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Family Help Trust Board members


The following people are board members (trustees) of the Family Help Trust:

Annabel Taylor Ph D (chairperson)
A senior lecturer in the Social Work Department at Canterbury Uni, and with background in community and prison social work, she teaches social policy and social work practice, is on the Benefit Review Committee in Christchurch, and is Deputy Director of the Awatea Violence Research Centre.

Annabel Taylor  

Elizabeth Chesterman (deputy chair)
Elizabeth is the Chief Executive of the Cancer Society Canterbury West Coast Division. She is a qualified Social Worker with work experience in Family Health Counselling, Adult Education, Cancer Support Services and Alzheimer's New Zealand.

Elizabeth Chesterman


Jane Tappenden
Jane is a partner at local law firm, Cuningham Taylor, where she specialises in property law. She brings a legal perspective to Board matters. She believes that providing assistance at the earliest possible opportunity results in the best outcomes, particularly for children.

Jane Tappenden  

Alison Wilkie DPH, NZRN
Alison is employed by the Rural Canterbury and Christchurch PHOs in Quality Improvement and education coordination roles and is on the Boards of the City Mission Divisional Committee and the Christchurch Resettlement Services.

Alison Wilkie


Judith Miller
Judith has 20 years experience in Financial Services helping Kiwis understand money, budgeting and investment. She has a particular interest in assisting families to develop the skills needed to protect and support children.

Judith Miller  

Charles Knibb (treasurer)
Charles is a Chartered Accountant of some 28 years, currently a sole practitioner. He has a particular interest in achieving something better in life for children, than what we constantly are reading in the media.

Charles Knibb


Jocelyn Darling (secretary)
Jocelyn has 27 years experience in journalism, public relations and media liaison and constantly reporting bad situations for families. The Trust is at the forefront of doing something about this.

Jocelyn Darling  

Rae Ewing
Rae is a psychologist and former school principal. She has worked extensively with children with severely challenging behaviours and their families. Much of her work has focused on modifying learning environments.

Rae Ewing


Andy McGregor
Andy is the Policing Development Manager for the Canterbury Police District. He believes that a strong family unit is the foundation for a healthy society.

Andy McGregor  

Judge Noel Walsh
Noel works as a District Court Judge in the Christchurch Family, Youth & Criminal courts. He practised Law in Christchurch and New Plymouth, worked as a Relationships Services counsellor in New Plymouth, and in 1999 was appointed as a District Court Judge.

Noel Walsh


Anne Carroll
Ann has worked for many years in the mental health area, initially as an Occupational Therapist and for the past 10-plus years in advisory, governance and community support roles. From 1992-1999 she was a trustee of the Family Help Trust

Anne Carroll       




The following people are previous Chairpersons of the Family Help Trust:

Sally Thompson

Sally Thompson, 2000 - 2006
Sally is an Early Childhood educator with a wider interest in out-of-school care, and is also a board member of the Oscar Network and Kaupapa Whakaora. Sally is currently employed as Project Co-ordinator for Canterbury Neighbourhood Support.

Paul Fitzharris

Paul Fitzharris, 1996 - 2000
During the early 1990s as the District Commander of Police for Christchurch, Paul looked for programmes outside the Government sector that promised most to the community in reducing crime. "I saw that the Family Help Trust offered this - not from a gut feeling, but because it was supported through reputable research and offered then the best programmes to not only achieve this, but also provide broader positive outcomes for families and the community."

Karen Guilliland, 1993 - 1996


Harry Eyre-Cohen

Harry Eyre-Cohen, 1990 - 1992
Harry was the first Chairperson of the Family Help Trust and as such an original core group member of the steering committee during the establishment phase. Harry's primary interest, as a retired Clinical Psychologist of the Justice Department, South Island region, was the synergy between the importance of infant/mother bonding and assisting chronic offenders take responsibility for their behaviours and make lasting changes. "I saw Family Help Trust as having the potential to make a serious impact on breaking the cycle for intergenerational criminal offending with their service."


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