Teaching and Training

Kristal has been active in supervision, assessing practice and teaching for undergraduate degrees (mental health) and other NZQA approved programmes (Wellington and Auckland).

Kristal has provided communication and mental health training for private organisations and NGO’s. Currently she provides education, facilitation and consultation for Te Pou (Mental Health Workforce Development) and Blueprint.

She has also been successful in the creation of teaching packages required for a wide range of mental health programmes across a range of well-known providers.

In addition, she has worked as a consultant in television production/media. This involves co-coordinating and providing tailored mental health support for people in unique environments.

Awards and Publications

Early in her career, Kristal received the Frontier Medical Award for Excellence in Clinical Practice and Academia (2005). She later received scholarship support for her Masters through the Te Pou Clinical Leadership Programme Scholarship.

Kristal was nominated for the Westpac Influential Woman of the Year (2015) in the diversity category. She was also selected as a presenter for the NZ Parliament select committee on marriage equality (2013).

Kristal has published several articles in mainstream media (KiwiParent, Express). She has also been published in peer-reviewed journals (Kai Tiaki Nursing Journal, TMLN, Journal of Women’s Studies, Childbirth Education e-publication, Journal of Equality and Diversity in Health and Care, Childbirth Education National publication).

Kristal has been involved in a number of quality assurance and policy related activities. Of note, she reviewed chapters in “Mental health: A person-centred approach” (Procter et al, 2014) and LGBTI Position statement feedback/consultation to New Zealand Nursing Organisation (2016), guest speaking (midwifery) and has been interviewed for media features (NZ Herald), and Kai Tiaki Nursing Journal (Oct 2020) and interviewed for 95Bfm radio (2021).

Current practice

Kristal was recently involved in a project collecting the stories of women experiencing interpersonal violence via the Impact Collective. These stories informed Domestic Violence policy in 2019. She has also worked for Shine as a contractor, working in education and training in 2019.

In 2021 she has worked with Te Pou to create Rainbow specific Mental Health First Aid Guidelines for Aotearoa, as well as Te Ao Māramatanga (College of Mental Health Nurses) completing gap analysis for future nursing framework 2030.

Currently, Kristal is working in private practice; she is contracted to a youth health organisation, sees private adult clients and ACC clients and is also facilitating mental health and addictions/trauma education for Registered Nurses across Aotearoa. She is also involved in University clinical supervision for nursing in mental health and addiction; as well as consultancy work for workforce development.