Yellow Brick Road Board
Embracing diversity and working together are at the heart of what we do and the Yellow Brick Road board reflects that.
Our board brings together a range of people whose skills and experience help shape our charity.
Rachel Stephenson
Nga puhi, Te Kapotai
Rachel Stephenson joined the Board in March 2024 as an independent Chair.
Rachel has significant experience in governance as a chair and director across a number of NGO and charities and is a member of The Institute of Directors. Rachel is currently Chair of Kirikiriroa Family Services Trust, Tamariki Tu Tamariki Ora, Treasurer of New Zealand Harlequins Rugby Club, Trustee for Community Living Trust and a director of Community Living Limited and Community Living Housing Limited.
Rachel is a registered comprehensive nurse with over 30 years’ experience in the mental health, addictions and disability sectors, with a post grad certificate in management, 20 years’ experience in facilitation, training and education and 15 years’ experience managing and leading health, safety and wellbeing, risk and quality management systems.
Rachel holds a deep belief that families need to be supported and resourced to support their loved ones when they experience a mental health or addiction challenge and like so many, she has personal experience of this in her own family, giving insights of the challenges they face. Her view is that people are born into families and live in their whānau and communities of choice. As such, we have a duty to resource whānau and communities to promote and achieve total wellbeing for individuals, whānau and communities.
Jacinda Cole
Deputy Chair
Jacinda has been involved with Yellow Brick Road since 2020, when she joined the Board to represent the Wairarapa region following the amalgamation of Supporting Families NZ (Wairarapa) with Yellow Brick Road.
Prior to this, Jacinda worked in law and finance in Sydney and London. During her time in London she was involved with Rethink Mental Illness, a UK charity focused on supporting people affected by mental illness and their families. Jacinda’s passion to help those suffering from mental illness stems from seeing her brother struggle with schizophrenia and losing him to this illness. The devastating impact this had on her family means she is very aware of the need to support families of those struggling with mental illness. Jacinda lives in Martinborough with her young family and is studying Postgraduate Clinical Psychology at Victoria University.
Denyse Wilcox
Ko Hikurangi te maunga
Ko Waiapu te awa
Ko Horouta te waka
Ko Uepohatu te hapu
He uri ahau no Ngāti Porou
Denyse Wilcox joined us from beautiful Otaki Beach between Wellington and Palmerston North. She comes to us with extensive management experience in health and disability support services and has held a range of general management roles. Great passions in her work have included working with families/whānau and children and young people in the foster care system, developing strategies as part of a wider group for Māori with an intellectual disability and building capacity and capability of the individuals and teams she’s worked alongside. Choosing to step away from full time employment in 2019, Denyse is currently self-employed in the health and disability sector and is also a registered and practicing celebrant. Her interest in Te Wahāpuahoaho comes from the focus on families and the mission and values of the organisation and she is excited to have the opportunity to contribute in whatever way possible.
Sam Rodney-Hudson
Sam has had a long connection with Yellow Brick Road, beginning with a Schizophrenia Fellowship (UK) scholarship in 1996 to study family work, followed by involvement through board memberships, supervision and fieldwork with Supporting Families Central Otago in the early 2000s.
A registered mental health nurse, Sam has more than 30 years’ experience across mental health, primary care, whānau services, governance, and community wellbeing. Her career has evolved from frontline clinical work into leadership, facilitation and consultancy roles focused on strengthening services, supporting healthy communities and improving outcomes for whānau.
Sam is particularly interested in community-led wellbeing, building local capability and creating stronger connections between health services and the communities they serve. She is passionate about practical, people-focused approaches that empower whānau, communities and support long-term resilience and wellbeing.
Every dollar helps New Zealand families thrive
Make a difference today and help whānau get the mental health support they need.
How we are making a difference
Our purpose is to inspire and equip whānau to restore themselves, by supporting their journeys from a place of distress to one of mental wellbeing.
We’re not just in the business of building resilience. We actively walk alongside the people we support, through all their challenges till the wellbeing of their whānau is restored.
Yellow Brick Road makes a difference by providing support, information, education and advocacy services, including:
- 1-on-1 and group support sessions
- Innovative mental health and wellbeing programmes for adults, tamariki and rangatahi.
- Advocacy, for when whānau find it difficult to access the services they need.
- Family peer support groups
- Suicidal distress & postvention support
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