Year: 2015

Nicola initially joined as a family worker in 2013 before moving to become the team leader for Family Start Waitakere. Nicola is a registered social worker with experience in child protection in NZ and the UK. She also spent five years in Uganda working with orphan children under five years old. Nicola is passionate about children being able to be children, and giving parents the support they need to be the best parents they can be.

Lynne is passionate about social work, having been employed in statutory child protection for the last 26 years. She specialised in Child Protection both in the UK and New Zealand for 23 years. Her Child Protection work in New Zealand started when she was recruited to Te Pururuhau (The Child Protection Team at Starship Hospital ). Lynne has also worked as acting site manager across 5 Auckland OT sites and senior advisor both at a regional and national level. Her experience also covers mental health where she spent 4 years working with maternal mental health services covering the Waitamata region. Lynne's passion is “ children” and ensuring that they have every opportunity to enjoy a safe and nurturing childhood that supports their future to adulthood.

Ian Tomkins has more than 25 years’ experience as a social worker. His background is in child protection, family work, therapeutic work with children, post-adoption and disability services. Ian is passionate about the ongoing upskilling and professional development of people committed to diverse community services.