“We demonstrate hope by our own example.” – Jim Burdett, Mind & Body, 2008.
On the 30th of June 2025, Mind & Body was officially closed as a standalone entity, becoming fully integrated into Ka Puta Ka Ora Emerge Aotearoa.
While this marked the end of an era for one of Aotearoa’s pioneering peer-led mental health organisations it is also the continuation of a powerful legacy—one that has shaped peer support in Aotearoa and laid the foundation for the future of lived-experience leadership within Emerge Aotearoa.
A Radical Beginning: Mad People Helping Mad People
Mind & Body’s journey began in 1998, when Jim Burdett approached Auckland District Health Board (ADHB) with a bold proposal: professionalise consumer advisor roles by creating an independent consultancy led by people with lived experience – a significant departure from the model of elected Consumer Representatives. His vision was to create a safe, effective, and ethical service for people with lived experience to provide support to others, whether as a peer, leader, trainer or consultant. Jim and his partner Jane Briscoe, a physiotherapist working in mental health, started Mind & Body together. The name “Mind & Body” was born by combining Jim’s lived experience and Jane’s physiotherapy mahi – signifying the inseparable link between mental and physical wellbeing.
From those early days, the organisation championed the idea that people with lived experience of mental distress could and should be leaders, educators, and healers in the system that once marginalised them.
In a 2008 interview, former managing director Jim Burdett described it frankly:
“I lead an organisation composed entirely of mad people—seriously mad people—labelled as schizophrenic, borderline personality disorder, bipolar, depressed, whatever—and it works.”
This radical authenticity challenged the prevailing stigma and shame surrounding mental illness. Mind & Body reclaimed harmful stereotypes, using them as a source of strength, empathy, and authenticity.
Peer Support: The Heart of the Kaupapa
At the heart of Mind & Body’s success was its groundbreaking approach to peer-to-peer support. Building and maintaining a team of people who were able to critically reflect on their lived experience and use the insights gained to inform their mahi enabled Jim and Jane to develop the Mind & Body philosophy.
Using their academic studies, this philosophy was founded on an ethics of healthcare approach that identified the purpose of health work is to promote and respect the autonomy of the person being supported. Autonomy can be defined as the capacity to make reasonable decisions and the power to act on them. It was a philosophy that went on to play an important role in the development of New Zealand’s mental health sector, particularly in the peer and lived experience workforce.
Peer support is about supporting peers to live a life of meaning, autonomy, and connection. It’s about reclaiming the ability to make decisions for oneself – outside the boundaries of clinical care – and finding hope through the shared wisdom of lived experience.
Mind & Body’s peer support workers are trained to walk alongside peers, using their own journeys through distress, trauma, and recovery to build trust and offer practical, non-judgemental support.
One of Mind & Body’s early peer support workers, Hayley Sher, reflected on this approach, describing how her own experience of healing became a foundation for supporting others:
“I may feel myself sliding down again, but I have so much support around me now. I know how to get out of it.”
Mental health and addiction challenges are not a problem to be ‘fixed,’ but a part of the broader human experience – something that, with the right support and community, people can live through and grow from. The model promotes self-determination, viewing people not as cases to manage, but as whole humans with strengths, values, and goals, helping peers reclaim agency and set goals aligned with their own values. For many, this support is life changing. It creates a space of mutual understanding, compassion, and hope – where people feel seen not as cases, but as whole people with potential, resilience, and the right to define their own journey.
“We worked with Peer values being the korowai for our mahi—Mutuality, Experiential Knowledge, Self Determination, Participation, Equity, Recovery and Hope.” – Mere Tavai
Breaking New Ground: From Advisory to Education and Service Delivery
Between 1998 and 2003, Mind & Body’s consultancy service grew. It continued to provide Consumer Advisors to ADHB mental health service management teams, as well as to the Ministry of Health, the Mental Health Commission, and national mental health research and outcome programmes. Debra Lampshire joined the company and developed and delivered Mind & Body’s first education offerings – Recovery Workshops – delivering workshops not only to peers but also DHB kaimahi providing mental health services. These workshops were groundbreaking – someone with lived experience of the system educating clinicians was unheard of at the time.
Jim lectured regularly at the University of Auckland on undergraduate abnormal psychology courses, and Mind & Body also gained research funding and employed lived experience researchers.
A First for Aotearoa: Professional Peer Support Services
In 2003, Mind & Body won Aotearoa’s first ever peer support contract with ADHB. Laura Ashton had joined Mind & Body that year and helped write the winning proposal for the 2 FTE contract. The service quickly expanded across Central Tāmaki Makaurau. Within a few years, Mind & Body had established peer support services in Waitematā (2006) and Ōtautahi (2007) and was regarded as a sector leader. In 2007, Jim received the Equal Employment Opportunities Trust’s “Walk the Talk” Award for his commitment to diversity, and flexible, supportive employment for people with lived experience.
“Of my times in mental health this is the closest I have got to actual recovery. In a service not there just to hold your hand, but to lead you to recovery.” – Service user
Training a Workforce, Shifting the System
Mind & Body didn’t stop at delivering peer services. In 2008, it launched Mind & Body Learning and Development (MBLD) – an NZQA-accredited Private Training Establishment. In addition, MBLD created and delivered the first and only Level 4 Certificate in Peer Support (Mental Health) in Aotearoa, setting a new benchmark in the sector and solidifying peer support as a recognised and respected professional discipline. MBLD, led by Nicky Grant, delivered the Certificate programme to hundreds of peer support workers across the motu over the following decade. Alongside the Certificate, MBLD offered a range of trainings to embed peer principles into wider mental health practice across the motu.
When the reforms of the Tertiary Training sector took place in 2019/2020, the costs of retaining PTE registration, and the changes to National NZQA qualifications resulted in the decision to stop delivering the Certificate.
Creative, Courageous Anti-Stigma Work
Mind & Body also played a national leadership role in countering stigma and discrimination. In 2018, under the Nōku te Ao / Like Minds, Like Mine programme (LMLM), the team delivered innovative, creative, arts-based initiatives—including theatre and music productions at Q theatre, art exhibitions, and bold public messaging campaigns like a billboard on Tāmaki Makaurau’s Karangahape Road.
In recognition of Mind & Body’s expertise in this area, the Health Promotion Agency commissioned Mind & Body to develop and deliver best practice training (“First Voices”) nationally to leaders with lived experience across LMLM.
Between 2014 and 2020, Mind & Body developed and delivered two major education programmes under Nōku te Ao: Conversations for Change and Two+ ReTHiNK. Conversations for Change was a multimedia package designed to support community members, ideally with lived experience, in facilitating conversations with young people (under 24) about mental wellbeing and stigma. Two+ ReTHiNK, co-developed with Vaka Tautua and Mahitahi Trust, focused on social housing and education settings. Guided by a joint advisory group, this programme supported the emergence of strong Māori and Pacific lived experience leadership in the Nōku te Ao space.
“The plays were a wakeup call in terms of being aware of how NOT to treat those who suffer from mental illness and also gave valuable insight into how society wrongly reacts so often. Yes, definitely there were things we learnt from these short plays. I think the message gets through very powerfully in this dramatic form.” – Feedback on the 2010 Rethink Theatre Challenge
“An eye-opening and effective workshop which is appropriate, if not crucial for any member of society. This opens further, anyone on a path to knowing themselves.” – Rethink workshop participant
Growth, Evolution, and Wider Reach
Mind & Body became part of the Emerge Aotearoa Group in 2015, continuing to operate as an independent entity with its own Board under the leadership of Dr Barbara Disley. Over the next decade, it expanded to deliver a wide range of high-quality peer services under contract with increasingly diverse funders. These included:
- Peer support for the national 1737 helpline
- Haven Crisis Café in Tāmaki Makaurau
- Tāmaki Mental Health and Wellbeing Initiative, placing peer support workers directly into GP practices
- Peer support and advocacy services in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington) and Waihōpai (Invercargill)
- A national coordination role during the COVID-19 pandemic for regional and national peer support
- Citizenship Project – renamed Ruruku, a six-month recovery and reconnection programme for people experiencing distress, addiction, or isolation.
In 2018, Magdel Hammond joined Mind & Body as National Manager, bringing renewed focus to strengthening peer leadership, workforce development, and service quality. Under her leadership, the organisation maintained its commitment to systemic advocacy – supporting the repeal of the Mental Health Act, contributing to national conversations on the use of ‘risk’ in mental health services, and advancing the role of lived experience within mental health reform.
Another significant milestone came in February 2021, when PeerZone – a peer-led social enterprise founded by Mary O’Hagan and Sara McCook-Weir – officially became part of Mind & Body. Mary O’Hagan, a long-time collaborator with Mind & Body, reflected that the organisation was “top of mind” when PeerZone sought a new home – citing its commitment to lived experience leadership, mutuality, and peer values-aligned practice. PeerZone delivers one-to-one and group peer support, along with toolkits and workshops that promote wellbeing and self-determination, particularly through programmes like Piki for rangatahi in Wellington.
At the heart of Piki is the same philosophy that guided Mind & Body from the start: connection over correction, and healing through common experience. As peer service manager Hope Sexton explained:
“Peer supporters use their own lived experience to help others, rather than learning and studying from a clinical point of view… it creates a more personal connection between the peer and the peer supporter.”
A Peer-Led Legacy with National and International Impact
Mind & Body has long been regarded as world leading. The NZ Herald’s 2008 profile, Beating Demons of the Psyche, offered a powerful snapshot of the organisation’s philosophy – placing lived experience at the centre.
Its impact extended well beyond Aotearoa. Mind & Body regularly welcomed visitors from overseas, including the UK, US, Sweden, Norway, and Japan – drawn to an organisation that demonstrated that peer support could be professional, impactful, and transformative.
The organisation was also commissioned to support the establishment of other peer services, including kaupapa Māori services in Rotorua and Te Tairāwhiti, and provided training and support for the first Housing First peer support workers at Lifewise in Tāmaki Makaurau.
In 2016, Jim Burdett received the inaugural TheMHS Lifetime Achievement Award for Peer Work, recognising his pivotal role in elevating peer support to a respected, ethical, and nationally integrated workforce. The award acknowledges individuals who have made outstanding contributions to mental health service delivery and marks a significant milestone in the evolution of services in Australia and Aotearoa.
The legacy of Jim Burdett and Mind & Body in shaping peer support – both nationally and internationally – cannot be overstated. The services were among the largest and longest running in Aotearoa and were recognised by the Mental Health Commission as highly successful. Indeed, Mind & Body played a central role in advancing peer support as a legitimate and essential mental health profession in its own right.
Honouring our Whānau
Over the years, hundreds of kaimahi brought their wairua, courage, and compassion to Mind & Body. From peer workers to educators, from researchers to advisors – each played a vital role in growing the kaupapa. Their names, held with deep aroha, remain woven into the story of peer and lived experience excellence in Aotearoa.
A New Chapter with the Same Kaupapa
In 2024, amidst a challenging funding environment and public service cuts, the difficult decision was made by the Ka Puta Ka Ora Emerge Aotearoa Trust Board to close Mind & Body as an independent entity. All services and kaimahi were fully transitioned into Emerge Aotearoa Ltd and Mind & Body closed on 30 June 2025.
For many, Mind & Body has been a family, a unique workplace deeply intertwined with personal and collective healing.
“Mind & Body gave many of us a space to feel seen and valued for our lived experiences, not despite them.” – Peer support worker
As this chapter closes, it is not an end, as the story continues. The kaupapa lives on, embedded into the fabric of Emerge Aotearoa’s broader mahi. The principles that guided Mind & Body remain at the heart of peer work going forward.
‘Mind & Body has helped shape me into the person I am today; I have grown both professionally and personally. I’m so grateful to have been part of the M&B whānau and am excited to continue the mahi within Ka Puta Ka Ora.’ – Kim Wallace
Carrying the Mauri Forward
Mind & Body’s journey is one of courage, compassion, and radical empathy. Its legacy remains powerful – a testament to the strength and resilience found in the wisdom that can come from the lived experience of mental health and addiction challenges.
As we reflect on the legacy of Mind & Body, we honour the kaimahi, whānau, and peers who built and shaped its kaupapa. This is not about a name, a logo or a building – it’s about people, purpose, and the power of lived experience.
“Mind & Body has helped shape me into the person I am today. I’ve grown both professionally and personally. The connectedness as a work whānau—where everyone has their own lived experience and unique journey—was unlike anything I’d experienced. It inspired me, and it’s helped shape the way I practice and lead my teams. I’m so grateful to have been part of the M&B whānau and excited to continue the mahi within Ka Puta Ka Ora.” – Mere Tavai
The future of peer support is strong. It is embedded. And it is growing.