Who we are

Many people have been involved in the process of developing this resource over the time since 2004. It has been a huge task that needed input from a range of professionals active in the field of violence prevention, education and health. And of course children have been consulted all along the way!

 However two key people have been in positions of responsibility and their guidance and development of the material is an intrinsic part of the strength of this resource.

Elaine Dyer, Project Leader, has been a passionate advocate for peace, social justice and prevention of violence for most of her working life. Trained initially as a teacher of children, she initiated Youthline’s Action Education and has coordinated, trained and facilitated projects in prisons and communities nationally and internationally such as the Alternatives to Violence Project or her own professional training courses for facilitators. She has presented at conferences here in New Zealand and internationally.

Elaine has written international manuals for trainers as well as being highly regarded as a trainer and supervisor of facilitators.

Between 2001-2015 she coordinated and was CEO of Violence Free Waitakere, focused particularly on safety for families with children under five through events and promotions. The film ‘Jade Speaks Up’ has been one of her projects for the past eight years, to help New Zealand children establish some strategies for keeping themselves safe around violence.

Andrea O’Hagan, programme co-developer, has her own business,Positive Changes, which focuses on effective learning strategies and the nuances of effective teacher talk. She has presented at numerous conferences including the 2016 NZ CORE Education Conference. With her background in neuro-linguistics and education she was contracted by the Peace Foundation for 14 years as the regional trainer of the Peace Foundation Mediation Programmes in Primary Schools, and the Peaceful Family Communication Programmes. She co-wrote the Peaceful Family Communication manual in 2010 and Peaceful Teens Communication skills manual in 2013.

Andrea has taught in Kindergartens, Primary Schools, University and adult community settings. For three years Andrea was the NLP Brain Coach in an Eastern Bay of Plenty secondary school, introducing teenagers to strategies to change their learning and behaviours. She teaches as a Teaching Fellow in the University of Waikato Faculty of Education.