Holly Deane-Johns spent 17 years in prisons across Australia and Thailand after struggling with heroin addiction from age 16. In this Kintsugi Heroes episode, she shares the moment she stopped using, how she rebuilt her life in prison, and why she now works directly with men leaving the system.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses addiction & recovery and trauma & healing, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you’re not alone — help is available:
• SMART Recovery Australia (addiction): smartrecoveryaustralia.com.au
• ReachOut: au.reachout.com
• Blue Knot Foundation (complex trauma): 1300 657 380 · blueknot.org.au
• Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au
Holly Deane-Johns was 16 when her mother introduced the family to heroin. By 20, she was in prison. Over the next two decades, she cycled through Australian jails and survived seven years in a Bangkok prison on a 31-year sentence. But one moment, sitting on filthy ground, changed everything. She made a decision to never use drugs again, and she kept it.
Today, Holly works with Wadjining Aboriginal Corporation in the RESET program, supporting men transitioning out of prison. She uses her lived experience to build trust that no qualification can replicate. Her clients open up because they know she genuinely understands their world: the pull of old networks, the difficulty of staying clean, what it takes to rebuild.
In this episode, Holly talks about what addiction really masks (hint: it’s not about the drug), why boundaries are what let her serve without re-entering the lifestyle, and how housing is the foundation for everything else. She’s written a book used in prisons, rehabs, and schools, and she speaks in classrooms about the fracture and what came after.
🕒 CHAPTERS:
00:00 Welcome and Holly’s Work Today
02:40 Working with RESET: Supporting Men Leaving Prison
07:34 The River: How Holly Ended Up in Heroin
10:51 A Man Entered the Family Home
13:06 The 110% Rule: Why Addicts Don’t Stop
16:12 Loss: Her Mother’s Overdose in Prison
20:36 Thailand: The Arrest and 31-Year Sentence
27:29 This Life Was Always for This Reason
33:00 The Heartbreaking Gap: Housing and Survival
40:48 Studying Inside: Planning for a Future
46:16 What the Community Needs to Know
48:38 Going Forward: Books in Schools and Prisons
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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 (launching 31 July 2026)
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 weekly across our series.
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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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