Kim Barker has been appointed to the Tōku Oranga team in the role of Health Coach/Community Support Worker, based at Murihiku Medical Services.  

Kim brings a wealth of experience in professional development and strengths based coaching, and is passionate about seeing people reach their goals and achieve things they thought may not be possible. She has a background in youth social work where she worked regionally and nationally.

Kim started her professional practice in 2015, based in Invercargill, focusing on personal and professional development coaching.

After making health-based changes in her own life that became very valuable, Kim saw the Health Coach/Community Support Worker role as an opportunity for aligning those skills with a health practice that has similar values. She says it has been a nice transition and she’s looking forward to being part of a team again.

Kim believes her strengths are having people be seen and heard, then finding creative ways of making positive changes. She is really passionate about people seeing what is right about who they are, instead of the common focus on what is wrong, favouring a strengths based approach in her coaching. “The hope is people grow in their understanding of the inherent value that they have. Empowering them, to make changes that they want to make.”

Growing up on a farm at Woodlands, Kim has never gone too far, enjoying family life close to home. Jetboating is one of the family’s favourite activities. She loves the outdoors - Kinloch (Otago) being a favourite spot. Also making time for volunteer work with Land Search and Rescue Southland, in both incident management and the field team.

Article added: Thursday 09 May 2024