Shelley Turner - Managing Director

Ko Tainui tōku waka, Ko Te Aroha tōku maunga, Ko Waihou tōku awa, Ko Tikapa tōku moana, Ko Hauraki tōku whenua, Ko Tumutumu tōku marae, Ko Ngāti Rahiri Tumutumu tōku iwi.  

My whakapapa also connects me to Ngāti Whātua o Kaipara (through my great grandfather, Eruera Terekia Paenganui-Aperahama, who was from Ōtamatea and Reweti), Ngāi Te Rangi and Ngāti Pūkenga (through my great grandmother Hera Te Waunga McCaskill), Ngāti Hako (through my grandfather, Matiu Taupaki, whose father, Te Mamaru Taupaki, is also from Ahipara), Ngāti Maniapoto (through my great grandmother, who was a Kahui), and Ngāti Māhanga (through the grandfather I grew up with, Matakitaki Tuhura Te Kani, who was from Whatawhata and Te Papa O Rotu marae). 

On my father's side, I am Pākehā. My father was Canadian and he immigrated to New Zealand when he was 18 years old.  His mother, Annie Hilczyszyn was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.  Her parents were Mike Hilczyszyn (born in Solotvyn, Ukraine) and Katy Buchanyk (born in Terebovlia in Western Ukraine). 

My journey to writing cultural reports includes lived experiences with incarceration, addiction, gangs, and domestic violence.  The 5th of May 2014 was a significant turning point in my life.  I entered a residential rehabilitation centre in Auckland with the sole purpose of overcoming my addiction to methamphetamine.  It would be a few years of getting well before I found a deeply meaningful purpose writing cultural reports.

Before I became an addict, I had completed five years of higher learning at the University of Auckland.  I had also spent 10 months in London on an OE.  When I returned to New Zealand, I became immersed in the underworld, where I spent many years in the throes of addiction and ended up with convictions for drug offending.  

All of these life experiences have shaped who I am today.  I bring to this kaupapa extensive knowledge, skills, abilities and experiences that help inform the mahi I do with our tāne and wāhine in the criminal justice system.  These life experiences are my unique point of difference in undertaking this work.