Willow Corner

26/05/2026

We have a little collection of lost property! If you recognise any of this flick me a message!

24/05/2026

Clever Kids camp is coming up again soon! This is an awesome opportunity for Dyslexic kids! Check out below for details:

Clever Kids Camp - Christchurch, 4-6th Sept 2026
Are you supporting a child who would benefit from understanding their dyslexia, building positive coping strategies, and connecting with other dyslexic kids? Clever Kids Camp might be for you. To find out more or request the zoom link for the next parent info session on May 28th 7-8pm, email dyslexiacampsnz@gmail.com. Speech and language therapists Voon & Liz would love to hear from you.

20/05/2026

Any families keen to be involved in this research?

20/05/2026

Here’s a pretty awesome story of a new university graduate who has had many of the same experiences as countless other young women growing up and having their needs dismissed throughout school!
(Am I also shamelessly sharing because she’s my lifetime bestie and I’m incredibly proud of her….perhaps… 🥹)

"My high school teachers told me I would never graduate university, yet here I am."

Emily graduated this week as the first member of her family to earn a university degree. With two majors, no less.

Growing up, her main goal was to finish high school because no one else in her family had. But life threw some curveballs in the form of chronic illness, an undiagnosed learning difference, parenthood (a lovely curveball - hello mum of four 👋) and a teacher who publicly humiliated her writing in front of the class.

“I wanted to be a writer, until my English teacher read my work to the class, picked it apart and used it as an example of what not to do. I stopped writing after that.”

As the years went by, she studied and worked on and off, navigated parenthood, survived the Christchurch earthquakes, rebuilt a life in Melbourne and found her love of reading again while working in a bookshop. Then covid hit.

“I fell ill at work and spent the next four weeks incredibly sick. After that I never regained my ability to do so many of the things I was so used to doing.

“I was still an avid reader and I still had dreams of becoming a published author. So, after a mad dash to get all the relevant documentation, I enrolled in Massey University’s Creative Writing program as a distance student.”

She studied through hospital visits, medical trials and mum-life, becoming the first person in her family to graduate this week. 26 years after finishing high school.

“I couldn’t have done it without the loving support and constant encouragement of my partner Chloe, to whom I read aloud every piece I wrote, from short poems to 4000-word essays, often multiple times.”

Bring on her masters degree! Congrats Emily 👏

18/04/2026

We still have space at our next Mighty Willows course coming up this Wednesday 22nd April! If you want to learn about the nervous system, interoception, co-regulation and spoons then come and join us!!

Mighty Willows helps the grownups explore ways to better understand and respond to children's underlying needs

16/04/2026

Such a perfectly placed rainbow!!

13/04/2026

There’s still time to register for our next Mighty Willows course, coming up next week!! If you’re keen to learn more about why kids get dysregulated, and want some more tools to add to your parenting or teaching kēte then this is the course for you!! See below for more details and registration info:

Individualised support for children, families or schools. We provide strategies where children have neuro-diverse development or higher levels of emotional challenges

31/03/2026

Keen to learn more about how the nervous system triggers the “behaviour” that we see? Want to find some ways to help your kids regulate, and problem solve with them?
Come along to our next Mighty Willows course, coming up soon on 22nd April and 13th May at the Aldersgate Centre in Christchurch.
Register below!!

Mighty Willows helps the grownups explore ways to better understand and respond to children's underlying needs

10/03/2026

Such a fantastic evening presenting in Amberley! Thanks to the Hurunui District Council and Community Wellbeing North Canterbury for having me!
Next up - Darfield Primary School next Tuesday evening!

20/02/2026

Registrations for the first Mighty Willows course of 2026 are now live! This is being held on Wednesday 22nd April and Wednesday 13th May, 9.30am - 1pm each day at Aldersgate Centre in Christchurch.

Register below!!

Mighty Willows helps the grownups explore ways to better understand and respond to children's underlying needs