Tony McLean

As a young man, Tony spent a number of years in hands-on support roles assisting other young men try to have as ordinary a life as possible. As a result of these interactions, he became deeply confused about what was causing the contrast between his own life experiences and the life experiences of the young men he was connected with. The confusion eventually led him on a quest to understand the dynamics that were causing these differences.

Over the last 25 years he has been engaged in a wide variety of voluntary and paid roles with disabled people, families, organisations and communities. He is currently the National Training Manager for ImagineBetter, on the Board of cbm NZ and a member of the Disability, Faith and Spirituality Network NZ.

Tony is an experienced project manager, facilitator and a thought-provoking presenter. He is passionate about social justice and the role communities play in including all people in the good things of life.

John Armstrong

John has a 45 year history working in human service fields, firstly as a teacher in remote communities and later as an advisory teacher of the deaf. After 9 years as a regional adviser to families and children in Victoria, John trained with the late Dr Wolf Wolfensberger. For the last 30 years he has worked as a freelance consultant across Australia, NZ, Ireland, USA and Canada.

Matthew Whitting

Matt considers himself to be a disability activist and has a deep identification with his disability culture. Matt has a long term involvement with DPA (NZ) and in the past has served on the National Executive Committee. In 1995 and 2006 Matt attended MIUSA (Mobility International, USA) for training in Disability Rights Leadership.

He has a track record in presenting thought provoking and stimulating workshops and key note presentations in New Zealand and the United States. He specialises in topics that are often to challenging for other presenters

Matt lives in Christchurch with his wife and son.

Jane Sherwin

Jane Sherwin is a Senior SRV trainer who has been involved in the teaching, learning and application of SRV since the early 1990’s. She is a member of the Australian and New Zealand SRV Group.

Based as a consultant in Queensland, Jane has been involved in the lives of people with disabilities and older people since the late 1970’s, in government and community services as an occupational therapist, manager, lecturer and organisational change manager.

Michael J. Kendrick PhD.

Michael is an independent international consultant who has worked in disability, mental health and aged care for nearly 30 years. He is also a public speaker and trainer. As well as writing extensively, he regularly teaches in the United States and internationally.

His interests include leadership; the creation of safeguards for vulnerable people; social integration; advocacy; personalised approaches to supporting people; and reform in human services.

Georgia Barnaby

Georgia is an independent Graphic Facilitator who has the greatest experience in Aotearoa NZ with PATH, MAP and a range of other planning methodologies.  She has worked extensively with individuals, families and agencies in both a hands on practitioner role as well as teacher and trainer of graphic facilitation.

Georgia’s work speaks for itself.  You can watch a few clips of her at work here.

Daniel Younghusband

Daniel is the creator and owner of Paua by Dan.  He makes boutique, hand crafted Paua jewelry which is sold locally and Internationally.

Based in Nelson, Dan is also passionate about karate, public speaking and writing, recently self publishing his first book, A Man Makes His Own Luck.

Dan is a regular presenter for the create your own work event.