Ara Taiohi

I'm a pākehā queer, born and raised in Highbury, Te Papaioea (Palmerston North, if you know, you know!). I came in to social work as the result of seeing what our community could do from within, and bring this strengths-first whakaaro to all of my mahi. As ateen, I moved to Ngāmotu, Taranaki. My wife (who is takatāpui and uses they/them pronouns!) and met in Highschool and have settled down here. We have one kiddo already, and pē on the way! I began in practice on a community advocacy level helping to increase knowledge and awareness within my rohe about sexual violence. From there I moved into a specialised violence prevention role working with rangatahi. At the same time, I picked up different roles with InsideOUT Kōaro, working alongside my community to increase queer inclusion and safety. I work in schools, and separately specialise in family and sexual violence, while lending my expertise to a number of other policy, advocacy, programme design/implimentation and other kaupapa.