Facilitators
Regions
North Island – Auckland, Northland, Waikato, Hawkes Bay, Bay of Plenty, Taranaki, Wanganui-Manawatu, Wairarapa, Gisborne and Wellington.
Phone
027 272 9331
Email
christina@peacefoundation.org.nz
Christina Barruel
Co-Manager and School Programmes Facilitator
In her previous role with the Peace Foundation, Christina trained thousands of student peer mediators and teachers during her 20 years as Head of Peace Education (2005 – 2025). She led a national team of five programme facilitators as well as office staff, interns and volunteers. Christina introduced the Cool Schools Peer Mediation Programme to schools in Fiji, Hong Kong, Iceland, Los Angeles and took the secondary programme (LtPM) to England and Japan.
During 2013, Christina was recognized for her outstanding contribution to peace education in New Zealand and was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellowship for travel abroad. In 2015 she was awarded a scholarship from Resolution Institute (RI) which enabled her to train and become accredited as an adult mediator. She is still a registered mediator with RI to this day.
During November 2024, Christina was the recipient of Resolution Institute’s prestigious Services to Dispute Resolution Award. This award acknowledges practitioners who go ‘above and beyond’ in their work responsibilities and are considered ‘outstanding practitioners’.
Christina will be moving into a part time role with the Peace Foundation from April 2026. She will be available to support her Co-Manager and the new Head of Peace Education. She will also have more time to enjoy the activities she loves with her partner Pete, especially travel both in Aotearoa and overseas.
Regions
Otago
Phone
021 464 910
Email
lisa@peacefoundation.org.nz
Lisa Gibson
LtPM School Programme Facilitator
Lisa is a qualified teacher, relationship and family coach, and trained mediator based in Wānaka, Otago. She also works as an ESOL tutor with REAP Otago and serves as a part-time facilitator with The Peace Foundation.
Born in Samoa and raised in New Zealand, Lisa brings valuable insight, empathy, and cultural understanding to her work. For more than twenty years she has supported students and families to strengthen communication, enhance connection, and build emotional resilience through coaching, mediation, and educational programmes.
Committed to fostering peaceful relationships and stronger communities, Lisa is inspired by the opportunity to help others create harmony, understanding, and lifelong bonds. She feels privileged to contribute to The Peace Foundation’s vision of a more peaceful and compassionate world.
In her personal time, Lisa enjoys hiking, yoga, connecting with friends, and appreciating the natural beauty of Central Otago.
Regions
Canterbury, Otago, Southland, Marlborough, Tasman Bay/Nelson
Phone
021 055 9575
Email
tracy.scott@peacefoundation.org.nz
Tracy Scott
Tracy started her journey in mediation and conflict resolution over 20 years ago when she started her Masters in Conflict Resolution, Community Change and Civic Leadership from Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio. She worked for 6 years in the United States as a Virginia Supreme Court certified General, Family, Circuit Court Family, Mediator, Mentor and Trainer.
During that time Tracy conducted hundreds of hours of mediations as a Court Certified Mediator and trainings in her role as the Training Coordinator for the Community Mediation Centre, the only not-for-profit mediation centre and leading mediation trainer in South Eastern Virginia. Tracy also presented mediation focused trainings at the Virginia Mediation Network Spring Conference, North Carolina Mediation Network Conference and the National Conference on Community Peace-making. Tracy participated in many professional development trainings at both state and national levels.
Tracy started her passion working with youth when she lead an 8 week training programme for 14 -16 year olds, a court ordered Diversion Programme in Norfolk, Virginia. She ran parenting classes for young men in the Chesapeake Juvenile Correction Services, Norfolk Housing Authority inner city leadership programme trainings and a youth training programme on Conflict Resolution, Mediation and Diversity.
Read more...
When Tracy returned to New Zealand to raise her daughter 14 years ago (who is now a Year 12 Student at Burnside High School), Tracy started Christchurch Mediation Services (New Zealand’s longest running Community Mediation Service). She also started her own Training and Mediation Company, Resolve Consultancy where she provides a number of services as a Mediator, Trainer, Conflict Coach and Conflict Consultant. Her passion and commitment to working with youth has grown over the past 14 years. She is in her 13th year of working in the South Island for the Peace Foundation, delivering the Cool Schools and LtPM trainings as well as having developed a youth resiliency program called Voice to Voice that is in its fifth year.
Tracy loves to work in a field and an industry where she believes she can impact societal change by increasing the capacity of youth to manage life’s challenges and conflicts which can enhance change and minimise escalation.
Regions
Auckland
Phone
022 264 0354
Email
andrea.edwards@peacefoundation.org.nz
Andrea Edwards
Andrea’s involvement with the Peace Foundation began in April 2018 through volunteering first in the office and then to help with the trainings. As of 2019, Andrea is one of The Peace Foundation’s facilitators for the Auckland region. She believes that there is a need to teach conflict resolution skills not just in schools but in all aspects of our lives, she is glad to have the opportunity to work with the Peace Foundation.
Andrea was born in the United States and spent most of her life there until she moved the New Zealand in 2013. From an early age, Andrea’s first exposure to mediation and conflict resolution was through her mother, who facilitated mediation training in schools across the country. Andrea’s mother even facilitated Andrea’s training as a mediator during her time in primary and secondary school. Andrea often jokes that she and her sister were her mother’s ‘assistants’ as they would often help their mother prepare for her workshops and even had the opportunity to attend a few.
While Andrea held an interest in conflict resolution, academically, Andrea’s interest was in environmental science. First, she completed a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from Spelman College. However, Andrea found that while she was still interested in environmental science, she was more interested in the social justice aspect of it. Andrea wanted to understand the conflict between communities over resources and the unequal distribution of environmental hazards. So much so, that she completed a Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Management from American Public University, where her thesis focused on environmental justice in Atlanta, Georgia.
Read more...
In July 2013, Andrea moved to New Zealand to pursue her doctorate in environmental science. The focus of her thesis is on understanding the influencing factors on the relationship between a community and energy company. Andrea recognizes the presence of conflict in that relationship and the influence of both historical and political factors. After completing her thesis, Andrea hopes to use the skills that she has learned in conflict resolution to help communities, government agencies, and companies to solve disputes over the environment.
When she is not working with the foundation or on her thesis, Andrea enjoys singing with the local choir, writing, boxing, and catching up with family and friends.
Regions
Auckland
Phone
021 634 192
Email
alathea@peacefoundation.org.nz
Alathea (Aly) MacSweeney
Aly has been working in mediation and dispute resolution for over 15 years, directly and indirectly. She is passionate about the benefits of understanding and learning about conflict resolution. Using dispute resolution skills make an enormous difference in our everyday life – at work, school, home and in our community.
She was born in Zambia to New Zealand parents who were working as teachers and trying to make a difference in the world in their own way. She then lived in Rome (discovering pizza!) and then London (discovering cold winters!) before moving to Auckland as a teenager and finally getting to settle down. She studied law in Auckland and after qualifying returned to the UK. She worked as a family lawyer but eventually became disillusioned with the anger, sadness and the acrimonious attitude of clients and the other lawyers. There had to be a better way!
Aly had always been interested in the use of alternative means of resolving disputes and eventually found work as a dispute resolution adviser with CEDR, an organisation in London supporting the use of mediation to resolve disputes in many areas of life. This gave her the opportunity to learn much more about mediation and she volunteered with community mediation services working on neighbourhood dispute and worked for some time in a role mediating workplace dispute.
Read more...
Since returning to live in NZ with her partner and children in 2012, Aly has been involved with the Citizens Advice Bureau, first as a manager of the CAB branch in Onehunga and now as a training facilitator for the wonderful volunteers who give their time to the CAB. Also, very early on, Aly made contact with The Peace Foundation as she was excited to find an organisation that taught dispute resolution skills to school students of all ages. She started out volunteering to help with the training and since the start of 2019 has come on board with The Peace Foundation as one of the national facilitators. She is totally stoked to be working with the awesome team here.
Aly adores being a Mum and spending time with her family. She enjoys walking, kayaking, cycling and swimming. She is very excited about getting the opportunity to work with schools and The Peace Foundation to spread peace and aroha – so needed in our world today.
Regions
West Coast of the South Island
Phone
027 755 7800
Email
janzu@peacefoundation.org.nz
Jan Zuckerman
Jan is a qualified teacher and has been involved in both primary and secondary schools for 40 years on the West Coast of the South Island. She worked at Westland High School for 33 years and recently retired, both as a classroom teacher and Guidance Counsellor.
Jan became involved with the Peace Foundation when she was teaching peer support, mediation skills and empowering leadership skills to high school students in 1997. It was a unique opportunity to be involved with the Peace Foundation on a secondary level, where soon a programme was designed and delivered to high schools. She is delighted to once again support the Peace Foundation here on the West Coast working with both primary and secondary schools. It is an opportunity to share her experiences and knowledge. Jan believes it is a privilege to work alongside the Peace Foundation.
The West Coast has many opportunities. Jan and her husband live on three acres near the Hokitika Gorge. Spending time with family and grandchildren in Canterbury and overseas, is a priority. She also enjoys time in the garden, spinning, knitting, tramping and cycling.