Speakers

Poet, Children’s writer

Glenn Colquhoun is a poet and children's writer. His first collection The art of walking upright won the Jessie Mackay best first book of poetry award at the 2000 Montana book awards. Playing God, his third collection, won the poetry section of the same awards in 2003 as well as the reader's choice award that year. He was awarded the Prize in modern letters in 2004 and a Fulbright scholarship to Harvard University in 2010. In 2012 he was part of the ‘Transit of Venus’ poetry exchange at the Frankfurt book fair and in 2014 represented New Zealand on the Commonwealth Poets United poetry project which celebrated the Glasgow Commonwealth Games that year. Ngā Wāhine E Toru / Three Women and Myths and Legends of the Ancient Pākehā, his examinations of oral poetry in New Zealand, were published in 2024. He works as a GP in Horowhenua.

Professor of Public Health
Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University in Melbourne.

Dr Adam Bourne is Professor of Public Health and Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University where he leads the largest program of LGBTIQ+ health and wellbeing research anywhere in Australia. He is an international expert in alcohol and other drug use among LGBTIQ+ communities and has published seminal papers on patterns and motivators for use, as well as having led numerous studies exploring engagement with professional support services. He is Co-Chair of the Victorian Whole of Government LGBTIQ+ Ministerial Taskforce and member of the Commonwealth LGBTIQ+ Health and Wellbeing 10-Year Action Plan Expert Advisory Group.

(Ngatiwai, Ngatiwhatua, Ngapuhi)
Co Professional Lead Addictions | Mataora, Te Whatu Ora Te Tai Tokerau

With near on 30 years of experience in and around the addiction sector, my mahi has been focussed on supporting individuals, whānau and communities within Te Tai Tokerau affected by substance use and problem gambling.  I have worked both within Kaupapa Māori and mainstream health settings where I have had the privilege to contribute to frontline service delivery, programme development, clinical practice, community outreach and more recently governance.  My practice is firmly rooted in Te Ao Māori values and I am passionate about integrating mātauranga Māori and tikanga into therapeutic frameworks to support Oranga with the underlying belief that if we get it right for Māori, then we will get it right for all. 

Alongside Teina Piripi and Jacquii Hessell, as a collective, for the past 18 months we have co-worked the role of Professional Lead for Addiction Services in Te Tai Tokerau and worked toward the development of a Model of Care for Te Tai Tokerau Addiction Services that aims to integrate the voice of lived experience, address inequity, honour obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi and ultimately provide a framework for more culturally responsive options for practitioners and service users.

But, more importantly, I am a daughter, sister, wife, mother, aunty, niece, grandmother and I try hard to be a good tonotono, and am pretty adept at cleaning toilets, laundry & doing the dishes at our marae.

(Tuhoe, Whakatohea, Te Rarawa)
Clinical Team Manager Mid-North Mental Health and Addiction Services | Co Professional Lead Addictions | Mataora Pou Te Whatu Ora Te Tai Tokerau

I am an addictions practitioner and have been working in the field for the past 25yrs in both Kaupapa Māori and secondary mental health and addiction services in Te Tai Tokerau. I am passionate about ensuring that services deliver on its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi through provision of services that meet the unique needs of our communities.

My current role as clinical team manager has been both challenging and rewarding in developing better collaboration between mental health and addiction teams that has improved out comes for whanau who suffer from co-existing presentations. This has been through utilising tikanga practices and acknowledging the importance of diverse knowledge and skills that exist within the collective. Over the past 18 months I have co-worked the Professional Lead role (addictions) to develop a Model of Care for Te Tai Tokerau Addiction Services which is Te Tiriti based.

I am a partner, mum, aunty and waiting patiently to become a nanny.

Executive Director, DAPAANZ

Dr Sam White is the Executive Director of Dapaanz, she has worked in many roles over her career in the addiction sector all combining well to support her current role. First and foremost, she describes herself as an addiction practitioner. Sam is proud of the work the Dapaanz team does to listen to 2000 Dapaanz members on ways the Dapaanz team can support the addiction workforce and wider sector. She is proud to call a very small place home - Ōtama - on the Northeastern side of the Coromandel Peninsula in the Hauraki Coromandel region – the place where she first became an addiction practitioner.

In 2023 Sam completed a PhD focusing on how we “become” addiction practitioners. In particular Sam developed a theory to explain the valuable influences which impact upon students as they train to become addiction practitioners. It presents an account of student transformation in the substantive area of postgraduate addiction education, and she looks forward to sharing some of the findings from this research with the Aotearoa addiction sector.

National Research and Workforce Development Manager, Mapu Maia

Phil is a nationally recognised leader in Aotearoa’s addiction and mental health sector, with nearly 40 years’ experience in therapeutic practice, youth development, health promotion, and rehabilitation programmes throughout Aotearoa As National Research and Workforce Development Manager for Mapu Maia and a DAPAANZ-registered AOD/Gambling practitioner, Phil brings a depth of knowledge and lived experience to his roles , uniquely weaving frontline practice, policy,  research and evaluation.  A steadfast champion for equity and social transformation ,  he has held board roles with the New Zealand Drug Foundation, Mental Health Advocacy and Peer Support Trust, and co-founded The Youth Hub Trust among others. Phil advises government agencies, chairs the Pacific Alcohol Advisory Group (Te Whatu Ora), and sits on the Ministry of Health’s Alcohol Harm Reduction Steering Group. His influence on clinical and cultural practice and policy is widely respected. Phil is Director of Belonging Ltd, co-founder of the Drua Pasifika Network, and a member of Le Va’s Clinical Reference Group. Drawing on his Samoan, Irish, and Scottish heritage, Phil passion is to amplifies kindness literacy through a vā-centered  lens, promoting connection, belonging, human rights and holistic care. 

Ngāti Apa and Muaūpoko

Andre Mclachlan is a Clinical Psychologist and Addictions practitioner based in the Waikato. He has a range of research, lecturing and workforce development roles. Andre is a father of six and has specialist interests in Indigenous approaches to Mental Health, Trauma, Addictions and Neuro-diversity.

Andre enjoys creating and delivering interactive workshops to practitioners and whānau that enhance peoples engagement in new learning and increases motivation to learn more and directly apply new skills to their practice and with their whānau.