Kintsugi Heroes
Harpreet Kalsi-Smith · 54 min
When her mother died, Harpreet Kalsi-Smith didn't retreat from grief — she built an entire organisation to ensure no one, especially those from First Nations, migrant, and refugee communities, has to face the end of life without dignity, culture, and kindness.
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When Harpreet Kalsi-Smith's mother became ill, she stepped into a world she had never expected to navigate. Her mother's final months taught her something that would reshape her entire career: that how we die matters as much as how we live, and that kindness at the end of life can transform even the hardest moments. Shaped by her parents' migration from Kenya and their open-door values, Harpreet had spent 15 years working in community development, social justice, and health promotion with First Nations communities and Stolen Generation survivors. But it was her mother's palliative care that showed her the gap. She saw fragmented systems, clinical interactions that talked at rather than with families, and one physician who simply saw them. That moment of genuine kindness stayed with her.
Harpreet founded The Kindness Company to ensure that people approaching the end of life, especially those from First Nations, migrant, and refugee communities, do not face it alone. Her work rests on listening deeply: sitting with an uncle for 12 months until he was ready to plan, building trust before asking difficult questions, understanding that true person-centered care means some people need more time and more resources than others to reach the same level of access. She works with communities to create spaces for collective grief and healing through yarning circles, ritual, and presence rather than clinical intervention alone. She helps families understand what the dying process actually is, so they can redirect their care toward presence and connection rather than food and prolonged intervention. And she uses the stories residents share with her to advocate directly with government and health services for actual change.
At the heart of Harpreet's work is a simple belief: community can hold you through the end of life, and one small act of kindness a week, offered to someone in your neighbourhood, can transform their life.
⚠️ Content advisory: this episode discusses grief & loss, which some listeners may find distressing.
If you need support, you're not alone. Help is available: • Lifeline (24/7 crisis support): 13 11 14 · lifeline.org.au • GriefLine: 1300 845 745 · griefline.org.au
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Kintsugi Heroes · Registered Australian not-for-profit · kintsugiheroes.com.au ↗