Meet our people

Kate is a Resolution Institute (LEADR) mediator since October 2014 and a social worker with Family Works in Christchurch. She provides parenting support in the home, works with children in the school and home environment and advocates for families/whanau and children. Kate facilitates parenting programmes such as the Incredible Years Parenting programme and the Ministry of Justice Parenting Through Separation course. She also offers pre-mediation coaching and is a child voice practitioner.

Shona has had a long term goal to work in the field of Family Dispute Resolution. She has a particular interest in ensuring tamariki/children have a voice and have the opportunity to make meaningful contributions to finding workable solutions to issues that impact on the whole whanau/family.

Megan is a mediator accredited to do Family Dispute Resolution. As a registered nurse with over 20 years’ experience, Megan has extensive knowledge around child development and complex case management enabling her to engage and work with families during stressful situations.

During this time she has worked in marae based clinics in New Zealand, with remote Indigenous communities In Australia and with refugees. She has been involved in various policy and steering groups at national and local levels both here and in Australia. Megan is also qualified to provide professional supervision.

Phillippa Elliott is a Resolution Institute (LEADR) mediator, alternative dispute resolution mediator and ADR conflict and communication coach. She has owned an operated her own consultancy for 25 years and has worked nationally and internationally in training design and delivery.

Robert has a strong interest in achieving outcomes that are in the best interests of children. He is an executive member of the Institute of Educational and Developmental Psychology and a professional member of the New Zealand Psychological Society.

He is an associate of the Arbitration and Mediation Institute of New Zealand who accredited him to provide mediation for families. He provides individual and family counselling, and works with adolescents.

Previously, he was a secondary school teacher in South Auckland and has worked in universities in New Zealand and overseas.

Sue is a Resolution Institute (LEADR) mediator, and has completed a graduate diploma in Business Studies, dispute resolution and was awarded the FairWay Resolution Prize in Mediation. Sue facilitates our Parenting Through Separation Courses and her previous experience as an early childhood teacher and centre manager has given her an in-depth understanding of family dynamics and child development.

Helen is a registered mediator and has been working as a social worker for the past 13 years working mostly with children and families. She is currently the Team Leader for a variety of family support services with Family Works, Presbyterian Support Southland. Helen has been a Family Resolution Services mediator since December 2014 and enjoys assisting people to find their own solutions and the best way forward for their families.

Julie is a LEADR accredited mediator. She specialises in pre-mediation coaching and is a child’s voice practitioner.  Julie is an advocate for children, families and whanau, and provides family therapy, trauma counselling and counselling for individuals and couples.  For the past five years she has been involved in facilitating parenting programmes, such as Tuning into Kids and the Ministry of Justice Parenting Through Separation course.

A New Zealand citizen – Adele has practiced as a Barrister for many years in the UK ( since 1995 and South Australia from 2001 ) working exclusively in Family Law before returning to New Zealand in 2018. She has been a Panel member approved to undertake work for the Legal Services Commission both for private clients and representing the Independent Children’s Lawyer. She undertook mediation training with Resolution Institute in 2012 and qualified as a mediator and gained formal accreditation as a Family Dispute Mediator in 2019 on her return to New Zealand.

Mediating skills were called on all the time in my practice at the Bar, whether it was to broker a simple decision as to modest increases in time to one parent, to the identity of a real estate agent to be appointed for sale of property, to more complex issues involving domestic violence, complex and diverse family relationships, as well as cases involving physical and sexual abuse of children.

Adele lives in the Manawatu and covers family mediations for Palmerston North, Whanganui and the surrounding areas.