The Team

Taimi Allan
Like Minds, Like Mine Team Leader

Mind and Body has one of the four Auckland contracts to deliver Like Minds, Like Mine: the Ministry of Health’s campaign to counter stigma and discrimination associated with mental distress. As Team Leader, Taimi oversees and carries out a variety of projects, including workshops, grants, and media work.

Taimi is a talented jazz singer, actor, caterer, barista, wine sommelier and visual artist. Taimi has been a professional actor for TV, Feature Film, radio voice-overs and Theatre, an international Flight Attendant, a Butler, a Restaurant & Boutique Hotel Manager, Adult Educator, Competition standard Barista Trainer, Acting Tutor and Vocal Coach. Prior to joining Mind and Body Taimi was the owner/director of a successful Catering Company and a Music School and won Employee of the Year with her previous employer out of over 40,000 staff for saving someone’s life at work Taimi says however, that by far her greatest achievement was successfully managing her own mental illness to become completely drug-free.

Miriam Barr
Mental Health Promoter

Miriam has a master’s degree in psychology. When she is not working as a mental health promoter on the Like Minds team, she is running Engage, where she designs anxiety support programmes, related recovery-based professional development packages and formulates ways for mental-health service-users to be heard by their recovery partners. One method she is particularly pleased with is a form that allows people to anonymously ‘dob in’ services that have been unsatisfactory. As much as possible, she spends the rest of her time immersed in poetry – either writing it, reading it, rehearsing it, chalking it, performing it, slamming it, publishing it or organising events around it.