Patricia (Tricia) Walsh (Ngāti Porou) is a mother, grandmother, social worker, inspirational speaker, justice activist, campaigner, ex-prisoner and survivor. Patricia first entered prison as a young teenager. By the time she was 40 years old she had been in prison six times. Her insights are informed by both lived experience and a keen analytical mind. Her ability to speak to other survivors of harm and those who have harmed, as well as to policy makers and influencers, demonstrate the breadth of her reach. She signals the importance and power of whakapapa (our genealogies, descent lines) as a decolonizing strategy that can lead to the restoration of mana (prestige, authority, control and spiritual power) for individuals and the collective. Tricia is committed to ending five generations of dispossession and abuse in her whanau (family), and to create safe and flourishing futures for them and for all tamariki (children). Her journey has been recently documented in an auto-biographical documentary entitled I Am: I am changing the future for our whānau: I am Tricia Walsh available at https://www.tvnz.co.nz/shows/i-am/episodes/s3-e3.
