For this week's Tāngata Tuesday profile we feature Bex Silver, our Multisystemic Therapy (MST) Practice Lead, based in Tāmaki Makaurau.
What is your role with us and how long have you been here?
I am the Practice Leader for the MST team and I have been with Kia Puāwai for just over a year!
What made you decide to work with Kia Puāwai?
After working in a male prison for nearly 4 years, I witnessed the significant harm that incarceration causes for whānau and our community. I wanted to be part of an organisation and service that prevented people from ending up in prison, enabling whānau to heal together.
The holistic ecosystem approach of MST, coupled with the commitment of Kia Puāwai as a tangata Tiriti organisation, attracted me to this mahi. I think it is really special to be in a workplace where we talk about the systemic drivers of inequity that lead people to require our services in the first place.
What do you love most about your position?
Being a practice leader allows me the opportunity to support a team of incredible therapists in a way that brings about the best possible outcomes for the whānau we work with.
I love being able to facilitate important conversations such as how we can continue to decolonise our practice, what it looks like to practice cultural safety, how to build resiliency as practitioners, and how to role-model vulnerability.
I am blessed to have a team of dedicated, kind, funny and skilled therapists whom I trust and admire immensely.
Can you tell us one thing you like getting up to outside mahi?
I know everyone will be expecting me to say that I just like hanging out with my cat (King Amos), but I also love hiking! I love spending a week out in nature and off the grid to unwind and ground myself back to mother earth, our beautiful taiao. My last hike was Lake Waikaremoana in Te Urewera - it was very tough but worth it!
I have also just been selected for a scholarship from the Pākehā Project to participate in a leadership programme aimed at building a community of Tangata Tiriti leaders, which I am very excited about.
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Thank you for all you do for Kia Puāwai, your colleagues, and the whānau you work with Bex, we're lucky to have you!
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