Conversations

Psychologist Dr Tracey Westerman on her groundbreaking work transforming mental health outcomes for Aboriginal communities (R)
Dr Tracy Westerman grew up in the Pilbara, where suicide and mental health issues have deeply scarred Indigenous communities. So this Nyamal woman decided to do something about it.
Nyamal woman Tracy Westerman grew up in some of the most remote parts of Western Australia, moving from a station to a town called Useless Loop, eventually landing in the mining town of Tom Price.
Tracy, the daughter of an Aboriginal mother and a white father, became the first person educated entirely in Tom Price to go on to University.
When she arrived in Perth, she had never been on a bus or on an escalator, but she was fired up to study psychology.
Tracy wanted to use the skills she learned in the city to deliver practical mental health care to Aboriginal people, and to help entire communities reeling from the impact of suicide and other mental health issues.
Along the way to obtaining her doctorate, Tracy has become a business person, the WA Australian of the year, and she was awarded an Order of Australia Medal.
Her next mission is to build an army of Indigenous psychologists to continue the work she's already started.
Further information
Jilya is published by University of Queensland Press.
You can learn more about Dr Westerman's work here.
To binge even more great episodes of the ‘Conversations podcast’ with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, singers, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

The iconic folk duo met at an audition for the only country music band at a prestigious jazz school in Boston. They immediately clicked, and joined the rich lineage of Americana artists that stretches back centuries.
In their 20s, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings discovered they had something special when they sang together, a sort of eerie emotional resonance that is usually confined to the blood harmonies produced when siblings sing together.
Ever since they've been making music together which draws on the bluegrass, country and folk traditions they love.
In their historic recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee (which has withstood three tornadoes in the last century), they craft haunting songs about the ugly and beautiful parts of humanity.
For Gill and Dave, the DNA of folk music is something we can all contribute to, and which contributes to all of us.
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are currently touring Australia's eastern states. You can find information about where and when they are playing on their website.
Their seventh studio album is called Woodland, named after their indestructible studio.This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.
It explores music, recording, career musicians, Woody Guthrie, The Carter Family, Lead Belly, revival folk, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Simon & Garfunkel, Joni Mitchell, Emmy Lou, Dolly Parton, Southern America, United States, Pete Seeger, Love, relationship, natural disaster, Neil Young, Gordon Lightfoot, Leonard Cohen, Odetta, Harry Belafonte, Rhiannon Giddens, banjo, guitar, mandolin, true crime, murder ballad, Revival, Time (The Revelator), Soul Journey, The Harrow & The Harvest, All the Good Times (Are Past & Gone), Grammy Awards, Grammys, songwriting, Coen Brothers, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Growing up, John Marsden found school incredibly difficult and, as a teenager, spent time in hospital after a breakdown. This difficult early life profoundly shaped his work as a writer and educator of young people.
With the help of a therapist, he began to recover, but it took him many years to find his place in the world.
Eventually he studied teaching, then in his mid-thirties John began to write.
John wrote over 40 best-selling novels for young adults and used his profits to buy bushland on the edge of Melbourne and open a primary school.
At Candlebark, students call teachers by their first names, and are encouraged to take risks, John also founded a high school called Alice Miller.
In 2024, John Marsden died at the age of 74, this interview was recorded in 2018.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Nicola Harrison, the Executive Producer was Pam O'Brien.
it explores education, strict parenting, teaching, all boys private school education, emotional breakdown, psychiatric care, therapy, counselling, studying teaching, writing, writing for young adults, running an independent school, risk taking, being an author, legacy.
To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

Dan Richards investigates the multifaceted realm of night-time. Hear about when he survived a brush with death, a treacherous journey on a Scottish ferry, shadowing a search and rescue team, and the comfort and exquisite agony of new parenthood.
The writer and broadcaster argues that night-time is universal in that everyone goes through it, but there are so many different experiences of the dark.
He has met the many people who work, helping others and doing the invisible organising that keeps our communal world turning while others rest.
Dan says the night is a place of encounters — both magical and disturbing.
Further information
Dan's book Overnight: Journeys, Conversations and Stories After Dark is published by Allen & Unwin.
This episode was produced by Alice Moldovan. The Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.
This episode touches on sleep, covid, COVID, covid-19, hospital, emergency workers, NHS, ICU, frontline workers, search and rescue, dreams, outreach workers, homelessness, moominland, the shipping forecast, BBC, new fatherhood.
To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.

The legendary surfer has grieved the deaths of her adoptive mother, stepmother and birth mother. Only later in life did she realise her drive to win came from a place of loss, and Layne needed to look inward to find her place off the podium.
Layne is a legendary surfer who is the first person ever to win six consecutive world titles.
Since her childhood spent on Sydney's Northern Beaches, Layne has loved being in the water but it wasn't until later in life that she realised her relentless drive to win came from a confusion about who she belonged with on land.
Part of her drive to prove her worth and her place came from her experiences of loss.
When Layne was 6 years old, her adopted mother Valerie died. Then, her step-mother Christina died after a long battle with breast cancer.
Twenty years after Layne reconnected with her birth mother, Maggie, she flew to America to be by Maggie's side as she took her last breaths.
Losing three mothers in one lifetime caused Layne to equate motherhood with loss and abandonment. 
But after retiring and learning to slow down, Layne turned inward and finally found herself along the way.
Content warning: this episode of Conversations contains discussion of adoption and grief.
Layne's memoir Beneath the Waves was written with Michael Gordon and published in 2009 by Penguin.
Her latest book, Awake Academy, was written with Tess Brouwer and is published by Penguin.
This episode of Conversations was produced by Meggie Morris. Executive Producer is Nicola Harrison.
It explores grief, cancer, death, dying, surfing, pro surfers, Manly, Freshwater, Hawaii, Ken Bradshaw, Kelly Slater, Molly Picklum, Stephanie Gilmore, Kirk Pengilly, love, marriage, stepmother, motherhood, menopause, slowing down, fitness later in life, introspection, awake academy, meditation, beach, ovarian cancer, brain haemorrhage, fatherhood, Tess Brouwer, elite athletes, professional athletes.
To binge even more great episodes of the Conversations podcast with Richard Fidler and Sarah Kanowski go the ABC listen app (Australia) or wherever you get your podcasts. There you’ll find hundreds of the best thought-provoking interviews with authors, writers, artists, politicians, psychologists, musicians, and celebrities.