For SJC, 2016 was the year when she started a new job, went on a holiday to Bali and then faced the trauma of caring for her mother, as her health began to dramatically fail.

Having worked away from her family in the US, for 22 years in Australia, SJC had to deal with her mental challenges after her mother’s passing in a new way. The mental scaring from being raised in a domestically violent environment had been the catalyst for her to disassociate from traumatic situations, as a way of coping throughout her adult working life. But a “PTSD blackout” after a confrontation at work in 2018, became the moment when her approach to dealing with her mental health issues dramatically changed.

USA Today Bestselling author Nicole Flockton writes contemporary romances that sparkle and seduce you one kiss at a time. Nicole likes nothing better than taking characters and creating unique situations where they fight for their true love.

In this episode we learn about Nicole’s passionate approach to her craft and how over a long period of time … and with a great amount of hard work … she has established a place in the romance writing world as a published author.

Also, she speaks compassionately about the value of the collaborative network of writers and how this collective works to support many budding writers.

You can find more about Nicole’s work at http://www.nicoleflockton.com/

Emily Silva Hockstra believes everyone has the power to create the lives they dream of.

During a holiday to Costa Rica she saw a handwritten flyer in a coffee shop for an “intuitive painting course” and immediately was taken on a process that changed her life. The woman teaching her ended the course by interpreting her paining and telling Emily that she needed to be Brave … and to go after what she really wanted … Love!

Returning to the US, she quit her job, then booked a one way trip to Bali to find herself and plan the future. But in the beginning this wasn’t so spiritual and meaningful … it took 3 weeks of rain, rats and stray dogs, before Emily realised the need to look at life differently and be grateful for what she was experiencing and use this for her motivation.

Craig founded a charity called Short Back and Sidewalks (SBSW) in early 2015. It’s a free hair-cutting and grooming service for members of the community who are experiencing homelessness and is currently governed and operated entirely by volunteers.

The service goes beyond just giving free haircuts; they create meaningful connections through conversations with clients, and create visibility for some of the most marginalised community members in Australia.

Importantly, Craig was named as Western Australia’s Local Hero in 2022 as part of the Australian Of The Year Awards. Craig has volunteered at all levels of SBSW and he is the visionary that keeps the organisation striving to better serve those in need. He now plays a critical role in the national expansion and strategic partnerships. Having had a family member experience homelessness Craig is passionate about breaking the stigma often attached to society's most vulnerable people.

Previously, we learnt that Ryan took up “blind cricket” in his mid forties … after a successful career as a national Goalballer and a world champion sailor.

On this episode, we’ll discover how he made his way to Queensland and into an international series against New Zealand … BUT, it wasn’t all plain sailing for Ryan. Illness nearly prevented him achieving the ultimate goal.

Also, Ryan tells us what is like to be in the same game when teammate and long time friend, Stefan Nero scored a world record innings of 309 runs.

Returning to Max’s Island in this episode is the inspiring Ryan Honschooten.

Well known and world regarded blind sailer, adventurer, mentor, motivator and general great guy.

For someone who has achieved so much, then why would he choose to take up a new sport in his mid forties? Because that is just what he does … and it was no surprise that this new sporting endeavour has seen Ryan reach the pinnacle of Australian Cricket … a Baggy Green cap.

Sarah got the feeling of ”where she was meant to be” when she got the surprise offer of a book deal.

The amazing process of writing the book happened in Copenhagen … another place where Sarah and her husband Chris just happened to travel too.

The book took ten months to write and was finally publish in 2020 … just 2 years after she was first contacted by the publisher. The launch was in New York, and in her own words… it was like being in a movie …like being in “Sex in the City” in downtown Manhattan.

“Find your Flow … a life changing practice for a happier you” was soon followed by her second book “Choose Happy”. Whilst she couldn’t change the publishers name for this second book, she was able to create a book that makes you feel good … as she says it’s like “a hug”.

Sarah Gregg thought she had it all. She was happily married, had the perfect career and was fulfilling the life she had planned for herself. But she was ANGRY.

She had followed the rules … gone to school, worked hard on her education and got the good job everyone … including her … thought was going to satisfy her needs. However, she was still missing the reward of happiness and fulfilment.

So, during a trip away with her husband, they decided to sell up, move on from their secure jobs and travel … and then just see what happens.

The freedom of this lifestyle nourished her soul but was consuming the savings and within a few weeks of having to make a financially driven decision to possibly go home … for good … something special happened.

The ‘universe’ provided … and out of nowhere, she was offered a “book deal”.

This changed it all.

As an aspiring first class cricketer, Kris McShane made his way to Perth to hone his skill in different conditions during the English winter on three separate occasions. As a young man in his early 20’s, this was a chance to follow his passion, see the other side of the world and have a good time.

He progressively embraced the Perth lifestyle on each visit and eventually had the opportunity to take a chance and continue his already successful career in recruitment in WA.

The decision to relocate and ultimately set up his life in Perth came quickly and within 3 months from the start of the process he arrived to begin his new life. But, like many things in life, there were some challenges. Having the company who sponsored him to come to Perth being sold in his 1st six week was the first hiccup and then the sudden death of his father really challenged his resolve to stay.

Nonetheless, time has now passed, where he is well intrenched in the Perth corporate recruitment world and continues to play cricket each summer … and will continue to until his bowling shoulder says “it’s had enough.”

Kristel Tuul is a certified embodied performance coach. Her objective is to help ambitious women reach their goals by taking evidence-based approach to empowering women to perform and feel at their best by managing their energy, not time.

She is passionate about tapping into women's unique biology and their feminine-masculine traits to help women effortlessly thrive in life.

But this hasn’t always been her focus. It took a personal experience with an eating disorder triggered by a fixation with bio-hacking, and the constant struggle with conflicting masculine and feminine traits to realise what was important in her life…And then how this could be important for other high achieving women.

Simon White has been a successful journo in newspapers and online … for many years … all around Australia.

He spent some of his journey in South Australia, working as the racing writer for the Adelaide Advertiser, and it was during his time there he got to meet … and become friends with, a particularly colourful horse racing identity.

Following a suggestion from an editor at the paper and since it was the 25th anniversary of the “Fine Cotton” affair … the infamous horse substitution ring-in, at Eagle Farm Racecourse in Queensland, Simon started to look for one of the key characters in this ‘affair’, Hayden Haitana. The trainer of Fine Cotton was now living in and around the fringes of Adelaide, and leading quite a mysterious life.

Dean Margetts played footy from the ‘under 7’s” until he was 21 years old. He then retired.

After trying his hand at coaching an under 13’s team, and with two mates taking them to a grand final, he responded to an add in the local paper … to become an umpire.

This began a speedy journey to the AFL, where he eventually umpired 376 games (after 110 league games in the WAFL), across a career spanning more than 20 seasons. He featured in 12 finals (2 Prelim’s) and is an AFL Life Member.

During his time umpiring, whilst still based in the west, he travelled well over 200 times to the east coast to umpire games. This weekly traverse across the country was just in a day’s work for a self defined footy-head who saw umpiring as ‘his sport’.

It was on one of these trips back from the east when a dramatic mid air incident occurred. If it wasn’t for a chance meeting with someone on board, his life could have changed forever.

Defend our NDIS

The NDIS provides necessary supports to more than half a million Australians with disability. It is something we are all proud of.

Investing in a strong NDIS also has flow-on benefit to all Australians – in fact for every dollar spent on the NDIS, the scheme delivers $2.25 back into Australian communities.

Despite all of these benefits for people with disability, the broader community and the economy, we are seeing over and over again that people are having their NDIS plans slashed – leaving them without the essential supports they need.

This episode revisits Natalia Hodgins story and her life with a severe health condition and the resulting disability. Her story gives incredible insight into the challenges faced by a person with disability and how schemes like the NDIS should be so important for their future.

Sadly, Natalia struggles to have her disability recognised and is currently not supported with an NDIS plan. This must change.

This is not the NDIS we fought for, and it is not the NDIS Australians deserve.

“How I found my voice” is the way Kim Landers describes her decision to leave a relationship, become free of expectations, use her life lessons and ultimately re-discover her passions. But to rebuild and find her purpose and meaning, this meant filling a small bag … with some borrowed clothes … and zero dollars (she took her dad’s credit card) and move to another state in Australia.

As a kid, one of her biggest goals was to have an adventure and live overseas … somewhere like Canada, however in this case it was to land in Canberra with few people she knew.

This new clarity in life was initially sparked after a meeting with a clairvoyant and has been developed further by using consistent mentors to keep her “accountable” and creating a safe network of friends.

Jules had planned for a year to tackle the 124km Cape to Cape trek in the South West of WA and spent 7 days with 11 women … it was a magical experience for her. It was her way to push herself, reclaim her “me”, as she puts it, and just connect with other women.

On return to the comfort of her home, she had time to reflect on what the trek meant, absorb the feeling of achievement, and thinking about what was next … something special happened.

A “Facebook message” request alert to connect with someone she did not know … appeared from nowhere.

It was a request from a woman who was asking … if she would be willing … quite randomly … to take a DNA tests because she thought they may be related … Was it scam?

This has opened the door to a growing relationship with this woman through a common paternal bond.

After 50 years, two sisters are now connected.

Greg McKenna was focused and driven to be the best in the world of currency trading and financial markets. It wasn’t long before this career became all consuming and achieving a significant level of corporate success was a feature of his life.

But with the birth of his son he made the decision to shelve this perceived dream international corporate lifestyle and to live a life which was featured by being with his family at home … in Australia.

After trying his hand at a few things … with varied success … Greg connected to the mentoring advice from a colleague (and close friend), and directed his personal focus to just being “a better human”. He returned to the world of banking, but this time it was being part of a community and he realised that creating human connection with those he met in this world was the greatest benefit of all.

He is now CEO of a mutual bank and strives to contribute to the lives of all his customers in a positive way.

Tait Oliver embraced an early career direction working in retail. It meant he moved locations across New Zealand as he progressed up through the ranks … until he realised that climbing that corporate ladder wasn’t the thing that drove him.

A desire to impact on other people through a role in “service” led him to stretch himself outside his comfort zone and take on a role, still in retail, as a People Performance Coach.

This job was doing what he loved … he was in the business of growing people. He describes this role as like a Thermos filled with the warmest, silkiest, smoothest hot chocolate you could think of … something that warned his soul.

But life is never always straight forward, so when Tait’s wife Kat became pregnant, a desire to be near family meant he needed to leave that Thermos behind and take on a new job in the city of Auckland. But this job was just another “cup” to drink from … it was not his Thermos. With various circumstances occurring and subsequently being made redundant, Tait looked at his “being” for future motivation.

A realisation came that as a family they could actually live on one healthy salary … even with a baby. So, with Kat taking a full time role … Tait was released to follow his dream.

Raman Moodley’s life started in a separated Indian community in a tough South African neighbourhood. After a challenging start to life … and leaving school at grade 7 … he amazingly had a meaningful career in finance and banking.

But he was unfulfilled, so with his wife and two young children, they moved to the USA.

Ultimately, a chance meeting with a school teacher called Josh totally changed his direction in life. Josh invited him to began working with kids who had experienced tough upbringings and after the initial 1 hour meeting … that went for 3 hours … a passion was released.

“One moment of Fate” was all it took to change the lives of 3 guys.

It’s not uncommon to discover a purpose in life when you have strong beliefs, an unwavering faith and the drive to always look for a better life.

Nevellene and Amy are two women with a strong foundation to their ideas and thoughts on how to achieve the best for themselves, their families and others in general.

In this second of our current summer series on Max’s Island, we will revisit their personal experiences and understand what makes them see the world in a way that may be a little different.