A trauma survivor myself, I graduated with a BSc in geology from VUW in 1990.
I have worked in a number of industries including an oil rig, marketing in legal publishing, an IT administrator, airline baggage handler, pine forestry worker, lab technician, and currently a marketing analyst. I bring a range of skills that require innovation, problem-solving ability and creativity. It is an honour to be asked to join the Board of Directors for Men and Trauma as the professionalism, dedication and resolve of the team leading and delivering these much-needed services impresses me. I am ready to do what I can to help support this innovative service and contribute to not just changing individual men's lives, but to start challenging the societal and structural foundations that hold men back from resolving the trauma they have suffered. |
In helping to form Men and Trauma, I wanted to be part of a niche and national clinical service dedicated to masculine people, their families and whanau who live with unresolved trauma.
I follow the thought that unresolved anger, addictions, depression and suicidal behaviour are a direct result of child abuse and sexual abuse. My previous experience in trauma work was as founder of male sexual abuse charity Mosaic, from 2014 until its closure in 2021. Earlier, I started attending peer support in Christchurch in 1993 and became a founding trustee for the Male Survivors Sexual Abuse Trust Christchurch in 1997. In 2018 I studied trauma informed Peer Therapy Groups at Men and Healing in Ottawa, Canada, and then brought back their world-leading trauma recovery model to New Zealand to complement our own. I have worked extensively for a number of years facilitating 1-on-1 and group sessions with male survivors of childhood abuse, sexual abuse and trauma. I have also provided professional development for New Zealand clinicians and healthcare providers to understand implicit issues around male trauma and recovery, and delivered lectures in tertiary organisations. |