Jenny Wolf began her career as a mental health social worker. She has since worked in a variety of roles, including Regional Manager CADS Auckland, Senior Advisor Addiction Treatment at the Ministry of Health, and General Manager Bay of Plenty Mental Health & Addiction Services.
Jenny is a founding member of the 2SLGBTQ+ Leadership Collaborative, in partnership with the Global Leadership Exchange (GLE).
Currently Jenny also provides supervision, with a focus on supporting those in leadership roles. In her consultant role, Jenny has supported the Rainbow elder voices space.
A founding member of dapaanz, Jenny has been instrumental in supporting the growth and development of the addiction workforce over several decades. In November 2025, Jenny was made a lifetime member of dapaanz.
Below, Jenny shares some reflections on her time in the addiction sector. Scroll to the bottom to find out more about her career.
Ka mua, ka muri | Looking back to move forward
What does being an addiction practitioner mean to you?
“In all the areas I have worked in during my career in addiction, mental health, social services, policy and management, I truly believe the role of an addiction practitioner is very rewarding. The real difference here is supporting people who have enormous stigma and come with the absolute raw-ness of daily survival. It truly is a privilege to support people who may have burnt many bridges and need someone to hold hope for them.”
What changes have you noticed over the course of your career?
“I think as a sector we have developed and adapted our identity over the years.
I remember Tim Harding once saying at my first Cutting Edge about 28 years ago, that it was high time we acknowledged that abstinence is part of the harm reduction continuum. I recall Doug Sellman saying about 22 years ago that we should call ourselves the Alcohol and other Drug sector because alcohol is just as much a drug and that it is legal.
It’s interesting to reflect that close to half of our workforce 30 years ago were people in recovery – and now we are focusing on dedicated lived experience roles. In this way we get a ‘bonus’ of the practitioner lived experience and the support role lived experience – which means tāngata whai ora get some more support options of people who “get” them. We still have a way to go to support whānau.
We seem to progress our approaches and thinking in a united way as we are a small and well-connected sector. I think our latest learning is how we make ourselves more capable of working with cognitive impairment, particularly thanks to SACAT we need to determine competence. We have not necessarily been that aware of knowing how to support people with cognitive impairment and in particular their whānau supports. Clearly people see and learn things differently and we need to understand how to support them in change.
A very current change is the kōrero about increasing our responses to incorporate co-occurring other addictive behaviours and how we ensure we don’t overlook some people’s potential to switch to other addictive behaviours if we think we have helped them with their AOD use.“
What do you know now that you wish you’d known earlier in your career?
“Haha. I really lament that when I became the Regional Manager of CADS Auckland and Ian MacEwan visited me from ALAC, virtually with an open cheque book – asking what I saw as priorities, and I could not articulate them at the time. I think I had only been in the role a few weeks! However, I made up for that later.“
Is there anyone you would like to recognise or acknowledge who may have had a big impact on your career?
“In my kōrero above, Tim Harding, who, at the time he made that statement, was CEO of Queen Mary (!) and Prof Doug Sellman, also mentioned above, who has tirelessly pushed the envelope on all manner of addiction related things and has made a significant contribution to our sector. Cathy Menzies (RIP) first employed me into the addiction sector when she was Regional Manager of what was known as “RADS” in those days in Auckland. I eventually got her role and changed the name to “CADS”. She was a very good leader, and I learned some helpful things from her that I recall to this day. Ian MacEwan, whose leadership I admire, given his vision of dapaanz, and how he took that brave step to establish it. (Look at where dapaanz is today – awesome!) John Challis who was CEO of Odyssey Auckland then moved to the USA. I visited him in New York and he shared lots of valuable information with me as he was working on a large-scale dual diagnosis project at the time. This really helped when I worked with the Ministry to roll out CEP. There are many others who assisted in my formation at the time.“
What is one tip, or indispensable tool that you’d recommend to others in the addiction workforce?
“Seek and connect with collegial supports across services. in my various national roles, I meet amazing people – some who at times feel isolated and are doing specialised mahi that is not replicated in other parts of the country.
I think it’s really healthy for practitioners and leaders to be conversing, affirming their mahi, sharing ideas, where possible across our sector – even a ‘green dollar’ exchange of supervision practice. There is a lot to be said and gained in making connections, which may even bring benefits for job satisfaction and workforce retention. I certainly see examples of this happening amongst the OST network.“
About Jenny
Jenny has worked in the addiction sector for over 30 years.
She has held senior mental health and addiction leadership roles in CADS Auckland, Bay of Plenty DHB, and the Ministry of Health.
She also has done some mahi with Matua Raki and Te Pou – and has been Chair of the Board of ADANZ and Odyssey House Trust, Christchurch.
Currently Jenny is a supervisor, Blueprint Addiction 101 facilitator, lead auditor of Specialist Opioid Substitution Treatment Services, leads the dapaanz rainbow practitioner community hui, and is the Addictions Lead for the Global Leadership Exchange which has 13 member countries.