Who got that job?

By LIANE VOISEY

Were you one of the people who applied for this job and wondered who got it?

Job title: Manager social services, Auckland City Mission

A registered general nurse who spent most of his 20s working in London hospitals, at age 30 British-born Neil Kemp decided to return to study. He obtained a social psychology and economics degree from the London School of Economics, and a diploma in counselling. Kemp found his niche as an alcohol counsellor with Inform-Al in London.

In 1994 he and his Kiwi partner moved to New Zealand. As supervisor at Regional Alcohol and Drug Services in Auckland, Kemp worked his way up the ranks managing "various components of their community alcohol and drug services units".

Nine years ago Kemp moved to Waitemata Mental Health Services and managed the community assessment and treatment teams in north and west Auckland. These were the "crisis teams of mental health services". He left the organisation after mental health services were restructured.

Kemp, now 46, says that when the vacancy at Auckland City Mission came up he had been looking for something that would ignite his passion for work.

He was attracted to the role because it is varied, dynamic and will give him the experience with a lot of different services outside of the health sector.

He brings to the mix "an ability to manage and develop staff and the ability to develop robust systems". His job involves input into policy development and training staff, and Kemp says his challenges will be working within the limits of resources and facilities to improve things.

For instance, the residential components of Auckland City Mission are going through government certification in the next nine months which mental health providers must pass to keep operating.

"Essentially my experience allows me to have an overview of National Mental Health standards and health and disability standards, and I'm going to be leading the process for those teams to meet the standards and meet certification."