Our Staff

Patrick Drabczynski
Team Leader

Benjamin Olsen
Peer Support Worker

Johnathon Beamsley
Peer Support Worker

Monique Van Den Brink
Peer Support Worker

Elena King
Lived Experience Lead (Consumer Advisor for Mental Health and Addictions Whanganui) & Peer Support for Hapai Mauri Tangata

Julie Morris
Finance Administrator

Jamie Leigh King
Peer Support Worker

Lamepa-Lynette Vaelua-Sio
Peer Support Worker

Ana King
Acting General Manager
Peer Support – Community and Forensic

I have worked at Balance for the last 3 years as a peer support worker. I split my time between working as peer support in Stanford House, the forensic mental health unit at the Hospital, doing 1-1 peer support in the community, and I facilitate the Splash Centre group on Thursday mornings.

I love my job at Balance because I get to give back to the community. I often say that I don’t like humans as I am a very much an introvert, but the truth is I need humans, and I thrive off human connection. Working at Balance, doing peer support, helps me to turn my past struggles through mental illness and the mental health system into something good that can help inspire hope in others. I also really like the mutuality of peer support. The tangata whaiora that I have had the pleasure of walking alongside on their wellness journeys over the years have enlightened and taught me just as much as I have them.

When I am not at work, I am a busy mum of 4 boys and an avid athlete who loves to run, cycle, do triathlons in the summer and play football in the winter. When I get the time, I enjoy reading, hiking, cooking, gardening and road tripping.

Patrick Drabczynski
Team Leader

Benjamin Olsen
Peer Support Worker

Elena King
Lived Experience Lead (Consumer Advisor for Mental Health and Addictions Whanganui) & Peer Support for Hapai Mauri Tangata

I love that Balance has so many opportunities available, for professional development, career development, opportunities for branching out and for meeting with tangata whaiora in such a variety of ways that it can meet the needs of so many different people. The work we do at Balance gives me a sense of accomplishment, achievement, and pride. The power of peer is so undervalued in this world and little by little we are breaking into spaces and proving out worth all whilst walking alongside tangata whaiora and empowering them to live their best versions of life.

Balance is an environment where you can be who you are, good or bad, raw, or put together and the support you have around you is more than I have experienced in any other workplace I have ever been in.
I am passionate about so many different things! Firstly, I am passionate about using the experiences I have had in my life, making sense of them, and utilising the knowledge from those experiences to help others to navigate their own journeys. I am passionate about making sure that no conversation is had without a consumer or peer voice because, in some situations in mental health, unless you have been through it, it’s so hard to even imagine what it would be like to go through it. I am passionate about my own mental health and wellbeing and self-care. I am passionate about my whānau and tamariki. I am passionate about helping people to understand and make sense of the diagnostic names they have been given and to see that they don’t mean that is who you are, and that they aren’t a final sentence.

Mostly I am passionate about being part of the movement that is making Mental Health and Addiction Services more person centred and therapy/healing focused.

Jamie Leigh King
Peer Support Worker

Johnathon Beamsley
Peer Support Worker

Julie Morris
Finance Administrator

Lamepa-Lynette Vaelua-Sio
Peer Support Worker

Monique Van Den Brink
Peer Support Worker

As Peer Support Worker and Activities Facilitator, I draw on my own lived experience to walk alongside others on their journey through mental health and addiction recovery.

Working with Balance Aotearoa has been incredibly rewarding. It's a space where compassion, authenticity, and connection are at the heart of everything we do. What I love most about working at Balance Aotearoa is seeing the positive changes within people. Seeing someone regain a sense of hope, connection, or purpose is incredibly powerful, and it's an honour to be part of that process. 

I'm passionate about fostering hope, resilience, and self-empowerment in others. I believe in the power of human connection, shared experience, and creating safe spaces where people feel seen, heard, and supported in their healing.