Moira Clunie
Project Lead
Moira Clunie (Te Rarawa) has held a range of leadership roles in rainbow, mental health and disability non-government organisations, focusing on evidence-based programme design, systemic advocacy and collaborative practice.
Moira has specialist knowledge of population approaches to LGBTI+ mental health promotion and suicide prevention, and has a Master of Social and Community Leadership focusing on rainbow community leadership, public health and suicide prevention.
Moira currently serves as Co-Chair of the Professional Association for Transgender Health’s Policy and Advocacy Committee, an Associate Investigator for Counting Ourselves, and Co-Chair of Te Whatu Ora’s Gender Affirming Primary Care Advisory Group. In 2022 they were appointed as a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to LGBTQI+ communities.
Joey Macdonald
Education Lead
Joey Macdonald brings significant experience facilitating conversations with both front-line staff and upper management/governance boards about challenging heteronormative white supremacist paradigms and depathologising gender and sexuality. They have worked as a trainer and advocate in mental health and addiction services and delivered education to students of nursing, medicine, public health, occupational therapy, youth work, community support work, and postgraduate mental health qualifications.
As a Pākehā who is queer and non-binary, Joey is particularly invested in valuing the knowledge and experiences of trans, queer, and intersex people as part of creating wider systems change. They believe that as tangata tiriti, Pākehā have particular obligations to challenge people in positions of power (especially other Pākehā) to take responsibility for improving services.
Joey has an MA in Gender Studies, Sociology and Social Work, has been an Executive Committee Member of PATHA (Professional Association for Transgender Health Aotearoa) from 2019 - 2022 and is currently one of PATHA’s Strategic Advisors.
Jono Selu
Practice Lead
Mālō le soifua maua mai le lagi e mamā!
Jono Selu is of Samoan/Palagi heritage and was born and raised on the whenua of Te Kawerau Ā Maki in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa. They have a passion for working with young people and Pasifika peoples and advocates for social justice and human rights. They are particularly interested in incorporating indigenous knowledge and practice into contemporary worlds and believes that intersectionality is the future.
Professionally, Jono has a Masters of Applied Social Work and experience working in youth development, community development, comprehensive sexuality education, health promotion, sexual violence prevention, anti-racist and decolonial practice, and mental health & wellbeing.
In their spare time, they love doing creative work and thrive in environments where collaboration and co-creation abound.
Nicole Nyx Simons
Homelessness Lead
Nyx Simons has a wide range of leadership experience within the mental health, addictions, homelessness and rainbow sectors over the last 10 years, with a particular focus on service development, peer support and centring people with lived experience.
Nyx brings a heart-centered way of being, and is very passionate about working on projects that empower individuals, communities and challenge systems that are designed to improve and sustain wellbeing. Nyx believes that there are often gaps and barriers to accessing services and getting the right kind of support when you need it and encourages using lived experience voices and stories as catalysts for system change and development.
Nyx leads the Making Space initiative, which is an exciting opportunity to build capacity of the housing and homelessness sector to meet the unique needs of rainbow identifying people.