Life Unlimited Trustees Profiles
Linda Wilson
Linda Wilson is the Funding Manager for Zeal Education Trust, a not-for-profit organisation providing strength-based youth development programmes and services for young people in Aoteroa. Linda originally trained as a computer programmer in England and worked full time in the IT industry for over 12 years. She became involved in fundraising while working for Youthline and since then has worked as the Fundraising and IT Manager at The Parenting Place.
Linda is a founding Trustee of Life Unlimited and took on the role of Chairperson in 2016. She believes in the counselling process and that the type of service Life Unlimited offers should be available to all people regardless of income.
Patte Randal
LRCP MRCS DPhil
Patte trained in psychiatry and is now retired from working for over 30 years in mental health. She was born in England, completed her doctorate in Psychology at the University of Sussex and later graduated as a medical doctor at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, London, in 1980. After coming to New Zealand almost 40 years ago, she spent 2 enriching years working at a small rural hospital and outlying GP clinics. Her specialist interest was in working with people with so-called ‘treatment refractory psychotic illness’, a term with which she was never enamoured, always believing it was the medical approach that was refractory. Along with Dr Josephine Stanton, she has published qualitative research based on talking with doctors who became patients of psychiatrists, their loved ones, and psychiatrists who have doctors as patients. Patte has lived experience of recovery from psychosis, and has told her story publicly in many contexts, including her recently published book, Finding Hope in the Lived Experience of Psychosis: Reflections on Trauma, Use of Power, and Revisioning Psychiatry (Randal P & Stanton J, Routledge 2022).
She has also published research describing an effective multimodal psychotherapeutic approach developed to support people who experience extreme states. Her understanding of psychosis is partly informed by her personal experience. As a result of her research, she created a person-centred, recovery-focused training course for staff at Buchanan Rehabilitation Centre and was then invited to train clinicians in all mental health disciplines using this approach, including post-graduates at AUT and UoA. She subsequently co-authored the ‘Re-covery Model’. Following on from this The Gift Box emerged. It is a resource that can be used to help facilitate self-understanding, resilience, and wellbeing for all. This was successfully field-trialled in Waikato DHB, and a wider implementation project is underway. Patte is passionate about making The Gift Box available as widely as possible.
Patte’s commitment to Life Unlimited stems from her association with this organisation and its director since 1990, when, shortly after she became a Christian, Patte joined Life Unlimited as a therapist/counsellor for 2 years. Patte strongly believes in Life Unlimited’s mission to provide low-cost excellent psychotherapy and counselling to those people in the community with a need for such intervention who would otherwise be unable to access this support. Patte was also a founding member of the New Zealand Christian Counsellors Association.
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Ulafala Aiavao
Ulafala Aiavao has 30 years of work experience in the Pacific Islands region, mainly on communications and editing/report writing. He also has an interest in social and economic development in island communities.
Contact: ulafala@gmail.com