There is growth through trauma. Hard as it is, there IS growth through trauma. Very often, we do not see it at the time. It is not until we reflect on what happened and find possible reasons why we faced a flashback or responded so badly to a trigger. I have been forcing myself to attend the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Care hearings because I wanted to discover WHY professionals working in our State institutions would cause harm to children and youth. I wanted to discover WHY they...

An article from Katie Doyle Abuse survivors faced “unacceptable and abhorrent” experiences in state care, the chief executive of Oranga Tamariki says. Te Hapimana Te Kani (Ngāti Porou, Te Aitanga a Mahaki, Tūhoe, Ngāti Maniapoto, Rongowhakaata), also known as Chappie Te Kani, took the stand today as part of the Royal Commission’s Abuse in Care inquiry – Institutional Response Hearing . The scope of the hearings include the years between 1950 and 1999. Te Kani was the first of several...

I am attending the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in State Care hearing at Newmarket. I am listening to the Institutional Responses ~ Responses from the representatives of our State agencies. I will be sharing my thoughts on LinkedIn and also information from the media I believe that this is an important space as it shows the importance of using a trauma-informed approach to heal the harm and to move forward WITH the survivors. Our State agencies need to share their power with us by...

Iona Holsted, Chief Executive and Secretary for Education said in her response on behalf of the Ministry of Education that she does not acknowledge that our NZ education system has systemic racism . This was later endorsed by Nicholas Pole, Chief Executive and Chief Reviewer of the Education Review Office, in his response on behalf of the Education Review Office. I may have gotten it wrong. I don't think so, as I was there at the hearing. Sadly, our media did not pick up on this, and it was...