ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Dr Ian Hassall, Research Associate, Institute of Public Policy, AUT is a grandfather to six grandchildren, a pediatrician and children’s advocate. He was New Zealand’s first Commissioner for Children and before that Medical Director for the Plunket Society. He is involved with Brainwave Trust, the Child Poverty Action Group and the Every Child Counts campaign, and as an advocate campaigns for child-focused public policy, child safety and health, parent participation in policymaking and effective protection of children from abuse and neglect.

Jill Worrall MNZM, Honorary Research Associate, Massey University holds a Masters in Social Work and has been a senior lecturer in Social Work. She is a Trustee of both the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust and Youth Horizons Trust and is a life member of the New Zealand Family and Foster Care Federation. She has completed research on the care of children who have been the subject of abuse and/or neglect both in New Zealand and overseas and currently works as a consultant on Social Work Policy and practice. Jill was recently honoured in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for her services to Social Work.

Julie Mulcahy and Debbie Knowles, Springboardnz run a referral consultancy that puts people in touch with the support services they need for a wide range of behaviour and learning difficulties. They have recently co authored “What You Need to Know before Your Child Starts Secondary School,” published in August 2008 by Penguin and strongly believe that if you ‘re informed about education systems you can work successfully alongside your school to make sure your child’s individual learning or behaviour needs are met.

Diane Levy, Author, Family Therapist and Parent Educator is a Counsellor, Family Therapist, Speaker and Author of three practical, informative and humorous books; Time Out for tots, teens and everyone in between (How to get your children to do as they’re told), They look so lovely when they’re asleep (Advice and anecdotes for practising parents) and Of course I love you...Now Go To Your Room! (Strategies for Raising Toddlers to Teens in New Zealand). She writes regular articles for ‘Littlies’ - www.littlies. co.nz and ‘Kiwifamilies’ www.kiwifamilies.co.nz and she was the Therapist/Presenter of the television programme ‘Demons to Darlings.’ Diane’s main focus is coaching parents and she is best known for her practical, informative and humorous approach to the problems that beset parents, educators, couples and families – whether at work or at home.

Sergeant Deane McEntee, New Zealand Police is the officer in charge of the Auckland City Police Youth Education Service (YES). The Police YES teach road safety, drug education, abuse/violence prevention and crime prevention and social responsibility education programs to students from Early Childhood through to High School.

Kendyl Smith, Attitude Manager joined the Parents Inc. team in 2000 as an Attitude presenter, and has spoken to more than 72,000 teenagers in high schools around New Zealand. She took over as Attitude Manager in May 2005, and manages the team of six presenters in Auckland and two in Christchurch.

John Cowan, Parents Inc.’s Senior Writer and Presenter has been a scientist, youth worker, social worker and a minister. John draws on more than 18 years experience of working with young people and their families. He has developed parenting and life-skills programmes and is an accomplished author, media producer and seminar presenter. John fronts the Sunday night “Real Life” programme on NewstalkZB and he’s co-authored ‘The White Water Rafting Years’, a common sense guide to parenting teenagers’ with Ian Grant and he has also written numerous magazine articles, manuals and booklets for teenagers, including the Parents Inc. Attitude series.

Ingrid Chettleburgh holds a Bachelor of Education degree in Early Childhood Education and in her work with PORSE is a reflective practitioner and a gifted facilitator who has a passion for early childhood and for the natural unfolding of children’s development. She has been working in the In-Home Early Childhood Industry for more than 10 years in positions that involve direct interaction with children and adults. Having an all-round knowledge of practical issues, Ingrid has implemented and facilitated training programmes that focus on empowerment and personality development.

Judith Morris MNZAP and MANZASW works privately as a psychotherapist, specializing for nearly thirty years in the application of attachment theory to therapeutic work with children and their caregivers, foster and kinship carers, adoptive and birth parents - and grandparents. She also works and has undertaken research as a social work consultant. She provides training and supervision for psychologists, counsellors, therapists and social workers.

Professor Mark Henaghan, Dean of Law, University of Otago is internationally regarded as a leading expert on developments in family law in New Zealand and overseas. He is on the editorial boards of Child and Family Law Quarterly, the leading UK journal on children’s issues, the International Journal of Human Rights, the leading UK journal on human rights and is an author and member of the Editorial Board for LexisNexis Family Law Service and the New Zealand Family Law Journal. Mark’s research interests include the law relating to children, child abuse, medico-legal issues, the judiciary and judge-made Law.

Andrew Schnauer, Partner, Schnauer and Co has 22 years experience in practice and is the fourth successive generation of lawyers within the Schnauer family. He obtained his law degree from the University of Auckland and worked for six years in an inner city law firm before traveling overseas. In 1994 he joined his family’s firm located in Milford, North Shore City and became a partner in 2000. Andrew advises on Trusts and asset planning and acts for an extremely varied range of businesses and has extensive experience in commercial and residential property. He has presented several seminars on various legal topics to a range of different organisations and to the public.