Introducing Tamsin Gallie, MND NZ Regional Support Advisor

While Tamsin Gallie is excited to blend her love of the lower South Island with her love of helping people to advocate for themselves in her new MND NZ Support Advisor role, she cautions her clients not to ask her for gardening advice! “Unlike the rest of the MND NZ Support Team I am not an avid gardener, I can literally kill cacti,” exclaims Tamsin.

Thankfully for her clients, however, she is very familiar with MND and other health conditions due to her background in physiotherapy with a specialisation in neurological rehabilitation – and she’s pretty handy at literally sailing a boat through rough seas.

The sailing experience is due to 18 months on a boat making natural history documentaries for TVNZ, including expeditions through the treacherous Northwest Passage in the Arctic Ocean, around the Americas and back to New Zealand.  

Tamsin is convinced she was born in the wrong place, but she managed to break free from the UK once she’d completed university and gave her heart over to New Zealand 27 years ago. She did a temporary leap across the Tasman, which she describes as ‘not her best decision’ as it saw her locked down in Melbourne during COVID. However, there were some silver linings.

“In my role in the disability sector in Melbourne I spent a lot of time improving access to palliative care for people with intellectual disability, which fuelled my interest in the palliative care space. This was strengthened further when we were on the user end of those services for my mother-in-law in 2023,” she says.

Along with the cacti, we suggest you don’t ask Tamsin about her bike, but you might want to enquire how someone ‘accidentally’ qualifies for the World Age Group Champs.

“I was a keen cyclist and triathlete, I accidentally qualified for the World Age Group champs in 2008 in Vancouver, but these days I just look guiltily at my bike in the garage,” explains Tamsin.

While she has lived all over New Zealand home is currently in Moeraki – yes, she can confirm there are boulders there. She lives with her partner and Jess, the 11-year-old Collie dog inherited from her mother-in-law.

Her partner works in the law and justice space in Papua New Guinea and she says she is fortunate to have lived in that fascinating country. Her love of travel has also been nurtured with some big bucket-list travel expeditions in recent years including The Eagle Festival in Mongolia (pictured above).

🔗Contact details for Tamsin Gallie, MND NZ Regional Support Advisor, Otago, Southland, Queenstown Lakes and Timaru and all regional support advisors.