Our Team
Tracy Matthews
Coordinator / Facilitator
E rere kau mai te awa nui mai i te kāhui maunga
ki Tangaroa
ko au te awa, ko te awa ko au
Tracy is a registered social worker with SWRB (Social Work Registration Board) and member of ANZASW (Aotearoa New Zealand Association Social Workers) for over 20 years. Her drive and passion for social work derives from her obligation and responsibility to serve Māori. Tracy believes it’s her duty to tautoko, guide and empower Māori towards self-determination using innate models of practice that are holistic and centered around the hauora / well-being of family / whānau.
Tracy has been a Resolution Institute accredited facilitator for three years also specialising in family violence / family harm. Tracy affirms that restorative justice is a Māori model that upholds the process of Tapu, Utu, Muru and Ea and innately feels it is a privilege to support victim/s (the harmed) and whānau, and offenders (person/s causing the harm) and their whānau on a journey towards accountability, reciprocity, healing, and liberation through the art of courageous conversation kanohi ki te kanohi (face to face).
Mauri tu, Mauri ora
Kristie Matson
Office Manager
Kristie is responsible for the required day to day administration tasks. She also works alongside the Coordinator and has regular contact with victims, offenders and other stakeholders. Kristie is passionate about restorative justice.
Sandra Durston
Restorative Justice & Restorative Practice Facilitator
Ngāti Apa and Ngāti Tuwharetoa | Curiosity drives me |Tūpuna wāhine anchors me
My heart māhi is supporting others to have a voice and be heard.
My day-to-day māhi finds me coaching and facilitating workshops in the financial services industry.
Evenings I can be found in the paddock with my animals or digging around in my mārakai.
What I should be doing is tackling my textbooks as I am completing my Graduate Diploma in Māori Studies.
Shelly Harkness
Restorative Practice Facilitator
I was fortunate to be involved in the early stages of the “Towards a Restorative City” vision in Whanganui from 2013. The underlying philosophy of restorative approaches is “working with people, rather than to them or for them” and as this aligns with my values the role of Coordinator/Facilitator was a privilege rather than just a job!
As Facilitators we hold the space for people to come together safely and navigate through their difficulties with each other. This emotional work is hard! But a restorative approach is an amazing opportunity for people to finally be heard and then together arrive at a place of re-connection and willingness to do what is needed to put things right.
Although currently living in Taranaki, I’m happy to be engaged with the Trust and their vision again. My BA in Business Psychology, experience in corporate and non-profit organisations as well as a business owner provides valuable insight into organisations and how they function. I’m also involved with the Rainbow Community exploring relationships in our communities and am developing my private practice of Facilitation, Professional Supervision, Training and Reiki Healing.