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Sunburnt Souls: A Christian Mental Health Podcast
Searching for real conversations about Christian mental health — faith, anxiety, depression, and emotional resilience — shared with raw honesty and biblical hope? You’ve found it.
Sunburnt Souls is a Christian mental health podcast where faith and mental health meet real life. Each episode offers faith-based coping strategies, spiritual encouragement, and raw stories of hope.
I’m Pastor Dave Quak — an Aussie pastor living with bipolar disorder — and I know what it’s like to follow Jesus through the highs, lows, and everything in between.
You’ll hear powerful stories, biblical encouragement, and practical tools for navigating anxiety, depression, burnout, and mental wellness as a follower of Christ.
Whether you’re battling darkness, searching for joy, or just trying to make sense of it all, you’re not alone. Sunburnt Souls is a safe, unfiltered space for faith-filled conversations and honest connection.
🎧 Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube. 🌐 Learn more at sunburntsouls.com
Episodes
94 episodes
Running From God Warps Your Sense of Justice (Jonah)
A runaway prophet, a repenting city, and a God who refuses to be less merciful than He is—Jonah’s story hits closer to home than we like to admit. We open the book not to argue about a fish, but to wrestle with why a man who knows God’s heart w...
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30:27
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What If Sitting at Jesus’ Feet Means Letting Your Family Fall Apart? (Mary & Martha)
A quiet living room in Bethany, a sealed tomb, and a Savior who stops to weep before he calls a name—this is where faith and mental wellbeing meet. We invited listeners into the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus to explore how Jesus honors diff...
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31:33
Success Nearly Killed David’s Soul
What if your greatest risk isn’t suffering, but success? We dive into David’s uneven path from overlooked shepherd to celebrated king to show how formation in hidden places can hold you together when the spotlight doesn’t. This is a story about...
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28:54
Barren, Broken, and Begging: When God Stays Silent (Hannah)
The story of Hannah opens inside a storm of rivalry, shame, and unmet longing—and yet it becomes a roadmap for hope. We unpack how a woman dismissed by culture and misread by a priest found language for her pain, courage for her vow, and a song...
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30:36
Elijah Wanted to Die — And God Didn’t Immediately Fix It
Fire falls on the altar, a nation gasps, and the prophet stands vindicated—then one threat sends him running into the wilderness. We follow Elijah through that whiplash from public triumph to private collapse and uncover a deeper story of how G...
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32:03
Taking a Breath: Dave and Jess on Rest, Renewal, and Reconnection
After 89 episodes, Dave and Jess Quak open up about taking a short, intentional break from producing the Sunburnt Souls podcast. This conversation dives deep into the rhythms of rest, spiritual renewal, and what it means to step back without st...
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22:59
Paralysed but Not Defeated: A Christian Mental Health Journey from Depression to Hope
After a BMX crash left him paralysed, Nathan faced years of depression and doubt. Discover how faith, resilience, and community led to real hope.What happens when your body breaks, but your spirit refuses to? This powerful Chris...
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30:23
How the Bible Speaks When You’re Mentally Hurting: Finding God in Every Genre
When silence and solitude fail, Scripture still speaks. In this heartfelt conversation, Dave Quak and Jess Quak explore how the Bible connects us to God when our minds and emotions feel heavy. From poetic laments to prophetic promises, discover...
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34:15
Why Some People Are Blunt — and How to Love Them
Why are some people so blunt—and why does it sting? In this honest and humorous episode of Sunburnt Souls: A Christian Mental Health Podcast, Dave and Jess Quak explore why blunt people speak the way they do and how relationships can thrive whe...
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35:22
Faith & Mental Health: Finding God in the Mess of Bipolar, Anxiety & Depression
In this solo episode of Sunburnt Souls, a Christian mental health podcast, host Dave Quak opens up about faith, mental illness, and what it means to live a life that’s “unideal” yet deeply loved by God.From a story about Tony wi...
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30:47
The Indigo Psalms: Faith, Mental Health & Hope with Indigo Rogers
Sunburnt Souls is a Christian Mental Health Podcast. This week we meet 18 year old Indigo Rogers. She has already published her first book The Indigo Psalms: Volume One—a raw and beautiful collection of personal psalms written since sh...
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24:18
Schizophrenia, Faith & Business: Loving Jesus While Running a Startup
This is Sunburnt Souls, the Christian Mental Health Podcast. Host Dave Quak welcomes back Tomas Heligr-Pyke...Tom gets real about navigating hallucinations at work, recognising what’s real, and how prayer and gratitude ground his mental health ...
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35:29
The Single Life: Faith and Mental Health in the Church.
Sunburnt Souls is a Christian Mental Health Podcast. Today, we find out what’s it really like to navigate Christian singleness in your 20s and 30s—while guarding your mental health and staying true to your faith? In this candid conversation, Do...
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30:42
Women in Leadership with Jess Quak and Maddy Mandall: Navigating Faith, Ministry, and Mental Health (Part 2)
This is Sunburnt Souls, the Christian Mental Health Podcast. In Part 2, Jess and Dave Quak continue their discussion... They explore living out a ministry calling, navigating gender-based expectations, and the joys of pastoral work, emphasising...
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35:21
Women in Leadership with Jess Quak and Maddy Mandall: Navigating Faith, Ministry, and Mental Health (Part 1)
In the first of a two-part series on SUNBURNT SOULS, Jess and Dave Quak are joined by Maddy Mandall to discuss the unique challenges and rewards of women in church leadership. Following last week's episode on women in leadership, Maddy shares h...
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32:48
Women in Ministry: Calling, Church Stigma, and Mental Health — with Jess Quak
In this episode of Sunburnt Souls, the Christian mental health podcast founded by pastor Dave Quak (who lives with bipolar disorder), Dave sits down with his wife Pastor Jess Quak, to talk candidly about the realities of being a woman in church...
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35:53
From Hillsong to Humanitarian: Joel A'Bell on Faith and Leadership
In this episode of Sunburnt Souls, the Christian mental health podcast founded by pastor Dave Quak (who lives with bipolar disorder), Dave welcomes Joel A'Bell, former Hillsong Global Director and current Oceania Regional Leader for Convoy of H...
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30:43
Faith, Mental Health & Ministry: Ralph Mayhew on Depression, Pastoring, and Finding Joy in Jesus
In this vital episode of Sunburnt Souls, a Christian mental health podcast, founder Dave Quak (pastor living with bipolar disorder) sits down with pastor, church planter, and creative Ralph Mayhew to explore the raw realities of depression, anx...
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36:11
Rebuilding Life After Divorce: A Christian Woman’s Journey of Faith and Remarriage with Ash Morrison
In this second part of Ash Morrison’s story on Sunburnt Souls- A Christian Mental Health Podcast, host Dave Quak explores Ash’s journey of rebuilding her life as a Christian woman after divorce. Ash shares the challenges of navigating div...
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34:31
Christian Mental Health & Divorce: Ash Morrison on Healing Guilt and Finding Faith
In this powerful episode of the Sunburnt Souls Christian Mental Health Podcast, host Pastor Dave Quak sits down with Monica Cook, a Sydney-based Christian sexologist from Life to the Full, to talk about faith, intimacy, and healing in a world s...
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41:52
Can AI Chatbots Boost Your Mental Health? A Christian Perspective on Technology and Faith
Host: Dave QuakIn this solo episode of Sunburnt Souls, a Christian Mental Health Podcast, Dave Quak explores the role of AI chatbots, like Wysa, in supporting mental wellbeing, particularly from a Christian perspective. He examine...
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24:24
You Can Support Your Family: Finding Purpose and Healing with Christian Mental Health
It's a powerful lie: that a mental health diagnosis means you can only receive support. On Sunburnt Souls: A Christian Mental Health Podcast, Dave and Jess Quak flip the script! They share honest, real-life insights into how individuals, includ...
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34:02
From Pigsties to Preachers: What Bacon, Spurgeon, and Mental Illness Teach Us About Grace
This week on Sunburnt Souls, Dave Quak is back with another raw, real, and at times ridiculous episode—recorded while on family holiday, but packed with depth. He reflects on how short radio soundbites have unexpectedly spread across 1...
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23:24
5 Real Stories of Faith and Mental Health: Mania, Grief, Anxiety, and Grace
Dave Quak shares five real-life stories pulled from our one-minute soundbites airing on 14 Christian radio stations around Australia. From impulsively buying a house during a manic episode to watching a pelican steal a puppy, these moments are ...
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23:26
Postpartum Psychosis, Schizoaffective Disorder & Faith in Chaos: Lydia’s Story
On Sunburnt Souls, a Christian mental health podcast, host Dave Quak speaks with Lydia Farbach in Postpartum Psychosis: Faith, Fear, and Finding Jesus in the Breakdown — a raw, faith-filled conversation about one of the most terrifying mental h...
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40:55