Our mahi

WOVEN – Whānau Ora Voices of Experience Network

WOVEN was established in 2015 by the Ministry of Health and is run by HNCT to increase inclusion of tangata whaiora in the design, planning and development of health services in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Advisors draw on their skills and lived experience to provide input to task forces, reviews and advisory groups of government departments, public sector health agencies and private healthcare providers.

We do this to make sure health services, systems and supports are fit for purpose for all people living in Aotearoa New Zealand, especially those who live with disability and/or long-term health conditions.

WOVEN members provide consumer advocacy and perspective to:

Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora teams
other government departments engaged in health service delivery
non-government organisations
publicly funded agencies engaged in health services
private and other healthcare providers
HNCT and Healthify.

Meet the WOVEN team

Services

Participation as members of local, regional and national steering groups, particularly groups set up to review or redesign various services.
Provision of feedback on potential tools and services.
Input at workshops etc to help co-create future services or resources.
Testing of ideas with their own peers and networks.
delivery of workshops about consumer advocacy and working with consumers/tangata whaiora.
Other forms of feedback and engagement.

Assignments

Some examples of WOVEN assignments:

Ministry of Health Hepatitis C project team
Interventional Cardiac Registry governance group
NZ Cardiac Surgery Registry governance group
CVD, diabetes and long-term conditions self-management workshops
Technology in General Practice workshop
Pharmacy Action Plan
Ministry of Health CVD, Diabetes and Long Term Conditions advisory group
Health Care Homes National Collaborative
Critical Care Services Planning Programme
HealthAlliance regional IT infrastructure
Kaiawhina Workforce Taskforce
DHMAS app reviews
Medical student lectures
Palliative Care Advisory Panel EAG

Assignments are generally undertaken face-to-face but also through Zoom and Teams.

Coordination

The contract to manage and coordinate the work of WOVEN is held by the Health Navigator Charitable Trust, which reports to Health New Zealand | Te Whatu Ora.

Contact WOVEN

Organisations or groups interested to know more about the service are welcome to contact WOVEN manager Frances King by emailing frances@hnct.nz.

Service coordinator: Fa'aulu Tomuli-Afoa
Service manager: Frances King
Clinical director and sponsor: Dr Janine Bycroft

If you would like to inform us of your assignment needs please fill in and return this form.

Feedback

Feedback/thank you video from Shannon Turner to the WOVEN team for their contribution in reimagining the 1737 and Healthline services.

Meet the WOVEN team

The members of WOVEN range in age from 24 to 74, come from different backgrounds and regions, and bring a range of skills and experience. Most importantly, they are committed to partnering with healthcare providers to improve the quality of care and health and wellbeing outcomes for everyone living in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Kylee Black

Kirikiriroa/ Hamilton

Kylee Black is a New Zealand-based social entrepreneur, public speaker and disability advocate dedicated to reshaping perceptions of accessibility and inclusion.
As the founder of Kylee & Co she leads a community-driven platform that designs and curates' accessible products, ranging from medical adaptations to handmade items, that are functional, fashionable and fun. Built by the disability community for everyone, Kylee & Co empowers individuals while creating employment and mentorship opportunities for those facing barriers to traditional work.

Kylee also operates Kylee.co.nz where she shares her lived experience managing complex health conditions, offering insights into resilience, adaptive living, and the importance of community. Her advocacy extends to public speaking and consulting, where she challenges societal norms and promotes the idea that accessibility benefits everyone.

In 2023, Kylee spearheaded New Zealand’s first fully disabled-led event, the Stronger Together Conference, which removed financial and sensory barriers to participation. The event featured inclusive design elements such as sensory rooms, flexible seating and NZSL interpreters, setting a new standard for accessible gatherings.

Through her ventures and advocacy, Kylee continues to inspire a more inclusive Aotearoa, demonstrating that accessibility isn’t just about compliance, it’s about creativity, dignity and community.

Jaime Christmas

Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland

Jaime was a caregiver to her late husband who had hereditary ATTR amyloidosis disease, a rare disorder. Her experience dealing with the effects of the disease on her husband, since his diagnosis in 2013, and on her family have seen her go through many challenges. Being his caregiver requires constant personal growth and flexibility to be successful in this complex, demanding and stressful role.

Jaime is the CEO and founder of the New Zealand Amyloidosis Patient Association (NZAPA) and also represents Rare Disorder New Zealand (RDNZ).

With a background in counselling and psychology, she passionately shares her insights about being a caregiver – the demands, having to rise above it all – and says everyone in Aotearoa New Zealand has a part to play to ensure better outcomes for both the patient and caregiver’s health and wellbeing.

"New Zealand to be able to provide patient-centred healthcare it is imperative that EVERY consumer represented by WOVEN be actively involved every step of the way in the process of determining and implementing improvements to the quality of healthcare." she says.

Kylie Head

Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland

Kylie is a mediation and coach services specialist with more than 20 years’ experience in senior management roles. In addition to mediating disputes, Kylie uses her personal experience of stroke to coach executive leaders through behavioural change and building resilience to problem solve and transition.

“I have had to explore the concept of resilience from my own perspective as well as in a number of conversations with people who have been through life-altering events,” she says.

Kylie commenced her role as a health consumer advisor in 2014. She works with clinical teams to ensure patient-centered care. Kylie is also a member of the National Stroke Network and the Northern Region Stroke Executive Network and actively pursues projects to improve patient health and wellness.

“Life-changing events are not something that you can plan for, which is often difficult for people to accept.”

Karōria Johns

Te Rarawa

Ko Ngapuhi me Te Rarawa toku iwi.

Kei Cable Bay ahau e noho ana me toku tane. Ko Karoria Johns toku ingoa.

Tehei mauri ora!

Karōria is passionate about health being reframed as wellbeing and addressing physical health as one area of many that contribute to an individual's holistic health. Other determinants (her preferred resource for this is Te Wheke by Dr Rangimarie Rose Pere) must be examined to enable wellbeing to flourish for Māori people, whānau and communities.

She says: "Embracing Māori models of care and WOVEN will benefit the system as a whole for both workers and consumers, while simultaneously ensuring intergenerational traumas are addressed and resolved." She believes this work will be transformational.

Karōria has lived experience both directly and through her whānau of mental ill health, domestic violence, sexual violence, drug and alcohol addictions, homelessness and cultural disconnection. She has also experienced subsequent re-engagement, extensive travel and living overseas before returning home, eventually moving back to Te Tai Tokerau permanently.

"I'm humbled by working in the WOVEN team, and hope my unique perspective contributes in a meaningful way."

Iti noa ana, he pito mata. With care, a small kumara will produce a harvest.

Frances King

Tokomaru Bay

Ko Hikurangi te maunga
Ko Waiapu te awa
Ko Ngati Porou te iwi
Ko Whanau a Ruataupare te hapu
No Tokomaru Bay ahau

Frances graduated as a Registered Comprehensive Nurse 30 years ago and has experience in both NGO and DHB health including leadership, management, primary care and specialising in child & youth mental health/mental health services. She has a passion for rural health, services for Māori and under-served communities to support building positive futures.

She started working for Health Navigator Charitable Trust as a project manager for self-management support for long term conditions in May 2023. Since then, she has increased her role to include community engagement and equity lead for the Trust, management of our WOVEN team and establishment of a Cultural Advisory Group.

Leota Alice Meredith

Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland

O le ala i le pule, o le tautua - The pathway to leadership is through service.

Alice describes herself as a “Southside babe” living in Otara South Auckland from a very early age after moving to New Zealand from Samoa.

Consequently, she has a passion for Pacific people and the pacific community as a whole. Alice has a strong desire to be part of the solution to the health problems her fellow Pasifika face, through networking and service to others.

Alice has been a voluntary community advocate and worker for over 30 years. She says her proudest moment is the fact that she was able to be a mother to son Atticus and daughter Alycea, who are both now young adults.

A love of lifetime learning saw Alice recently embark on a postgraduate degree in bicultural supervision.

“Reciprocal communication in a bilingual and multilinguistic environment is vital to ensuring we are well informed and resourced adequately in our respective communities.”

Kevin Murray

Otautahi/ Christchurch

Kevin has been blind for 36 years, and his wife also has long-term conditions. Kevin has been a disabled persons’ advocate for 36 years, participating at a New Zealand and international level.

Kevin, a lawyer, also has extensive experience representing an organisation that supports consumer interests in health and disability services and substantial involvement in health consumer perspective roles. In addition to WOVEN, he has been a participant on the Canterbury DHB Consumer Council. This role provided Kevin an understanding of the processes and obligations to be a quality participant on a formal panel, including the ability to contribute to discussions, express informed opinions, gather perspectives from networks and complete assignments within deadlines.

Through his roles, he has developed an appreciation of, and empathy with, cultural perspectives and practices that are necessary for effective health service delivery. Kevin also has extensive consumer networks and direct connections that allow him to provide a range of relevant and current perspectives and knowledge.

"I enjoy being involved with WOVEN because it is an opportunity to take the views and information I already gather in my current representations and then bring any learnings back to my networks."

Merle Mapuna Samuels

Katikati

Merle identifies with Ngai-te-rangi (Katikati, Western Bay of Plenty). She has previously lived in other parts of Aotearoa New Zealand and in Australia. She supports a holistic approach to healthcare, where whānau, physical, spiritual and mental wellness are considered together.

Merle’s health experiences include osteoarthritis and having had a brain aneurysm several years ago.

She was employed as part of the Wellness Support Team by East Tamaki Healthcare as a patient advocate, cultural advisor, peer support specialist, Stanford self-management master trainer, facilitator and health coach, and she has facilitated the Positive Parenting Programme in South Auckland.

"The opportunity to help make a difference in peoples’ lives and to provide input from a Māori perspective is important to me."

Jeremy Seamark

Wellington

Jeremy Seamark joins the WOVEN advisor whānau with over 35 years of lived experience in the disability world, from raising his daughter who required 24-hour care to living with a brain injury himself.

He worked in the trades for most of his life until experiencing a brain aneurysm. At the time, he was also working as a consumer auditor for a health and disability company.

Jeremy currently works in the health space as a project coordinator, and over the last few years has trained as a rongoā practitioner, achieving his diploma in 2023. He is now in the process of pursuing this new career path and will be a full-time practitioner very soon.

He is proud to be part of the WOVEN advisor whānau and hopes to make a difference in people’s lives by sharing his own experiences.

Kiriana (Kelli-Anne) Te Huki

Kirikiriroa/ Hamilton

Kiriana is well-versed in the consumer space. Since dealing with mental distress from her teens, and chronic pain since 2017, she has embraced the knowledge and resilience these experiences have taught her.

Alongside her role with us, she has also been involved with the National Rōpū for Te Kete Pounamu as the youngest member, the advisory council for the Southern DHB, a Rākau Roroa as a regional leader, and a certified facilitator as well as working at OUSA (Otago University Students Association) as the Queer Support Coordinator responsible for providing support for all queer and questioning students at the University of Otago and Otago Polytechnic.

" I am passionate about raising awareness and reducing inequalities relating to the LGBTQIA+ community, mental health and distress, rangatahi and Māori, access needs and intersectionality. And I am committed to making a positive impact."

Fa'aulu Tomuli-Afoa

Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland

Fa’aulu joined Health Navigator in 2022 as the Community Engagement Pasifika Lead for the Auckland Psychosocial Response Project. She is now the Project Coordinator for WOVEN and the Self Management Assessment project. An experienced professional with a background in the financial industry, she transitioned to social services, health and education in the workplace. She has actively participated in various community-focused programmes, aiming to enhance community capability, competency and confidence.

With a multicultural background working closely with migrants, Māori, Pacific and refugees, Fa’aulu brings a deep understanding of their unique needs and challenges. In her role, she actively promotes equality and accessible solutions, ensuring resources and information are culturally appropriate. Her dedication to community development, coupled with expertise in various sectors contributes to the improvement of health equity and empowering marginalised populations.

Wendy (Wui Ting) Voon

Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland

Wendy is a Malaysian migrant to Aotearoa New Zealand and is passionate about advocacy for migrant populations and Asian communities. In her early teens, she experienced mental distress related to the death of a beloved family member. Since then, she has experienced both recovery and relapse and accessed mental health services for support.

During her time in Aotearoa New Zealand, Wendy has encountered other migrants who have experienced mental distress due to lack of social support and high stress after migration. This experience has made her realise the importance of raising public awareness about the challenges faced by migrant populations and their lack of knowledge about healthcare entitlements and healthcare systems in New Zealand.

Julia Watson

Kirikiriroa/ Hamilton

I believe that knowledge and having access to the right information is key to living well. I feel that being well resourced and having the right wrap around tautoko (support) is vital to maintaining good health.

My background is predominantly in mental health social services, where I have been an advocate and mentor to others whom experience mental distress, as they work through their recovery journey towards living a life with meaning and purpose. I love seeing others thrive, overcoming challenges and providing people with the right tools to maintain their wellness.

I am looking forward to my WOVEN journey, to giving back and I am excited and privileged to join an amazing team of other passionate people.”

May Zheng

Tāmaki Makaurau/ Auckland

May is a dedicated project management professional with extensive experience in construction and property development. With a strong background in stakeholder engagement, agile methodologies, and cross-functional coordination, she has successfully led complex projects that positively impact community outcomes.

May is passionate about amplifying community voices to drive meaningful change in New Zealand’s health system. Living with diabetes and supporting family members with mental health conditions, she has firsthand experience of the challenges of navigating healthcare and is committed to advocating for more inclusive, patient-centred solutions.

Additionally, May is a passionate advocate for anti-gambling projects, striving to create safer communities through awareness and intervention. She is also dedicated to supporting migrants, particularly in overcoming challenges and bridging cultural gaps within the health system.