David is a psychiatrist with 30 years’ experience working in New Zealand’s community mental health sector, in a range of clinical and leadership roles. He has spent the past 15 years leading development of primary mental health programmes, and advocating at a regional and national level for strengthening of primary mental health capacity, and better support from secondary mental health services.

David currently works with Tamaki Health, a network of clinics serving populations in high-needs areas of Auckland. He is only too familiar with the research on how childhood adversity (including family violence) creates ongoing life challenges, and sees it borne out every day in his work. He says “If we could ensure every child in Aotearoa/NZ was born after a healthy pregnancy, and grew up safe and loved, we’d halve the need for mental health and addiction services, significantly reduce the need for unemployment and sickness benefits, halve the number of people in prison, and ultimately reduce the need for medical hospitalisation later in life. The most transformational change I have seen in addressing this issue, has come from the work of Vic Tamati and his network of Safe Men.”