About Chris

Programme Development and Training, Workshop Facilitation, and Professional Supervision

Ko Taranaki te maunga te rū nei taku ngākau

Ko Korimako te awa e haumanu tōku wairua

E mihi ana ki ngā tohu o nehe, o Te Whanganui-a-Tara e noho nei au.

Ko Ngati Pākehā te iwi

Nō Ngaio ahau

Ko Chris Thomas ahau

Chris is a Registered Social Worker with 40 years of experience in the field of social work and is a full member of Aotearoa NZ Association of Workers.

Chris is a graduate of Massey University holding a Bachelor of Social Work (1983); a Graduate Certificate in Social Service Supervision (1986) and in 2005 was awarded her Masters in Social Work with Honours. Chris’s Master’s thesis was titled “What’s in a Name? Strength-based supervision – reality or rhetoric. An analysis of supervision in an organisation with a vision of strength based practice.

Chris has been in private practice since 1988 providing  external supervision with a  diverse range of people  and professions working in health and social services and in the public sector. From 2000 until September 2008, Chris divided her time between private practice and working for Massey University as the Project Manager – Practice Research and Professional Development, School of Health and Social Services.

Between 2012 and 2018 Chris was based in Australia and worked in NZ part time as a professional supervisor.  While in Australia Chris worked as Clinical Lead for headspace Albany and headspace Wodonga, as a counsellor for Veteran’s Affairs  and as a mental health coordinator for Murray Primary Health Network.

Chris returned to New Zealand in November 2018 is now working in private practice as a professional supervisor and trainer from her office in Ngaio. Chris also maintains a maintains an online supervision practice in Aotearoa/NZ and in Australia

Chris has a framework embedded in strength-based, collaborative practice with a specific focus on the Aotearoa/New Zealand context. In this capacity she has developed and run a range of training programmes for both strength-based practice and supervision. Chris is also an experienced manager and has significant networks across NGO’s, and within health and public sector organisations.

Chris is passionate about the role of professional supervision in supporting people to have a reflective, restorative space that supports  and sustains their well-being in the work they do with others.

Chris lives in Ngaio with her husband and large rescue dog and feels very fortunate to have her daughter and son-in-law just around the corner. Chris is currently in grandparent training with her first grandchild arriving in August.