Kirsty Pillay-Hansen

Kia ora. I am proud to call beautiful Tūtūkākā in Te Tai Tokerau Northland home and live in a pretty special place surrounded by native bush, tūi, kereru, gannets and the sea with my husband and our two sons.

I’m South African-Indian and Pākeha, and my husband is Māori-Chinese-Pākeha. I love working with people from diverse backgrounds.

I am trained with an MA in psychology. My work background is in programme, training and facilitation roles in youth and community development, hauora and health promotion, mental health, mentoring and leadership development.

My passion is adult training and education and working with groups of like-minded people to facilitate inclusive and safe spaces. Alongside my facilitation mahi with Blueprint for Learning, I tautoko several social services agencies, provide supervision to youth workers across Te Tai Tokerau and carry out research and programme development mahi for the University of Auckland.

I feel very privileged to work in this role to provide meaningful opportunities for us to connect, learn and reflect on mental health, wellbeing and resilience.

I love being involved in my community and also time to myself, hanging out in nature, walking in the bush, swimming in the sea, and spending time on my yoga mat.