top of page

Our People

Our compassionate, caring and skilled staff provide specialised support to you, your whānau and your communities to move from surviving to thriving. 

 

We believe you and we are here to listen.

Chief Executive

Photo of Sue Wood, Chief Executive

Sue Wood

Sue joins us from a large retirement village in Lower Hutt where she was the Manager to 120 staff. She is passionate about providing support to a wide range of people within the Wellington community and has over 25 years’ experience as a nurse. She spent 10 of those years working in mental health, as well as supporting young women suffering from anorexia and bulimia.

 

More recently, Sue has worked in management at IHC/Idea Services, advocating for people with intellectual disabilities. She also volunteered for 15 years as a counsellor in the community.

 

She is married with 4 adult children and grandchildren and lives in the Hutt Valley. 

Board Members

Sara Passmore: Board Chair

Sara has 15+ year's experience in project and programme management and 10+ year's experience in Senior Management in the charity and NFP sector.

In 2018 she completed a Masters of Business Administration from Victoria University of Wellington. Her research area focused on how to support Māori to maintain their legal connection to the whenua across generations. Sara also has a Bachelor’s of Education and a Bachelor’s of English Literature.

Sara is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. a member of the Royal Society of New Zealand, and member of the Community Governance Steering Group.

Sara's current governance roles include treasurer of Humanists NZ, board member for Wellington Women’s House, the Guild of Agriculture Journalists and Communicators, and vice-president of the Rationalist and Humanist Association of New Zealand.

Photo of Sara Passmore, Board Member
elt_kathy-mansell_sq200px_20190826 (1).p

Kathy Mansell: Board Member

Kathy has been a public servant for just over 40 years working in a variety of areas including housing, primary industries and vulnerable children.

 

Kathy is currently a Deputy Chief Executive at Land Information New Zealand where she leads the Property Rights Group who are responsible for processing all property transactions in New Zealand.

 

Kathy has tribal affiliation to Tuhoe. Kathy is a former client of Help and has a strong desire as a Board Member to be a part of realising the organisations mission.

Nicholas Pritchard: Board Member

IMG_1245.jpg

Nick has been working as a Police officer for over 23 years. He began his career in Christchurch and relocated to Wellington in 2012 where he is currently the Manager of the Wellington Adult Sexual Assault Team. This team covers Wellington, the Kāpiti Coast and Wairarapa. 

Nick is passionate about providing quality service delivery to victims of sexual abuse and forging strong working partnerships with stakeholders and service providers. 

In his current role, Nick oversees 26 different partnerships between Police and external stakeholders, including Wellington HELP. 


Nick has been married for 21 years and has two daughters aged 14 and 17.

board member.JPG

Rachel Craig: Board Member

Rachel is a passionate change professional whose change career spans local government, central government and the private sector. An early career in learning and development and business improvement arms Rachel with a variety of skills that she is humbled and honoured to use to support HELP in our efforts to support survivors of sexual violence. She is currently a change consultant in central government, supporting organisations to transform their ways of working to better achieve the outcomes they seek.

 

Her family are avid volunteers with herself having been an active volunteer across a number of charities and NGOs for the past 20+years. She is a recent member of the Wellington community and is enjoying getting to explore the beauty of Te Whanganui-a-Tara.

bottom of page