Lead researcher

Georgina Patel

Georgina Patel (nee Woods-Child) is the lead researcher and a research associate at AUT, working with the Faculty of Law and Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences. Georgina has practiced in both family and criminal law. Prior to undertaking this project she was working in Auckland as a family lawyer for a private practice law firm, having started her career as a junior Crown Prosecutor. While in practice she completed her LLM(Hons) writing a dissertation about indirect trauma and its impact on criminal lawyers.

Dr Katey Thom

Dr Katey Thom is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Law at AUT. She has extensively researched topics around mental distress, addiction and the law and has previously led Law Foundation grants and currently leads a large-scale Borrin Foundation grant aiming to re-envisage the criminal justice system to better respond to whānau experiencing mental distress and/or addiction.

Associate Professor Khylee Quince

Associate Professor Khylee Quince (Ngāpuhi, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungungu) is the Dean of the Faculty of Law at AUT. She is a leading Māori law academic, community advocate and cultural report writer.

Professor Brian McKenna

Professor Brian McKenna has a joint appointment with the Auckland Regional Forensic Mental Health Service and the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences at AUT. He has previously researched with Dr Thom on professional supervision to support mental health clinicians experiencing vicarious trauma. Professor Brian McKenna also has had extensive experience in quantitative research. This includes the inclusion of statistics in the research design, data entry, data management, data analysis and write up.

Professor Kate Diesfeld

Professor Kate Diesfeld is a leading health law academic at AUT with research interests in mental health law, professional regulation and the role of using the law preventatively. Professor Kate Diesfeld practiced mental health and disability law in the United States and England. She is a member of the Auckland District Law Society and a Fellow of the American College of Legal Medicine.

Associate Professor Nick Garrett

Associate Professor Nick Garrett (Ngāti Maniapoto) is a biostatistician at AUT. He has over 26 years of experience and has significant expertise on quantitative study design, analysis and interpretation. His experience spans a range of health topics including psychology, gambling, health delivery, intervention studies, environmental and social determinants of health.

Research assistant

Madeline Hayward

Madeline Hayward (research assistant) is undertaking her PhD in Health Sciences at AUT looking at Police responses to citizens experiencing mental health distress.