Dr Bernice Gabriel

 

Bernice Gabriel is a South African psychologist who has lived and worked in New Zealand for the past 16 years.

 

She is currently employed at the Child, Adolescent and Family Service, Hawkes Bay District Health Board.  Bernice works with children and adolescents with a range of mental health issues. Her particular interests are attachment and trauma-related difficulties in children and adolescents, the mental health needs of young people in foster care, and effective caregiver training and support. 

 

She developed the Fostering Security training programme, which she co-facilitates and is further developing with Lisa Harrington from Oranga Tamariki - Ministry of Children in Hawke’s Bay. Bernice completed PhD research analysing the mechanisms of change in the Fostering Security programme through Massey University in 2017.

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Lisa Harrington

 

Lisa Harrington is a social worker who was born and raised in Aotearoa.  She has been employed with Oranga Tamariki - Ministry of Children for 15 years. Currently she is a practice leader in the Hastings site.

 

Lisa has a strong passion for child protection with a particular focus on the impact of trauma, abuse and neglect on children and young people. Central to this is how support and training is provided to caregivers so that they are best equipped to manage the often difficult behaviours that children and young people in care can present with.  Lisa really enjoys working alongside Bernice Gabriel from Child, Adolescent and Family Service, Hawkes Bay District Health Board to co-facilitate and assist with development and training of other professionals to run the Fostering Security programme.