HOW WE STARTED
Christmas 2017

"Auntie Mandi?" "Yes Harper?" "Am I fat?"

She was five years old. And that question started everything.

It led to a body positive photography project. That led to an award-winning film. That led to the development of a charitable trust.

The thread running through all of it has never changed. It is simply nonviolence.  To self, family, community, and planet.  It is about holistic belonging.

The corollary is the inquiry as to what happened that caused us to be violently separated from our wholeness.  From our connection with our bodies and the planet? And what is the impact of that separation? What does it mean when we do not feel safe in our own skin? Or like we are even a welcome part of the Earth? Who taught culture this? How do we unlearn it? How do we get back into the right relationship with ourselves, our community, and our planet?

We are a peace organisation. We just start small. We start with one person, in one body, learning to treat themselves with the same tenderness they would offer someone they love. From there the thread moves outward through whanau, through community, through the land beneath our feet, all the way to Papatuanuku herself.

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VISION

A generation rooted in respect for their own and others’ bodies, minds, and spirits; deeply connected to the land; nourished by thriving food forests; and educated in ways that settle their nervous systems before seeking to fill their minds.

MISSION

Every Body is a Treasure Charitable Trust creates facilitated opportunities for people to understand themselves more deeply, reconnect with one another and the living world, and interrupt the transmission of intergenerational trauma.

We develop practical, embodied pathways through which people can strengthen nervous-system regulation, practise nonviolence, restore their relationship with their bodies, and participate in the regeneration of their communities and the land.

OUR 2026–2028 FOCUS

From 2026 to 2028, we are creating opportunities for personal, collective, and planetary regeneration through four interwoven projects:

Granny Whales Gardens

Granny Whales Gardens brings together women in and beyond their menopausal years to form local “pods.” These pods collectively create and tend community food forests designed to reduce food insecurity, restore local ecosystems, and pass regenerative knowledge between generations.

Natural Leaders

Natural Leaders is our youth wellbeing programme. It supports young people to practise nonviolence, strengthen their connection with themselves and others, and learn regenerative land-management skills.

Through meaningful work with soil, food, plants, and community, young people develop practical capabilities while helping to repair land affected by extractive and industrial farming practices.

Nature and Neuroscience

Nature and Neuroscience works with educators supporting neurodivergent young people and young people affected by trauma.

Educators develop their own nervous-system awareness and settling practices so they can create safer learning environments and share practical tools with those whose nervous systems have been most affected by intergenerational trauma.

The intention is not to numb young people or teach them to tolerate harmful systems. It is to equip those who perceive society’s need for change most acutely with the regulation, connection, and support they need to participate in that change.

Finding Venus

Finding Venus offers body-positive workshops for women, mothers, and daughters. The programme creates space to examine inherited beliefs about bodies, ageing, beauty, sexuality, motherhood, and worth, helping participants replace shame and disconnection with respect, curiosity, compassion, and embodied belonging.