A man who spent 27 years in banking felt like the most unhappy person his coach had ever assessed. His two sons sitting beside him on the bed saved his life. This is how Lawrence Atkinson rebuilt, and why he now runs free barbecues across Australia for men in crisis.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses suicide & self-harm prevention and mental health & wellbeing, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you’re not alone. Help is available:
• Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au
Lawrence Atkinson built a successful career in banking and professional services. He had the resume, the title, the status. He also had the thought that nobody wanted him around, a conviction so complete that his executive coach told him after testing that he was the most unhappy person she’d ever encountered. When over 200 job applications came back rejected during a recession, the gap between who he appeared to be and how he actually felt snapped. Depression distorted his thinking so completely he could not see that his family needed him. The turning point was not therapy or medication alone. It was his two teenage sons coming into his room, sitting either side of him with their arms around him, and saying it would be all right. That physical act of being held broke through the isolation that depression had created. Lawrence got help, went on medication, and began a long recovery. He learned that depression works by closing the receptors in the brain that allow happiness to land, and that medication reopens them.
🕒 CHAPTERS:
00:00 Kintsugi Heroes intro and content warning
02:45 When life changes, connection breaks
07:33 Starting over in friendships when you’re older
14:16 Seven male friends gone to suicide
15:15 Twenty-seven years helping others from a bank desk
23:30 Two hundred job rejections and the lie that you’re the problem
28:43 The unhappiest person: depression despite outward achievement
34:59 Medication, church, and the slow way back
40:27 What depression does: the weight, the escape, the inability to see out
46:52 Both sons held him and said he’d be all right
50:36 Mr. Perfect: barbecues where men can just show up
55:40 What grandfathers know, and why young people need to hear it
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📌 RESOURCES MENTIONED:
Lifeline Australia: https://www.lifeline.org.au/
The Black Dog Institute: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au/
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ABOUT KINTSUGI HEROES
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Welcome.
We’re glad you found your way here.
Kintsugi Heroes was created from a simple belief: every person has a story worth sharing, and sometimes the story we need to hear arrives exactly when we need it most.
Our name comes from the Japanese art of Kintsugi, where broken pottery is repaired with gold. Rather than hiding the cracks, they are honoured as part of the object’s history. We believe people are much the same. The experiences that challenge us, break us, shape us, and help us grow are often the very things that connect us to one another.
This channel is home to honest conversations about resilience, hope, grief, recovery, courage, love, and what it means to keep moving forward when life doesn’t go to plan.
Here you’ll find six podcast series, each sharing stories through a different lens:
• Kintsugi Heroes, hosted by John Milham
• Animals & Us, hosted by Natalie Stockdale
• Grit Diaries: From Grit to Grace, hosted by Simone Allan and Maryan Bova
• From There to Here, hosted by Emma Bellamy-Dodd
• Golden Threads: Stories of Disability & Resilience
• Pride in Stories, hosted by John Dwyer
Every story shared here is offered with the hope that it helps someone feel a little less alone. A little more understood. A little more connected.
Whether you’re navigating a difficult season, supporting someone you love, or simply looking for meaningful conversations, you’re welcome here.
New episodes are released fortnightly across our series.
If you’d like to help us keep these stories freely available to everyone, you can support our work here: https://www.kintsugiheroes.com.au/donate
Thank you for being part of this community.
We help people tell the stories they need to share so others can discover the story they need to hear.
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