When Paul first met Owen, Owen was an addict living in his car. Now he is studying to get his commercial pilot's licence. In this episode, Owen takes us through his childhood, where he was left to fend for himself as his alcoholic mother lay passed out on the couch. He remembers going to other kids' houses and being surprised to find mothers that were conscious and could interact. With a growing curiosity about what other households looked like, Owen began a series of impromptu 'visits' to homes all around his childhood neighbourhood, mostly via bathroom windows and removed roof tiles. This li ..read more

This is one of our special episodes that explores an issue related to mental health and recovery. Paul, drawing on his professional work in the mental health field, gives advice for loved ones, friends and acquaintances of people who may be at risk of suicide. Note: this episode may cause trauma and suffering for those touched by suicide. Listener discretion is advised.  ..read more

Paul's recovery role model Wazza joins us for Part 2 of his interview. Growing up in Nepal, the son of Christian missionaries, Wazza's time on the planet has been anything but average. Wazza takes us through his life, from the pet monkey of his childhood, to the monkey on his back as a young adult and then right through to recovery from addiction. His work now in the recovery field takes him into prisons, Parliament and everything in between ..read more

Ness talks about pissing off the Dalai Lama, being a stripper, Varanasi exploding skulls, walking her pet donkey in the local park, a Disney dove on mother's shovel, psychotic roll calls at Lord of the Flies High, her Hungarian resistance refugee dad, a 10-year heroin habit, being a talented Dutch hatter and other normal stuff ..read more

In his last week before going to jail for 5-6 years for cocaine trafficking, Jules drops in for a chat. The story starts with Jules's grandfather fighting against the Nazis in WW2 Greece, then moves to his father, who disapproves of childhood Jules' excessive weight: the result of an illness. In an attempt to win his father's love, Jules becomes a successful boxer, but in the process sinks deeper into the underworld element connected to the boxing world. Jules gets addicted to drugs and things go downhill from there. But there's a light at the end of the tunnel.  ..read more

After a short break The ARC is back. This week's episode is a little different. Paul interviews Nella, who does not give us the usual life story, but keeps the focus tight on Recovery. Nella discusses her first eight years clean. In this time, she built a life, got the partner, great job, went to meetings, gained social acceptability with no sponsor or step work. From the outside looking in, things were looking good. Nella relapses, keeps coming back. A beautiful little angel comes into her life motivating her to get clean. This time around, Nella is doing things differently. Getting herself a ..read more

Lissy is a talented artist, musician, yoga instructor and a strong animal rights activist. Her courage to speak out for what she believes in hasn't come easily. Despite being from a prominent, high-achieving Australian family, Lissy suffered childhood trauma that led to self-medication through drug addiction. In this episode, Lissy takes us through her story.     ..read more

Bruce tells us about growing up in Western Sydney in the 50s and 60s. At 17 he moves to Bondi Beach, where the party starts. Bruce talks of his joining the Royal Australian Navy, singing in the Punk Band World War 4 and producing hits like ‘Violence is Golden’. He tells is about being a young gay man in Australia, and how this was a jailable offence in the 1970s. This notion becomes more horrific, with the possible length of time in jail which Bruce reveals and the emergence of HIV in the early 1980s. He talks of the circumstances in which he receives his HIV results, which is truly incredible ..read more

Paul only had about 90 minutes' sleep last night. So, as his mate Dave P used to say about Paul's shares, "I don't know if he's being spiritual, or talking absolute shit." I guess that applies to this episode. Paul reflects upon a using dream he had a few nights ago. He discusses his experience with using dreams, their frequency, the way they impact him, and looks at some research regarding peeps in Recovery and using dreams. He angrily rambles a bit about spiritual shops, the ones that have the word 'magic' in the shop name, but spell it majik or magik. Then his defects come out when he disc ..read more

Bassam drops in to tell us about growing up a Muslim boy in a Catholic School, his Christian friends, and his desire to become an altar boy! Bassam runs away from the family home, lives with his grandmother and opens his own cafes in his 20s. The story of the successful migrant family hits a bump when Bassam gets entangled in a world of drug dealing and jail. But it is while he is serving time at a prison dairy farm that Bassam befriends Bongo 2256. It is here Bassam makes a decision to lead a more compassionate life. A decision he practices to this day ..read more