Kintsugi Heroes
Gregory Smith · 60 min
Surrendered to an orphanage at ten, written off as a sociopath, and living as a recluse in a rainforest for a decade, Gregory Smith walked out of the bush at 45 with nothing — and earned a PhD, a tenured academic position, and fatherhood before turning 70.
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Gregory Smith was born into domestic violence and alcoholism. At two years old, his father threw him against a wall. At ten, his mother placed him and three siblings in an orphanage without explanation. Between thirteen and nineteen, he moved through corrective institutions, spending weeks in solitary confinement and fighting constantly. A state psychiatrist labeled him a sociopath at seventeen. When released at nineteen with $2.25 and a warning never to return, he bought his first drink that day and spent decades chasing the feeling of calm it gave him.
At thirty-five, Gregory retreated into a rainforest where he lived alone for ten years, brewing alcohol and growing herbs to numb the pain he carried with him. Psychosis set in. Three strangers who arrived at his campsite argued him out of dying there, pointing out that his sisters would never have closure. He left the forest at forty-five, weighing forty-two kilos, needing a walking stick to walk. Years of addiction and homelessness followed. Then came the park bench. Sitting alone with a backpack full of drugs and alcohol, everything he owned at forty-five fitting into that bag, Gregory realized he had been fighting himself his entire life. He walked away from that backpack and never used again.
What followed were years of learning to live in society without numbing the pain. He took a free computer course, discovered he loved to learn, and enrolled in a tertiary preparation program while sleeping on the beach. At forty-six, he had his first coffee with another person. He went to university, completed a PhD, and at sixty-four received his first tenured academic position. Today he is sixty-seven, a father, and a consultant on homelessness and trauma. He owns two things: his name and his word. Every day of his life, he says, holds treasure.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses abuse & exploitation and addiction & recovery, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Blue Knot Foundation (complex trauma): 1300 657 380 · blueknot.org.au • 1800RESPECT (family, domestic & sexual violence): 1800 737 732 · 1800respect.org.au • SMART Recovery Australia (addiction): smartrecoveryaustralia.com.au • ReachOut: au.reachout.com
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