Meet the MidCentral Governance Group
Approximate reading time: minutes
The MidCentral Governance Group are both members of our disabled, families and service provider community and people with specific skill sets. The members hold Ministerial appointments.
Peter Allen (Chair) |
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Peter’s whakapapa has links to Rangitane, one of the local iwi within MidCentral. Peter has a visual impairment. Peter spent twenty years in the Royal New Zealand Air Force and for the last 9 years has worked as a civilian logistics analyst for the NZ Army at Linton Military Camp developing his strategic overview skills. Peter is a member of the Retina NZ management committee (a small, incorporated society) that includes both governance and management responsibilities. Peter supports the intent and vision of Mana Whaikaha of giving more choice and control to disabled people and whanau as it is humanity in its most basic form – control over your life. |
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Rachel Kenny |
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| Rachel represents the views of hundreds of people with a learning disability living in the MidCentral region. She has lived experience which inspires her helping others speak up to have a better life, more choice and control. As well as being an active member (and Treasurer) of People First Manawatu, she has knowledge of rights and experience in running self-advocacy meetings for IDEA Services. Rachel has spoken up about education, living in residential services, lack of staffing and how hard it is to speak when things aren’t going well. | |||
Martin Sullivan |
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| Martin has been involved as an academic activist in disability issues for most of his life. He sees the Enabling Good Lives – System Transformation as the best framework ever proposed in Aotearoa for disabled people to build the kind of lives they want. This because Enabling Good Lives – System Transformation has been co-designed with disabled people to the fore and because it is principles-based. He wants the MidCentral prototype to be successful – that is why he is serving on the Governance Group where he has strategic input. | |||
Rasela Fuauli |
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| Rasela has an affinity with people; she is a parent of children with disability, a teacher with 11 years’ experience and a manager of Pasifika for Tomorrow in which she walks alongside Pasifika people and provides support to maximise their potential. Rasela’s strong connections with the Pasifika communities in the MidCentral area assists Mana Whaikaha introduction into their families. | |||
Pip Brunn |
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| Pip has been married to William for 27 years and together they are parents of 6 daughters. Pip believes all people come with their own gifts, talents and challenges and that all of these should be respected and valued. She spent her parenting years at Playcentre and appreciates the lifelong learning valued in that environment. Pip has been an active member of The Learning and Behaviour Charitable Trust and is currently a member of the Enabling Good Lives Leadership Group and the MidCentral DHB Consumer Council. Pip’s beliefs and lived experienced have given her strength as an advocate for her daughter and other families helping them find their voice or to be their voice. Pip represents children and families and brings them to the forefront through her role with the MidCentral Governance Group as the disability support system undergoes transformation. | |||
Peter Ireland |
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| Peter has been a union organiser with the Public Service Association for 13 years. During that time, he has worked extensively in the disability, community health and DHB areas. Peter has also been an advocate for a family member with a learning disability. Peter’s knowledge and clarity of thinking around employment matters will be valued in the Mana Whaikaha workforce development stream. | |||
Regena Te Whaiti |
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Regena is a mother of 7 children; two living with Muscular Dystrophy, two children with ADHA, PST and ODCB and a daughter with Chromosome 10q Deletion - this condition means Regena's daughter is one of only two people in the world and the only Māori wahine in Aotearoa New Zealand living with this condition. Regena is a survivor of a brain bleed aneurysm in 2018 and supported by the Stroke Foundation. She has served 42 years of lived experience and over the last 5 years has been able to serve on Mana Whēnua Leadership. |
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Toni Griffiths |
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Toni is the National Manager of Choices NZ and has been working in social services and the disability sector for the past 25 years. She wakes up every day energised and committed to advocating for the rights and inclusion of all people to live the lives they want in their community. Toni has been involved in the Enabling Good Lives prototype in MidCentral for three years and is a Provider Representative on the Enabling Good Lives Leadership Group and the MidCentral Governance Group. Toni has previously worked for the Ministry of Children and the Ministry of Social Development and has also worked in a number of NGO’s including Arthritis NZ, SPELD NZ and IDEA Services |
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