I qualified as a Registered Psychologist in 1983 specialising in child and adult l behaviour, mental health welfare and human relationships. I spent over 20 years as an expert witness for the District and Family Courts in New Zealand. More recently, the Minister of Education appointed me as National Manager, managing over 160 staff, to design and implement a highly specialised wraparound intervention programme. This programme, for young people and families experiencing and living in the most severe circumstances in New Zealand, was to support young people and the families to successfully develop new positive life pathways.
As a psychologist, I had a leading role in providing leadership support for people managing ‘natural’ disasters. The biggest of these disasters was the ‘Cave Crave’ tragedy which, at the time, was the largest of such disasters in New Zealand since the Erebust plane crash in Antarctica.