TEAMS
Patron - Hon Kofi Annan - former United Nations Secretary General
Board of Trustees
Dr N. Rasalingham (Chair)
Hon. Aussie Malcolm (Deputy Chair)
Hon. Dick Hubbard.
Trish Fordyce (Secretary)
J.D. Milne
Meng Ly
Dr Tony Wansborough
Chief Executive
G E Poole
Gary has managed a range of health and humanitarian aid services working in Malaysia, Hawaii, New Zealand, Afghanistan and Central Asia. A psychologist with a flair for management, NGO service development, and evaluation research, he has held an ongoing interest in multi-cultural learning and capacity building. He has a strong commitment for working in ways which empower refugees to successfully resettle and build new lives.
Clinical Team
Tony Cooper, M.Phil (Hons), Dip.Ed.Psych, Dip.Tchg
Operations Manager
Tony has been practising as a psychologist for 20 years, working with adults, children and families. He has managed multi-disciplinary teams of psychologists, therapists, early childhood support personnel, bi-cultural facilitators and visiting teachers. Originally from the UK, Tony worked with Innuit people in the Canadian Eastern Arctic before migrating to New Zealand. He has been a teacher, university assessor, school psychologist, school principal, inspector of schools and senior review officer with the Education Review Office (ERO). Tony has a strong interest in working cross culturally. He subscribes to a dynamic, holistic approach to mental health, which empowers clients and acknowledges traditional values and practices within a clearly defined clinical framework.
Victoria Camplin-Welch
Cultural Competency Specialist
Victoria has been practising as a psychologist and psychotherapist for 14 years, providing therapeutic treatment for individuals, couples, families, groups and also organisations. She has a strong interest in the area of process work and has trained and facilitated small and large groups applying interventions. She has been integrally involved abroad in working within racial and ethnic diversity, particularly in conflict resolution. In New Zealand Victoria has been involved in managing a mental health service and had led the RAS team as Clinical Manager. She has a longstanding interest in cross-cultural issues, specifically in traditional healing practices of different cultures. Victoria works within a holistic and dynamic framework and believes that healing work involves both a heartful response towards clients as well as proficient skills and a solid theoretical base. Her work takes her into training and capacity-building for health care providers in the public and charitable sectors in New Zealand, as she develops resources and methods. Her current projects focus on the highly specialised fields of training interpreters to work together effectively with health care professionals, and in continuing education for cross-cultural competency and capacity building for practitioners.
David Lyon
Psychologist
During the 1980s David worked in several refugee camps in Thailand, including one where he was the United Nations Officer in Charge. He met his Thai wife in Thailand and both his sons were born there. David's M.A. Thesis was on adjustment difficulties of refugee students in N.Z. David has been a psychologist since 1991. He spent 12 years working in South Auckland for the Ministry of Education. This involved a particular focus on children with special needs and children with severe emotional and behavioural difficulties. David also served for many years on the MoE Traumatic Incident Team and for 3 years as Lead Practitioner for psychologists in Manukau GSE. David has a wealth of training and experience as a counsellor of adults and children, including more than 4 years as HoD Guidance & Counselling at Mount Albert Grammar. Due to his professional training and life experiences, David is well-fitted for his work of assessing and counselling refugees.
Mangere Team
Eileen Swan
Clinical Team Leader
Eileen has a varied background. Having trained initially as a nurse then as a clinical psychologist she has worked both in New Zealand and in England. In New Zealand Eileen worked at the Leslie Centre for six years as a psychologist and family therapist. Her work at the centre covered a wide range of presenting problems with a particular focus on child trauma. Eileen has also worked extensively within the New Zealand Family Court system. Eileen then worked for four years as Managing Psychologist with Specialist Child and Family Services for Child Youth and Family.
In England Eileen worked as a psychologist for three years in the area of Primary Care, Health Psychology and spent time working at the Wallingford Forensic Unit, in Berkshire. Since her return to New Zealand Eileen has held a psychology position with the Department of Corrections and has been a manager with the Auckland District Health Board. She has a small private practice.
Eileen has worked for many years both as a clinician and a manager and is particularly interested in child and adult Mental Health working with trauma, depression and anxiety. For some years Eileen has had a particular interest in providing the best possible services to the changing New Zealand population.
Shirley Richards
Psychologist
Throughout the 18 years Shirley has practiced as a psychologist, meeting the needs of young people displaying high and complex needs and challenging behaviours has been a centre of interest. She draws on an ecological methodology and evidence based psychological framework. Where possible, she advocates for collaboration across agencies and intersector groups to develop strengths based approaches. Shirley has lead multi disciplinary professional teams and coordinated the development of innovative interagency service models for young people from refugee backgrounds. Her interest in working with refugees began from her experiences in Dharamsala, India, where she worked as a volunteer in a Tibetan orphanage.
Maureen Lewis
Transition Services Coordinator/Counsellor
Maureen is a counsellor and art therapist. Her interest in cultural identity acculturation grows out of her experience of multicultural work in South Africa and her research into resettlement issues faced by migrants in New Zealand. She provides individual counselling as well as group work for refugees at the Mangere Refugee Reception Centre. Maureen's work is currently focused on children, adolescents and women's groups. Her work in this area involves the use of therapeutic art to support stress reduction and build resilience for the future.
Body Therapy Team
Stephen Gin
Bowen Therapist
Stephen was born in New Zealand of Chinese ethnicity. His long standing interest in holistic body therapies started in 1995 when he was working in Australia as a Bowen Therapist. Whilst studying cranial sacral therapy Stephen worked extensively in the area of stress-anxiety related treatment. It was at this time that he first considered working with refugee populations. Stephen has a high level of expertise in working cross- culturally and a special interest in working with clients with post traumatic stress disorder. In addition to his therapeutic work Stephen enjoys listening to jazz and world music and is a student of yoga.
Claire Duggan
Neuromuscular Therapist
Claire is originally from the South of England. In 1995, following completion of her psychology degree, she migrated to New Zealand. For the next 7 years Claire worked at a private clinic as Director of Counselling in women's reproductive health. This position provided Claire with valuable experience of working with culturally diverse people. Claire's clinical experience in women's reproductive health provided a strong foundation for her subsequent work in the areas of therapeutic massage and neuromuscular therapy (NMT).
Claire is very pleased that her career with Refugees as Survivors New Zealand (RASNZ) is consistent with her passion for working with people through therapeutic massage and neuromuscular therapy. Her expertise and commitment to her work effectively addresses the needs of refugee that she treats, many of whom are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Excited about her future with RASNZ, Claire looks forward to further researching the complex relationship between PTSD and ongoing body pain.
Danny Orani
Body Therapist
From the Cook Islands, Danny's father was a healer and introduced him from an early age to the holistic approach to health and wellbeing. His further studies in the field of holistic and natural therapies strengthened an appreciation of the powerful connection between body, mind, emotion and soul. He feels that working with RAS allows him to put his beliefs into practice in a rewarding way.
Consultant Psychiatrists
RAS engages Consultant Psychiatrist Dr Grant Galpin to work with the Clinical Team to assess and treat the more severe cases of need involving major mental health problems where medication and monitoring may be required.
Administration
Diana Swarbrick
Administration Manager
Diana brings many skills in administration and long experience in banking. She has lived in Papua New Guinea and travelled extensively through China. Her commitment to refugees is expressed daily in the way she keeps the wheels of RAS turning, in the attention she gives to detail, and in helping staff and clients solve logistical problems.
Community Team
Dr Arif Saeid, MD, BSc, MBBS
Community Co-ordinator
Arif served as a medical doctor in Afghanistan for Medecins Sans Frontieres and has led the Community Services Team and worked with RAS since June, 2001. He identifies health and other special needs at the grassroots level within different refugee communities and initiates response. He supports and supervises the Community Facilitators to carry out health promotion, community development, and resettlement education activities in their own communities. He identifies needs for training and capacity-building and links directly with managers and funding providers in developing new resources. He works with refugee communities in employment, health and other initiatives which improve lives and advance resettlement. Arif liaises with Governmental and NGO and community groups, participates in community development and networking.
Community Facilitators
RAS engages fourteen Community Facilitators who provide highly valuable links within the grassroots level for different refugee communities in New Zealand. Community Facilitators provide information and resources, seek feedback from refugees on issues and needs. Community Facilitators work, through community development, to seek improvements and offer better solutions.
Interpreters
Zoreh Karimi, BSc Computer Science
Co-ordinator, Interpreters Service
Originally from Iran, Zoreh co-ordinates RASNZ's extensive interpreter workforce. She recruits, trains, organises and manages interpreters. In addition she is responsible for ensuring clinical standards for interpreters and for arranging translations of key documents, tests, diagnostic assessment and evaluation instruments. Zoreh's qualifications include advanced interpreting certificates in health and legal terminology, an adult language teaching certificate and a certificate in supervision. In addition Zoreh holds NAATI accreditation.
RASNZ trains and engages the services of over 100 interpreters who work alongside clinicians, educators and service providers. Interpretation in clinical and health care work is a highly specialised field in which RASNZ is a key national resource. The availability of skilled interpreters in a wide spectrum of many languages is essential to the work of our clinical and community teams. Our interpreters are highly valued, integral team members working through out all areas of RASNZ service delivery.
Research Team
Ibrahim Hagi
Research Associate
Ibrahim Hagi is a Research Associate at RASNZ. Prior to his appointment to this position he was a lecturer in the School of Engineering, International Islamic university, Malaysia. Ibrahim has also worked as a Research Associate in the Road Safety Research Center at the University of Putra, Malaysia. Ibrahim has extensive research experience in areas including road accident prevention, exposure control, behaviour modification, injury control and post injury control for motorcyclists and non motorcyclists. Currently, his main research interests are focused on improving mental health for refuges resettled in New Zealand.
Dr Kathy Jackson
Research Associate
Kathy has a Ph.D. in cross-cultural psychology and has been a registered psychologist for many years. A Kiwi, she lived in Australia for a long period and during part of that time taught undergraduate and graduate students at Monash University in Melbourne. She later also worked with resettled refugees in Canberra. In addition to her own research with resettled refugee communities, and in the evaluation of RAS programmes, Kathy acts as a resource person to other members of the team. Her role requires that she keep up to date on the current research into refugee and asylum seeker issues. She helps colleagues with research, information on best practice, with analysis of data and on conference presentations. Kathy also publishes research and resource material in the field of cross-cultural psychology.
Mobile Clinical Team
Surpreet Cheema
Clinical Team Leader
Surpreet is a registered psychologist and has been in the profession of clinical psychology for the last 9 years. Her training and work experience has been in India where she has worked as a Psychologist and Psychotherapist in diverse clinical settings with clients(adults, adolescents and children) from different cultures, ethnicities, religions and socio economic backgrounds. Surpreet joined the RASNZ Mangere team in 2005. As a member of this team she gained extensive experience and skill in working with clients from refugee backgrounds who had experienced trauma and torture. She also gained sound knowledge of different organizations which provide services for refugees in New Zealand and internationally. In her role as team leader she intends to ensure that her team provides quality and culturally responsive mental health services for refugee clients in the Auckland region.
Andrew Duirs
Psychologist
He has experience in Community Psychology and Counselling. He has broad experience working with diverse communities in Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and China. In particular, Andrew is interested in how environmental factors affect well-being, narrative and solutions focused approaches to therapy, providing support for people living in transition between cultures, and ustilising evaluation to improve services for clients. Andrew has worked in schools, tertiary education, NGO's, and private practice. Andrew values diversity and collaborative practices and enjoys supporting the rich and resilient refugee communities RAS works with.
Sangita Wadnerkar
Psychologist
Sangita practiced as a Clinical psychologist for more than ten years in India. During that time she worked in hospital settings and private practice. Prior to joining RAS, she worked with clients from Odyssey House and the Government agency, Child Youth and Family (CYF). Sangita has wide experience of working with adults, adolescents and children experiencing a range of emotional and psychological problems. She has worked extensively with clients from a variety of cultural backgrounds and has a strong commitment to supporting refugees in the resettlement process.
Denise Buchanan
Social Worker
Denise is a registered social worker with 8 years experience of working in the area of mental health. She has worked with a diverse range of clients and has a particular interest in working with adolescents who have experienced mental health issues. Over the years Denise has practiced a variety of client centred approaches targeted at supporting clients to achieve personal independence through active participation and management of their own recovery.
Priscilla Dawson
Community Link Worker
Priscilla is an established and respected member of the Burmese community in New Zealand. She was born and attended school in Burma. In 1967, Priscilla's family migrated to New Zealand. Between 1992-1996 Priscilla and her husband returned to work in Burma. Over the years, Priscilla has devoted much of her time and energy to supporting and strengthening the Burmese community in New Zealand. In addition to her advocacy role, Priscilla has worked as a cultural adviser and interpreter for a range of Government agencies, health and education authorities and NGOs. Since joining RAS in 2000, Priscilla has had major input into a range of initiatives to support Burmese refugees and asylum seekers arriving in New Zealand. She has worked as a community facilitator, community link worker, interpreter, advocate and Lifeline counsellor. Priscilla is currently in the process of completing a Certificate in Social Work.
Zheen Rasool
Community Link Worker
Zheen is a professional interpreter and cultural adviser who has worked for RAS since 2005. He is a talented worker with a cheerful personality who is passionate about working with refugees from a wide variety of backgrounds. Zheen's effectiveness and deep understanding of his work stems from his own refugee background. He has lived in many different countries and learnt to respect and value different cultures and religions. Zheen has excellent communication skills and a wide range of experience that underpins his effectiveness with even the most challenging of cases. Since being in New Zealand Zheen has been awarded a Certificate in Liaison Interpreting and a Diploma in Fitness Training. In addition to working for RAS, he has worked for a range of government agencies and NGOs.
Dr Ibrahim Abdul Kadir Hagi
Community Link Worker
Dr Ibrahim Abdul Kadir Hagi was born in Dinsoor, Somalia. He completed secondary education in Somalia in 1984. In 1992 he graduated from Mosul University Iraq, and was conferred a Bachelor of Science degree in Statistics. In October 1992 he participated in the advance course in Population Statistics of Postgraduates (High Diploma) at Arab Institute for training and research in statistics in Baghdad. He was conferred postgraduate diploma in September 1993. In November 1996 he enrolled in the Master of Science Program at University Putra Malaysia, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science and Environmental studies. He was conferred a Master of Science in Statistics (Statistical process control analysis) in 1999. Ibrahim has worked as a research associate at Road Safety Research Centre, University Putra, Malaysia as well as spending time at the International Islamic University. In 2006, he completed his Doctoral degree at the faculty of Engineering University Putra Malaysia, Malaysia. In Nov 2007 he joined Mobile clinical team as a Community Link Worker
Santino Deng
Community Link Worker
Santino Deng, originally from Sudan, is one of RAS's Mobile Community Team Link Workers. Santino brings a rich range of experience to this position. He is currently chairperson of the Auckland Sudanese Community and treasurer of the Auckland Regional African Community Group. Santino played a key role in developing the Ministry of Education's Transcultural Care Centre (ON TRACC). This initiative was specifically designed to support refugee students to effectively make the transition to the New Zealand education system. Santino is well qualified to meet the demands of his position. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree. He is a Lifeline trained telephone counsellor and is currently completing a Diploma in Counselling through distance learning. In addition, Santino is a trained interpreter able to work with Arabic and Dinka speakers.
Dr Fahima Saeid
Community Link Worker
Dr Saeid worked in Afganistan as a Medical Doctor and Hospital Superintendent for Médecins Sans Frontières in Oruzgan Province. She has worked with RASNZ since 2006 and is the Community Link Worker in Dari and Farsi. She brings a range of skills in healthcare and community development.