This video captures an intimate and deeply honest conversation between Ivan and Chris, tracing an unexpected journey from the lived experience of trauma and survival to a lifelong commitment to suicide prevention, postvention, and education.

Chris reflects on growing up in a working-class family, discovering art as his first language for processing trauma, and how creativity became a lifeline long before he had words for what he had endured. What began as a path toward fine art gradually transformed into a vocation in education—one he never planned, but one that found him through recognition of his ability to connect, teach, and care.

Throughout the conversation, Chris explores how lived experience shaped his work as a university lecturer and researcher, particularly in the areas of adolescent suicide, grief, male survivors of trauma, and men’s mental health. He speaks candidly about stoicism, anger, silence, and survival—challenging common assumptions about masculinity and help-seeking, and questioning whether current systems truly meet the needs of vulnerable men.

Ivan weaves his own experiences into the dialogue, creating a space where personal vulnerability and social critique coexist. Together, they examine why talk-based therapy is not always the answer, how presence and companionship can be healing, and why research must lead to real-world change rather than remain trapped in theory.

The video ultimately calls for a more humane, gender-responsive, and culturally grounded approach to mental health and suicide support—one that honours lived experience, offers genuine choice, and recognises that healing often begins simply by not suffering alone.

This is a conversation about survival, truth-telling, and a heart that never gave up.