoau
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