Special one day national youth mentoring conference

Places filling fast - register online now

Tuesday 14 June, 2016 - Ellerslie Event Centre, Auckland 

Quality | Connections | Impact – lifting the effectiveness of Youth Mentoring in Aotearoa New Zealand

Conference registration fee: $195 inclusive GST

Special group discount:  $175 inclusive GST (for each additional person from the same organisation)

Registration includes a FREE copy of the comprehensive 2nd edition of the Guide to Effective and Safe Practice in Youth Mentoring Aotearoa New Zealand.

Register online now

Our programme features dynamic speakers with illuminating cultural perspectives interspersed with panel discussions and the strong voice of young people throughout the day. 

View the full conference programme

The conference brings together a wide range of people who work with young people - youth workers, educators, mentors, mentor programme providers, government agencies and community workers - to learn about and debate important national issues in the youth development / youth mentoring sector. 

We invite you to join us for this special one-day conference.

Our keynote speakers

In the lead-up to the conference we will profile our keynote speakers. Today we are delighted to introduce Hana O'Regan and Nathan Mikaere-Wallis, our opening keynote speakers.

Hana O’Regan, General Manager of Oranga/ Wellbeing for Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu

Hana O’Regan is the newly appointed General Manager of Oranga/ Wellbeing for Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu. Hana previously held the positions of Director Māori & Pasifika and Director Student Services at The Christchurch Polytechnic Institute of Technology, CPIT. Hana’s career has been largely focused on the areas of Māori language revitalisation and Māori educational achievement whilst also being an active advocate and driver for her own tribal language revitalisation strategy within Kāi Tahu. Hana has held positions as the Manager of the Māori Language Unit of the Ngāi Tahu tribal organisation, lecturer at the University of Otago, Lecturer, Head of School and and Faculty Dean at CPIT.

She has also held a number of memberships on national and local boards, advisory groups and review panels including the Māori Language Commission and Te Paepae Motuhake, and ENZ – Endometriosis New Zealand.

Hana is also currently a New Zealand Fellow on the International Centre for Language Revitalisation, ICLR.

Nathan Mikaere-Wallis, Director of X-Factor Education, facilitating the application of neuroscience to youth practice

Nathan Wallis is a father of three & foster parent with a professional background in child counselling, teaching and social service management. Until recently he lectured in Human Development at the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand and was also a board member and senior trainer with the highly respected Brainwave Trust. In 2010 he founded a private training consultancy, Nathan Wallis Ltd, with the goal of facilitating easy to understand professional development training reflect-ing the latest neuroscience discoveries and their practical implications for everyday practice. Since then he has been in hot demand, delivering in excess of 150 presentations every year throughout New Zealand and Australia. He has developed a reputation as a lively and engaging speaker who uses humour and plain language to make this complex topic come to life.

Hana and Nathan's joint keynote opening address

Nathans's research interest is the workings of the human brain, and Hana is completing her PhD on language revival methodologies for te reo Kai Tahu. While these have some overlap (it is the brain that acquires the ability to korero after all!) Nathan and Hana intend to use this keynote address to explore the concept of Tuakana/Teina (loosely translated here as peer support/mentoring). How does the concept of rakatirataka (leadership/excellence/role modelling) and cultural empowerment inform our understanding of the role of mentor and the concept of Tuakana/Teina? How is this reinforced and understood from a brain development/neuroscientific perspective?

We look forward to seeing many of you at our special one day conference. 

Please pass this e-newsletter on to others in your community who work with young people and have an interest in mentoring.  

Ngā mihi

Nicki McDonald

General Manager - New Zealand Youth Mentoring Network
PO Box 99726 Newmarket
M: 027 520 2981
P: 09 521 8240
E: nicki@youthmentoring.org.nz