In Episode 11, I sit down with Jonathan, a 33-year-old man whose story is rooted in resilience, reflection, and breaking generational cycles.

Jonathan grew up in Summerhill, Sean Tracy Flats, just minutes from Sheriff Street — an environment very similar in many ways. Like so many of us, the flats became the playground, a place where childhood unfolded amid drugs, crime, and survival from morning to night.

Jonathan was bullied in school and struggled academically from a young age. Concentration was always difficult, and ADHD played a massive role in those early challenges. Drugs entered his life young, followed by criminality, juvenile detention centres, and eventually prison.

A powerful part of this conversation centres on grandparents and the safety they provided. Jonathan speaks about the deep sense of security and stability he felt with his nana, and I reflect on the same in my own life — how grandparents so often became our safe place when the world around us felt chaotic. Their role in children’s lives, particularly in disadvantaged communities, is something we both recognise as profoundly important.

Jonathan didn’t find recovery through residential treatment. Instead, it was during his final time in prison that he made a decision to change his life. His childhood sweetheart and long-term partner, Charlene, stood by him throughout everything, alongside the steady presence of his mother.

Jonathan speaks fondly of his nana Sally, who lived to see Jonathan sober, thriving, and doing well before she passed away — something that clearly means the world to him.

Now over five years sober, Jonathan is a devoted father to a young son who will never know him in addiction or behind prison walls. Today, Jonathan works within addiction services, has returned to education studying addiction studies, and hopes to continue his learning journey.

This episode is about recovery, family, the quiet strength of grandparents, and the power of choosing a different future.