Our Advisory Group

The Commission's work incorporates a wide variety of perspectives on mental health and addiction.

Te Kani Kingi
Chair

Te Kani Kingi is Director of Te Mata o te Tau, The Academy for Māori Research and Scholarship at Massey University in Wellington. He has a specialist interest in mental health research, psychometrics, and Māori health. He was responsible for the development of Hua Oranga, a Māori measure of mental health outcome, and was part of the New Zealand Psychiatric Epidemiology research team. He has formally been an executive member of the New Zealand Public Health Association and currently sits on the National Health Committee and the National Ethics Advisory Committee.

Te Kani was born and raised in Poroporo, near Whakatane, and has tribal affiliations to both Ngati Awa and Ngati Pukeko. He attended St Stephen’s School in Bombay, and later studied at Waikato University, Waiariki Institute of Technology, and Massey University.

Leo McIntyre

Leo McIntyre was born in Nelson, raised in Upper Hutt, near Wellington, and was educated at St Patrick's College Silverstream. Leo worked as an apprentice painter and decorator for the NZPO and Telecom before a back injury ended his career shortly after qualifying. Leo experienced a period of depression but then retrained to work at the Police National Video Unit in Porirua. As a result of overexposure to extremely explicit forensic video material Leo developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which forced him to resign. He returned to the paint industry, working for Resene Paints, and began studying NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), after which he decided to pursue a career in mental health. Leo completed his undergraduate degree in 2002. He worked part-time from December 2003 as the manager of Temp Solutions; an award-winning Wellington-based employment agency that specialises in placing people with experience of mental illness in short-term employment. He also studied part-time for a BA (Hons) Psychology at Victoria University of Wellington, graduating in May 2006. Leo worked for Temp Solutions full time until October 2009, and has served as Chairperson for Balance NZ since 2005. He currently works for as a Services Manager for Wellink Trust, and lives in Wellington with his partner Sally Kopp.

Rob Warriner

After working in the textile, building, and daily farming industries, the mental health sector is Rob’s fourth career. After 11 years with AMHS based in Takapuna, latterly as Community and Business Development Manager, Rob was appointed Chief Executive of WALSH Trust in 2003. He is a determined advocate for the continued development and growth of community-based mental health services. He was instrumental in researching and developing a supported employment service designed to meet the needs of people who experience a mental illness, and was a founding member of ASENZ. Rob is a Trustee of Platform Trust, co-chair of Waitemata DHB Provider Executive Group, and is also a member of the Mental Health Advocacy Coalition (MHAC) and Waitemata DHB Combined Stakeholder Network.

Simone Molenaar

Simone hails from the shores of Lake Rotorua and the tulip fields of the Netherlands. Her mother is from the King Country, Mt Ruapehu and her father is from Zuid Scharwoude in Langedijk, North Holland. She has a big family on both sides that keep her fires stoked. She lives in Hamilton and works within the health and social service sector.

She has a passion for effecting positive change in society especially in the area of primary mental health. Her aim is to always view the cup half full and to practice strength based approaches to change. Believing in people and their abilities is fundamental in her approach to life and learning. She values the importance of reflective practice in both the professional and personal spheres of her life in order to keep working toward being the best that she can possibly be.

Simone’s qualifications include BSocSc, ELMP and HLAP. She has 15 years experience working within the education, health and social service sector (disability and mental health) including previous roles at Linkage Trust - Case Manager and Project Manager; Project Manager NPE (Progress to Health); Student Disability Advisor & Tutor in Psychology - University of Waikato.

She has been involved in various community groups over the years in a voluntary capacity that have also assisted with her growth and learnings.

Hayley Theyers

Hayley is currently employed by CADS (Community Alcohol and Drug services) in Auckland with the consumer team, acting as a conduit for consumer feedback. She has worked in different parts of the service including Pregnancy and Parental, in counselling units, and in Inpatient and Community Detox as well as the Methadone Service. She has strong links in both nationwide Addiction and Mental Health consumer networks. She would like to see more integration between Addiction and Mental Health services, especially as it has been suggested that 87% of people living with addiction issues also have mental health concerns.

Her interests other than work are collecting vinyl (especially late 60’s psychedelia), she reads voraciously, and chases sunsets with her children.

Elliot Bell

Elliot is a clinical psychologist and lecturer at the University of Otago, Wellington. In addition to his research and teaching background at the University, he has worked clinically across both the public and private sectors in mental health since 1995. Prior to being appointed to the Advisory Group, Elliot had been the New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists (NZCCP) representative on the Commission’s Practitioners Reference Group. Elliot is passionate about client centred collaborative approaches to treatment and rehabilitation in mental health, and the importance of consumers having choices in their care, including access to evidence-based talking therapies.

Gavin Pilkington

Gavin has a deep commitment to improve services for, and the lot of, older adults, and their family’s, living with mental health issues – especially those living with the psychiatric complications of dementia and other major medical and neurological issues.

Gavin has worked exclusively with older adults and their families, mainly in community settings, since 1990. His work has been as a full time clinician (Specialist in Psychiatry of Old Age) in the public health system. He has been the Older Adult representative on the Waitemata District Health Board Mental Health Stakeholder Network since its inception; and is also the Older Adult Representative and Work stream co-chairperson on the Network North Coalition. He is a member of the Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age, the International Psycho Geriatric Society.
His goal in serving on the Commission Advisory group is to advocate for an increased voice and improved services for Older Adults.

Kelly Pope

Kelly is working for Richmond New Zealand in Christchurch as a Community Support Worker. She is currently training towards her National Diploma of Mental Health Suport Work, as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology.

Natasha Cully

Natasha is studying towards a National Certificate in Mental Health Support Work. She is the Mental Health Youth Representative for the Waikato District Health Board. Natasha loves her job and she is passionate about youth.

Michelle Jackson

Michelle is studying towards a National Certificate in Mental Health Support Work. Her aim is to start a Nursing Degree in 2012 and specialise in psychiatric nursing so that she can work in a child and youth inpatient service. Michelle has extensive knowledge and experience in the mental health and addictions services as she has experienced this herself. She hopes to be able to assist others who were like her, and needed help.