Introduce Yourself

Kia ora whānau! Name's Ben and I'm one of the MSD Social Action folks.

My beautiful wife Roisin and I live in Upper Hutt here in equally beautiful Wellington - originally hailing from the South with my time largely spent in Rangiora and Ōtepoti!

Its great to see how Change Is Possible has developed over the last few years and feel privileged to be a part of it. Super excited to see how this forum develops over the next few months and beyond!

Keen to both learn from you all and see what I can give on this platform - I play in the digital campaigns/ media space and video editor by trade so if any help is needed in there hit me up!

Kia ora whānau! Ko Vinh toku ingoa. Nō Witināma ahau :)

Kia ora tatau,

Ko Tararua Ko Hikurangi ngā maunga.

Ko Raukawa, Toarangatira, Muaupoko, Porourangi ngā iwi

Holding my hands up to all of the changemaker whānau engaging on this platform. Choice to be able to come together and connect, share, learn, be inspired by others, create new collaborations, and make new friendships.

I am a father of 3, husband of 1. I am based in Gisborne and work in the community to help catalyze community-led innovations, which includes Tāiki e! Impact House, Haututu HackLab and Startup Weekend Tairāwhiti. Basically I work on helping grow new startups and community-led change projects, and advancing participation and opportunity in the tech sector.

One of the kaupapa I have been working on is with Tauawhi Mens here in Gisborne, to help mobilise our community around preventative strategies to reducing family harm. We're building towards having a 10 year conversation (through doing stuff) where we can then develop a multi generational plan. We're using lots of design thinking, startup and problem solving techniques but in a community social movement context - its been an awesome journey so far.

Anyway, thought I would hop on here and introduce myself a bit and how I connect in. Next week I will be in rāhui - we are shutting our kaupapa down for the week to create a space of rest and regeneration. Change mahi isn't easy and so being quite intentional with periods of regeneration is really important. I'll write up another thread with some whakaaro around the rāhui process for us.

I'm here to help - just sing out if you want to have more kōrero. Keen to share and also to learn from the many people on here working hard everyday to create positive impact in their communities. Mauriora

Kia ora tatou, 

Ko Irene Wakefield tōku ingoa 
He uri ō Ngati Raukawa ki te tonga me Ngāti Kahungunu 
Nō Te Awahou (Foxton) ahau 

I'm part of the Social Action Team and played a role in the development of the forum to date. It's exciting to be able to welcome you into this space and work together to create an environment that enables you to support the tāne in your community.

Beyond my mahi space, you'll likely find me with my four tamariki and hubby outside in the maara, going for hīkoi, or volunteering in restoration efforts and beautification projects in and around the Manawatū River Loop in Foxton. 

On your journey of exploring the forum be sure to check out the group 'Ask An Expert' if you need help!

Mauri Ora 

Kia ora everyone

I'm Alex, I am part of the MSD team...although I am beginning a new role late July 2024. I will still be on here watching the space grow and develop and joining in the discussions. I am a father of 3 girls who are growing up super fast, I'm lucky to be walking this journey of life with Nina who is a social worker extraordinaire and a heap of fun. Past mahi includes working in prisons and the community, mostly in the space of healing and change of men, this taught me a lot. However my learning wasn't complete. I have now had some time learning from changemakers like yourselves. This has taught me heaps about perhaps why my past work in formal systems of change weren't always successful for the men who stepped into them. I've learnt from some amazing men with lived experience, some wise wahine who have shared their voice/experience and some clever humans who've been trying to shift the dial in Aotearoa for some time to show that change is possible. My desire for this space is it becomes a place of growth for changemakers, a place of figuring stuff out and learning, a place for talking openly and sitting in the grey, a place of connection and a place to celebrate and support each other. 

What's got two thumbs and thinks that change is possible?

this guy...

Mauri ora whanau

Kia ora whanau,

I'm TP - with the Change is Possible Team at MSD. 

I've been lucky enough to work on the It's not OK campaign for over a decade. My background is in public health and social change campaigns, including mental health and addiction, disability, violence prevention and auahi kore/smoke-free - and like most of the Social Action Team, I  have a social justice background.

It's been a privilege to work alongside community changemakers and champions - especially those men who have become safe and who share their change journeys with others.

I'm really excited to step into a space where we can learn from you and where we can support you to drive change in your own communities and whanau.

TP x

Kia ora tatou

I grew up in the beautiful Hawkes Bay the eldest of 4 kids.  When people ask me where I’m from I say I live in Wellington, which I love, but my spiritual home is the hills, rivers, and sea around Hawkes Bay. 

I am married to my beautiful partner of 32 years Heather and have 3 fabulous grown-up kids Tara, Flynn, and Aidan.

I’ve been involved in change work with men for over 30 years. Firstly, as a young man of 24 on a men’s living without violence programme to change my behavior that was hurting people I loved, and then training as a social worker so I could support other men in their own change. 

I have a great role in our team here at MSD.  I get to share what I’ve learned about supporting men to have safe relationships, promote healthy masculinity, and be involved with Changemakers across the country doing awesome mahi with men and  whanau in  their own communities.

Talofa whānau!

Honoured to be in this space with you all.

My greatest passion in life is being a Dad to my 3 tamariki and love being innovative and creative.

I'm also passionate about creating safe environments for our communities especially in our homes and within ourselves. I started in the mental health space as a barber 20 years ago and co-found the movement 'She Is Not Your Rehab' and men's mental health app 'innerBoy' alongside my best-friend and wife Sarah.

I'm just your local homie from the neighbourhood, born in South Auckland Mangere but raised in Ōtautahi. I love awkward, uncomfortable and courageous conversations because I believe starting with these is an invitation for connection and healing to creating health equity and a violence free society particularly in groups that have been economically or socially marginalised, oppressed, minoritised, and under-resourced.

I love nothing more than seeing men become beautiful fathers and partners with strength and vulnerability.

I look forward to connecting over the coming months.

Mauri ora.
 

Mean brother. Look forward to connecting more and learning lots from you

Kia ora Tātou

Ko Nadia Freeman Tōku Ingoa

Nō awa kairangi te whenua tapu

Hello, I was born an raised in Lower Hutt from parents of Scottish, and Indo-Fijian ancestry.  I have been with the Change is Possible team about 18 months now and come to see the team and whanau.  

Before working at MSD my career has bumped around but always focussed on health and improving communities with eight years working on Community Action on Youth in Drugs working along side community leaders to come up with ways to improve outcomes for rangitahi struggling with education, health and social connection.

I work three days a week with the Change is Possible team and the rest of my time I am a performance artist.  You might see preaching about social equity at a Poetry show, or playing electronic beats at a gig, or doing a new show at the next Fringe Festival.

Kia ora tatou!

Nau mai, haere mai - Welcome to the Changemaker Forum. Over the last couple of days we've had a few new faces join us. We'd love for you take a moment to introduce yourself and share a little about your kaupapa. 

Remember if you get stuck - feel free to send a message through or refer to the guide shared via email. 

Welcome to:

Mumu  
Raniera Rewiri  
Vishal Rishi  
Todd Astle  
Ryan Astle  
Karla Puhipuhi  
Andy Fraser  
Jared Tuoro  
Jeremy Eparaima  

Irene 

Kia ora tātou,

I'm Ryan, father of two, husband of one, Hurricanes fan, terrible singer, Under-7 Hokowhitu Zodiacs football player of the year (1986), travel fanatic, avid DIYer, hiking aficionado, and have found that if I play 18 holes of golf I invariably have a mental breakdown on about the 15th.  

Alongside my brother Todd and good friend Ged Robinson we've co-founded the charity BetterMan.

Our aim is to help men become better versions of themselves. We're doing this by taking the learnings from our sporting backgrounds, life experiences, and studies (we've all completed or are completing positive psychology and wellbeing diplomas), and sharing these with others.

My full-time gig is Digital Marketing Manager at ANZCO Foods who are beef and lamb exporters.

I also coach my son's 8th grade football team, and although the pay isn't great (all-you-can-eat half time oranges), I love it.

I enjoyed meeting a bunch of you at last year's hui and hearing what other changemakers are doing across the country, so am excited to use the forum to learn more.

You can find out more about BetterMan at www.betterman.org.nz

Cheers,
Ryan

(I'm the lanky one on the left, alongside Ged in the middle and Todd on the right)

Introduce yourself to the group!