In 2002 I completed a Bachelor of Commerce in Dunedin, NZ, but quickly realised this was not my desired career so spent some time travelling and started becoming curious about human behaviour, wanting to better understand how we live our lives. I returned to NZ to study psychology, completing my qualification in Applied Behaviour Analysis part-time, whilst becoming a mother to two children; I registered as a psychologist in 2013 and began working with children who exhibited challenging behaviour in the education setting. I quickly discovered the common theme of adverse childhood experiences and realised that more than a behavioural approach was needed.  I began attending trauma-based Professional Development and discovered a whole new approach to working with these children, sparking a passion to continue learning as much as I could, leading me to the Level One and Two DDP training in 2018. I was so inspired that I decided to complete the practicum so I could gain quality coaching and provide a better service for the families I was working with. The movement towards trauma-informed practice is only starting to gain momentum in NZ and I wanted to support this by becoming the first certified DDP practitioner in NZ.