The areas of interest for Nikki that come from ‘lived experience’ are Identity, Whanau and Spirituality.

A growth mind-set has always been at the heart of Nikki’s journey both personally and professionally.

Nikki has struggled with identity conflict issues due to the violence and sexual abuse of her upbringing. The subsequent journey to ‘wellness’ (more or less  - she hasn’t arrived!) has included counselling and various therapeutic supports to overcome the depression she suffered for 16 years and the anxiety that plagued her for 29 years. Nikki has grown through these challenges while maintaining a healthy marriage and bringing up 3 awesome teenagers.

Nikki’s joy and strength is meeting and listening to people from all walks of life.

From her unorthodox upbringing Nikki was fortunate to be exposed to many different forms of spirituality that included literature and experiences of New Age,  Buddhism, Spiritualism/Occult to Christianity. Nikki enjoyed meeting diverse people growing up and during her community work. She has been privileged to witness and listen to a gentleman going through a sex change to becoming female (transsexual), to gang members, to air force pilots, to single parents, to prisoners, to suicidal farmers, and to incredibly inspiring children in difficult circumstances. Nikki’s empathy and respect for people has been shaped by the privilege of listening to and offering support to them.

Professional growth for Nikki has included 2 Medical Laboratory qualifications, a Diploma in Child Protection Studies, a Diploma in Leadership and being an alumni of the Leadership New Zealand 2015 program.

Starting her coaching and advisory business FlowCoach in mid 2017 with 2 community based contracts has been the most recent growth phase, with Nikki recently starting her certified CoachNet coaching modules, which will be completed at the end of 2018.

This arc of experiences from ‘grassroots to governance’  in both personal and professional spheres has garned Nikki some ‘out of the box’ and novel ways of listening, supporting and advising that at it’s heart is non-judgmental and supports a person’s personal power of choice - even if she disagrees.  It is the idea that we can love and support each other while we disagree that Nikki lives and breathes and believes will build connected, healthy and loving communities for our children to prosper in – villages of unconditional love AND respect. Love for the person and respect for their choices.