Our People
Head Office
Max Cavit
Founder & Managing Director
Max Cavit is the founder of ABI Rehabilitation New Zealand. Max’s academic background is in philosophy, psychology and theology. He entered the health field in 1982 as the general manager of Mary Potter Hospice in Wellington and became convinced of the importance of bringing holistic clinical skill and caring together in order to enable people with a disability to ‘make the most of life’.
Max remains actively involved as managing director, supporting the clinical teams and working wherever he can to build the field of brain injury rehabilitation in New Zealand. He has a strong belief in collaboration; at the individual level with clients and whānau and at the macro level with government and DHBs to improve access to services for people needing rehabilitation.
Sue Edwards
National Business and HR Manager
Prior to joining ABI Rehabilitation six years ago, Sue worked in corporate finance and administration roles across a wide range of industries in New Zealand and Australia. Her position as national business and HR manager is a challenging and rewarding one which gives her responsibility for the financial and administration functions of ABI Rehabilitation as well as for human resources.
Sue’s personal philosophy is that we are only limited by the limits we place on ourselves. To that end, she sees her role as helping to create an environment within ABI Rehabilitation that supports personal growth; ensuring the team can grow professionally through ongoing education, training and career development, and enabling ABI Rehabilitation to continually improve the quality of services it provides.
Sue holds a Diploma of Management from the New Zealand Institute of Management (NZIM Dip.). She has also completed a number of accountancy papers at BCom level and is currently studying towards a Bachelor of Business degree specialising in HR management.
Te Miria James-Hohaia
Māori Services Manager / Kaitiaki
Te Miria has worked with the Ministry of Health for the last 9 years as the Strategic Advisor, Māori Public Health.
Her role was to take a strategic overview of public health and acting as the primary advisor to the Deputy Director General Public Health and the Director Public Health on strategic policy advice matters relating to Māori.
Te Miria participated fully and co-operatively as a member of the Public Health Strategic Management Team on issues related to the strategic leadership and development of the sector and the strategic leadership, management and development of the Public Health Directorate.
Te Miria also has a background in community development, having worked with the Community Employment Group as an Iwi development (economic) advisor. She assisted the Māori Women’s Development Inc. to design and implement a business mentoring and facilitation programme.
Te Miria identifies the development and implementation of the ‘Whānau Ora’ tool as her number one accomplishment to date.
Dr Allison Foster
Research Director
Allison Foster has a neuro-science PhD and seven years of research experience in health and biotech industries. In her role leading ABI Rehabilitation’s burgeoning research programme, her goals are to provide the quantitative evidence that demonstrates regulatory/funder compliance and to contribute to the knowledge base for neuro-rehabilitation within New Zealand and worldwide.
Research topics at ABI Rehabilitation include:
- The epidemiology and natural history of TBI in New Zealand
- Long-term outcomes in TBI and the intervention-dependent predictors of outcome
- Effective models of person-centred service delivery
- Financially responsible rehabilitation interventions
- Provision of health services for underserved populations
Stuart Manning
Quality Coordinator
After gaining his nursing registration in the UK in 1987 Stuart Manning moved to New Zealand in 1990 and worked at Auckland Hospital. He spent a year working in Saudi Arabia then returned to New Zealand in 1993 and worked in senior nursing roles for both Auckland and Waitemata DHB.
Stuart worked in the management team that commissioned the acute services at Waitakere Hospital and moved into emergency management and quality roles at WDHB.
Stuart perceives quality as integral to everyone’s role with his facilitating the achievement of both individual and organisational goals.
Auckland Operational Team
Dr Richard Seemann
Medical Director
Dr Richard Seemann is a graduate of Otago Medical School and a specialist in rehabilitation medicine who has previously worked in neurology and elder health services. He has worked for ABI Rehabilitation for 11 years, the last three as full-time director of medical services for the company. He is very enthusiastic about providing world-class rehabilitation for his patients with traumatic brain injury and other serious neurological disorders, backed up by a significant research programme, and benchmarking with similar services in Australia and the USA. He also believes in providing services specifically targeted to the needs of Maori and the varied ethnic groups that make up the population of Aotearoa/New Zealand.
Tony Young
Rehabilitation Team Manager
Tony is a graduate of Auckland Physiotherapy School and worked at Waikato Hospital prior to moving to London. During his time in London he continued to work in the field of brain injury rehabilitation.
On returning to New Zealand in 2002 he worked at ABI Rehabilitation as a physiotherapist while completing a post-graduate diploma in rehabilitation and has since taken on the role of rehabilitation team manager.
Through an interdisciplinary approach, including involvement from the client and their family, his key philosophy of rehabilitation is to support the client to obtain the skills required to maximise their participation in meaningful activities.
Angela Davenport
Nursing Services Manager
Angela has worked as an RN for 21years. She was charge nurse at Auckland Hospital’s neurology/TBI ward for five years before moving to ABI Rehabilitation as nurse manager.
Following graduation, Angela completed a BHSc (Nursing) through Charles Sturt University and a MHSc (Nursing) through Auckland University.
Rehabilitation nursing is based on the philosophy that every individual has the potential for a personally meaningful life. ABI is committed to improving the lives of its clients and support its nursing team to provide rehabilitation that is respectful to each individual, based upon current best practice.
Sarah Bretherton
Residential Manager
After graduating in England as a physiotherapist, in 1974, Sarah Bretherton worked at The Devonshire Royal Hospital, which specialised in rheumatology, orthopaedics, neurology, rehabilitation and traumatic brain injury.
Sarah then worked at Grafton Manor, Northamptonshire, which specialised in behavioural TBI until she emigrated to New Zealand in 1993 with her three children. After settling the children into their new lifestyle Sarah set up the physiotherapy in the PD unit at Waitakere College. She was delighted when she was able to return to TBI, as the physiotherapist and help Max establish ABI in 1995.
In 2008 Sarah was appointed manager of the long-term residential service. Her current role is to provide the best quality, client-centred community care in a homely environment.
Karen Came
Community Services Manager
Karen qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 1982 and has worked in the fields of vocational rehabilitation, paediatric neuro-rehabilitation and rehabilitation management. She has participated in extensive post-graduate study over the past 20 years.
Karen has a history of involvement in the development of community based social and vocational rehabilitation services and has primarily focused on services that support people to recover at work following injury.
Karen’s key philosophy of rehabilitation is that people need to engage in personally relevant and meaningful activity/occupation to ensure they have the best quality of life possible. She believes the role of rehabilitation professionals is to assist clients in achieving this goal in as independent and functional a manner as possible. Karen believes that where ever possible people should be assisted to recover in their own environments (e.g. work place, home or community).
Rachelle Bennett
Community and Outpatient Services Team Leader
Rachelle Bennett qualified with a BSc in occupational therapy from AUT in 1996. She worked in inpatient and community rehabilitation prior to moving into brain injury rehabilitation in residential and community settings.
Rachelle worked in the UK between 2003 and 2004, and on arriving back in New Zealand she returned to providing assessment and therapy to clients with traumatic brain injury for ABI Rehabilitation. This role progressed into an advisory role, and she recently moved into the role of Team Leader for ABI Rehabilitation’s community and outpatient services.
Rachelle enjoys the physical and cognitive components of working in the neuro-rehabilitation field and is looking forward to the challenge of developing her skills in management.
Wellington Operational Team
Andrea McLeod
Operations Manager
After studying music at Otago University then embarking on a teaching career, Andrea realised that her desire was to work in health in a role that made a difference to both individuals and communities. She gained a Bachelor of Midwifery in 1996 and then worked with women and their families for more than eight years. She studied part time during this period gaining papers in Public Health and also a Diploma in Women’s Studies. During her career as a Midwife, and while working in a variety of health settings, Andrea found herself naturally falling into management roles and in 2001 she graduated from Massey University with a Post-Graduate Diploma in Health Service Management. She has held senior management roles in the health sector for more than 12 years and has worked for public and private organisations, both large and small, and in a number of fields including; women’s health, public health and aged care.
While working for ACC as manager of rehabilitation programme development, Andrea became interested in the field of rehabilitation. She is inspired by the journey of each client as they regain life skills and move towards independence. She enjoys working in an organisation and with staff who add value to the lives of individuals and communities. Andrea is currently studying towards a Post Graduate Diploma in Rehabilitation through Otago Medical School, and a Masters in Management through Massey University.
Catherine Epps
Rehabilitation Team Manager
Catherine is a speech language therapist by profession, and immigrated to New Zealand with her family from the UK in 2006. Catherine has worked in a number of health settings including acute services, day centre and respite facilities, community, forensics, remote hospitals and of course neuro-rehabilitation. Catherine initially worked in a neuro-rehabilitation setting in what was Rivermead Rehabilitation Centre, Oxford in the UK, where she was fortunate to work directly with many of the leaders in the field at that time.
After completing a Master's degree Catherine pursued a career in healthcare management. She has been part of a team that set up an innovative and jointly funded community stroke service, and has managed speech language therapy teams in both the UK and NZ. Prior to moving to this role at ABI in Wellington, Catherine managed the Community and Outpatients Service for ABI Rehabilitation in Auckland. She particularly enjoys working in neuro-rehabilitation, being a part of each individual’s rehabilitation process and witnessing the tenacity of the human spirit.
Gerard McLeod
Nursing Team Manager
Gerard started his nursing career in Dunedin more than 20 years ago. He is a registered nurse with extensive experience in a number of settings including paediatrics, theatre (where he specialised in neuro surgery), surgical, medical and intensive care. Gerard has post-graduate qualifications in both paediatrics and theatre nursing. Since 2006 he has worked in management roles in the private health sector. He has led and managed both small and large teams and has been an agent for change in many of the organisations he has worked for.
Project management has been a key focus for Gerard for the past three years and he has proven experience in service development and business growth. Gerard is passionate about providing excellent nursing care to clients and his focus on staff capability and clinical excellence is evident in his approach. With his recent experience in the aged care sector Gerard has become more interested in the rehabilitation process, and despite chronic illness and the advancing age of his previous clients, he has seen many great successes. Joining ABI Rehab has been the next step in seeing the true impact of rehabilitation and Gerard is enjoying seeing not only the clients, but also the staff, discover and reach their potential.
James Makowharemahihi
Social Worker – Maori and Pacifi
James Makowharemahihi is a full time qualified and registered Social Worker for ABI Rehabilitation Wellington, He is a J.P. Justice of The Peace of NZ, member of Aotearoa NZ Association of Social Workers, registered NZ Maori Counsellor, Marriage Celebrant, Community Leader and Kaumatua. James was born at Ratana Paa, Whanganui. His iwi affiliations include Te Iwi Morehu, Ngarauru, Atihaunui-A-Paparangi Whanganui, Ngati Apa, Ngati Ruanui, Nga Ruahinerangi, Te Atiawa, Ngati Tama, Ngati Whiti, Ngati Tuwharetoa, Ngai Te Rangi, Ngati Ranginui.
James has worked in many roles that have complimented and contributed to his many years of experience in health, rehabilitation, community and Maori potential. James is looking forward to making a positive contribution to the service through his role as a Key Worker. He will take a lead role in counseling and resolving issues with whanau/families, liaising internally and with stakeholder agencies and funders including ACC, DHB, MoH, and educating, coordinating, communicating, supporting and navigating families through the rehabilitation pathway. Through a philosophy of inclusiveness James seeks to consult and liaise with Maori, Pacific Island and other clients of ABI to develop and provide culturally appropriate services in the rehabilitation setting.
