Community Mental-Health Resources Trust (CMHRT) have elected four new Trustees to the board that sits behind the Engage Aotearoa website. The board now has nine trustees and is looking forward to what the future will bring.
Meet the New CMHRT Trustees:
Taimi Allan is known for her high quality work on New Zealand’s ‘Like Minds, Like Mine’ programme, for the creation of ‘reTHiNK’, for her role at Mind and Body Consultants, as an expert speaker on social media for suicide prevention and as being a pragmatic and diplomatic policy advisor. As a leader in the field of mental health in New Zealand, Taimi is a highly sought after presenter, with measured success in reducing stigma and discrimination through innovative health promotion strategies including tailored education and training packages, social technology, media communications, entertainment and event production.
Emma Edwards holds a BA (Hons) in Psychology (University of Otago) and MSc in Health Psychology (University of Auckland). She is currently completing her Doctorate. Emma worked in the mental health field for approximately 4 years at the NGO Recovery Solutions (formerly Challenge Trust). She held roles as a support worker and then a DAPAANZ registered mental-health professional at a residential intensive rehabilitation service. Emma then became the Service Coordinator and established a new youth respite mental health service. When she began her doctorate, Emma worked as a trainer for Recovery Solutions, facilitating trainings and advising staff. Emma has service-user and family experience with mental health struggles and is passionate about working hard to impact mental health perceptions, policies, and resources on a larger scale.
Dean Manly has a background in supported employment, project research and writing, strategic planning, delivery and evaluation, and NGO Governance. Dean graduated from The University of Auckland Faculty of Arts with a MA (1st Class Hons) in 2000. His Doctor of Philosophy Research (2009) investigated representations of mental-health problems in cinema in order to examine the myths and assumptions shared by the popular culture media. He found stereotypes of the ‘Other’ are coded into western culture images and narratives. This was especially true for disenfranchised or marginalised groups othered by society. Dean is known for roles as National Manager of the Like Minds, Like Mine Project for the Mental Health Foundation of New Zealand and previous chairperson of the Council for Mental Wellbeing Trust (now Changing Minds).
