Intrusive Kindness

PJ

Intrusive Kindness explores how care disrupts, repairs, and reshapes us. Through immersive storytelling and reflective conversations, PJ dives into human connection, self‑compassion, healing, and the emotional labour of practice. Stories of rupture, repair, and the unexpected ways kindness changes a life. New episodes every two weeks. DISCLAIMER: All reflections are personal and not representative of any organisation or individual.

Episodes

  1. Never the Main Character: The NPC Truth of Social Work

    Apr 27

    Never the Main Character: The NPC Truth of Social Work

    In this season finale of Intrusive Kindness, PJ reflects on his first year in social work — not from inside it, but years later, with the hindsight that only lived experience can offer. This episode explores the truth that one person’s story is never a singular story, and that social workers are rarely the main characters in the lives they enter. Through the lens of intrusive kindness, narrative therapy, and the “NPC” metaphor, PJ unpacks what it means to step into someone else’s world, hold their story with care, and accept that we may never see the ending. This is a conversation about humility, autonomy, emotional labour, and the quiet impact social workers have without ever being at the centre of the narrative. As PJ closes the chapter on his first year, he opens the door to what’s coming next: working overseas in the UK, cultural shock, isolation, danger, supporting a refugee soccer team, major system upheaval, returning to Sydney for the Social Benefit Bonds scheme, the Northern Territory fault line that pushed him to the edge of the profession, and the eventual return to NSW where he now works across statutory practice, training and consultation. This episode is for social workers, students, helpers, and anyone who has ever wondered what really happens behind the scenes of this work the stories that shape us, the ones that stay with us, and the ones we never get to finish. If this episode resonates, join the conversation on Instagram at Intrusive Kindness, and leave a rating or comment on your streaming platform to help this community grow.

    15 min

About

Intrusive Kindness explores how care disrupts, repairs, and reshapes us. Through immersive storytelling and reflective conversations, PJ dives into human connection, self‑compassion, healing, and the emotional labour of practice. Stories of rupture, repair, and the unexpected ways kindness changes a life. New episodes every two weeks. DISCLAIMER: All reflections are personal and not representative of any organisation or individual.