Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua – Building the skills and capacities of working parents
Overview
The Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua programme empowers caregivers to better understand themselves as parents and better meet the particular needs of their children. Focusing on practical skills, and accommodating the unique situation of every working caregiver, it builds problem-solving skills on a supportive-of-work community structure, and promotes the development of a culture in which frank parenting conversations are welcomed and validated. The programme is supported by, and delivered within, organisations that recognise the critical role they occupy in our parenting village.
Foundations: Listen to Understand – Mā te rongo, ka mārama
The programme draws on the principles of Motivational Interviewing (MI) which promotes partnership, acceptance, compassion, and empowerment to support change, Family Systems Theory that recognises that family dynamics are interrelated, and changes in one member's behaviour impact the entire family, and Sir Mason Durie’s Te Whare Tapa Whā model of four dimensions of well-being necessary to support holistic family well-being and effective parenting.
Structure
Groups: 5-8 participants
Duration: 4 weeks
Format: One session of 90 minutes per week (Optional review 3 months later)
To discuss the Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua programme and the ways in which it might integrate into your organisation’s efforts to build a supportive, inclusive culture:
THE NUMBERS
73%
of new parents consider leaving their employer
33%
have left a job due to lack of flexibility or support
40%
leave within 18 months of returning
25%
of mothers in NZ are not working 45 months after giving birth due to lack of flexible jobs or support
Sources: Parentaly, Bright Horizons, KPMG, NZAE
When parents thrive, workplaces thrive – and so does our society.
In most workplaces, a significant portion of the team is balancing paid work with the demands of raising tamariki. Both jobs are important and valuable – and both warrant the time, space and tools to be well managed.
The effects of challenges aren’t always visible, but they are real. Left unaddressed they can quietly undermine focus, morale and long-term retention.
Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua helps businesses respond in a practical, people-first way: through confidential coaching, relevant tools, and targeted culture-building. These aren’t just support services, they’re progressive, preventative investments. When barriers are removed and parents feel backed by their workplace the gains can be significant: sharper focus, stronger loyalty, a culture where everyone benefits.
Support for working parents isn’t so much a tactical quick fix as it is a strategy for unlocking potential and strengthening performance across the organisation.
A Reset for any organisation, at any level
EAP for working parents: WPAP
Support that works for working parents – Whakatipu
Offered as an extension to your existing EAP, WPAP is a specialised wellbeing service delivered by Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua, that helps employees navigate the challenges of raising whānau while holding down paid work. Through confidential coaching, whānau-inclusive support, and practical tools for managing stress, identity shifts, and the mental load, WPAP enables working parents to stay well and engaged in both roles. Offered as an extension to your existing EAP, it signals your commitment to supporting the whole person – not just the employee. Sessions may be eligible for CPD points.
With a flexible, pay-per-use pricing model and optional add-ons like workshops and wellbeing check-ins, WPAP is a progressive, people-first investment in a resilient, family-friendly workplace.
Interactive learning sessions
Practical, human-centred learning experiences to support working parents – and those who lead them: Pakiaka, Tipu
Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua offers a suite of engaging, evidence-informed workshops designed to help organisations better understand and support the lived experience of working parents.
Grounded in real-world challenges, these sessions offer practical strategies for managing the daily tensions between paid work and parenting, building emotional resilience, improving communication, and creating calmer, more connected home environments.
They’re designed to inform and support both working parents and those responsible for their wellbeing and performance, delivered live (online or in-person) and include interactive discussion and a take-home worksheet.
From quick, action-oriented lunch-and-learn sessions to more intensive and intimate culture-exploring group workshops, we can structure a program that’s responsive to your team’s context. Several sessions confer CPD (Continuing Professional Development) points, supporting ongoing growth and capability for staff in leadership, HR, and frontline roles.
And while these interactive sessions are proven ways to build empathy, skill and culture across your workplace, we can help you embark on an exploration into a culture of support and validation for working parents through one-off seminars and keynotes.
Get in touch to explore workshop options and how they can complement your broader wellbeing strategy.
Culture building
Designing workplaces where parents thrive … and performance lifts: Rākau nui
Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua offers culture-building workshops for organisations wishing to explore what an intentional, sustainable approach to working parent wellbeing might look for them.
Developed in consultation with leadership and HR decision-makers, these sessions dig deeply into the realities facing their working parents in order to assess gaps and co-design practical, values-aligned strategies.
Whether initiated through a discovery session or shaped by insights emerging from WPAP or a workshop series, each engagement is tailored to your employment context. The focus is on building a culture that actively supports whānau life alongside work life while dismantling identified barriers to consistent high performance.
Talk with us about how a parent wellbeing plan could become a strength in your organisational culture.
Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua – building confident parents and stronger workplaces.
In most workplaces, a significant portion of the team is balancing paid work with the demands of raising tamariki. Both of these jobs are important – and warrant the time, space and tools to be well managed.
The effects of challenges aren’t always visible, but they are real. Left unaddressed they can quietly undermine focus, morale and long-term retention.
Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua helps businesses respond in a practical, people-first way: through confidential coaching, relevant tools, and targeted culture-building. These aren’t just support services, they’re progressive, preventative investments. When barriers are removed and parents feel backed by their workplace the gains can be significant: sharper focus, stronger loyalty, a culture where everyone benefits.
Support for working parents isn’t so much a tactical quick fix as it is a strategy for unlocking potential and strengthening performance across the organisation.
A Reset for any organisation, at any level
Introduction
Kākano Plant the seed
Thought provocation: How Did we Get Here?
90 minute workshop including Q&A.
For the whole organisation
Kickstart
Pakiaka Let roots take hold
Lunchtime Learning: active seminar series
Seven 1-hr single-topic sessions.
Short sharp sessions that create immediate clarity and connection.
For parents and internal stakeholders
Strengthen and Support
Tipu Supported growth
Foundations: internal workshop programme
Four intensive 3hr modules, plus 30m 1-1 coaching/support. Group workshop series offering real skills and real transformation.
For parents and internal stakeholders
Embed Rākau nui
Strong forest culture
The Village at Work
Facilitated design workshop to map out a sustainable culture change plan.
For leadership/
executive and People & Culture team
We’re not about “fixing” parents
Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua partners with organisations to reduce the hidden costs of parenting-related stress at work.
“We all know it takes a village to raise a child. But in our hectic modern times it can be hard to find that village.”
Carla Moore, Founder
Working parents bring so much to a team: skill, loyalty, leadership – but many are doing two jobs and showing up to work with only half of themselves. We help organisations ensure their working parents can thrive.
A message from Carla
Parenting can be viewed as the ultimate expression of leadership. It is a HUGE job and no one gets it perfectly right. There's no training.We're not designed to do this without support. Then we add work on top of it!
When working parents are supported the ripple effects touch every part of our lives, from the workplace to the whānau, and then into the wider community.
I bring a lifetime of lived and learned experience to this work: raising four tamariki, creating parenting communities and holding a Master’s in Educational Psychology. I’ve spent decades working at the intersection of education, wellbeing, and community development, supporting parents across every stage of the journey.
Reset was born from a bold new idea: that the workplace can become part of the village many parents need today. While a workplace will never be a marae, the values so often lived out on the marae – manaakitanga, whanaungatanga, kotahitanga – are exactly the qualities that help teams thrive. When we honour parenting in the workplace we grow stronger leaders, more connected people and a better future for our mokopuna.
Reset: Kaiārahi Mātua is a key part of a solution. It helps forward-thinking organisations become employers of choice by recognising the real lives of their people. It’s not about fixing parents. It’s about valuing them, walking alongside them, evolving the workplace to match.
My approach blends leadership, psychology and parenting insight to help organisations to retain and empower their working parents while strengthening community from within their workplace.
Ko te piko o te māhuri, Tēra te tipu o te rākau
How the sapling is bent, is how the tree will grow
The way we care for our working parents today determines the strength, stability, and direction of our people tomorrow – in business and beyond.
Whether you’re an HR leader, CEO, or working parent yourself, I’d love to connect and kōrero. Together, we can create workplaces where people bring their whole selves – and thrive.
Carla Moore B. Soc. Sci (Ed and Psych) | M.A. (Ed Psych)
Who’s working with us to make it work for working parents?
“I believe the course has been hugely beneficial to me over the past few weeks already, and no doubt will be beneficial going forwards. In particular, Carla has provided techniques to help enable me to identify and deal with different personalities, manage stressful situations, identify potential behaviours of mine that could be considered counterproductive, learn how to more effectively communicate and listen (especially when engaging in “difficult” conversations), and learn how to more efficiently problem solve. I also feel like I now have a support network of other like-minded people at OMV.
You may have noticed that I did not mention “children” above. This is because I have found Carla’s teachings to be applicable to my interactions with all people……work team included (some of whom are a lot more difficult than my kids!). But obviously the course is targeted at parenting, and the course has certainly helped me to better connect with my family. I can already see a more positive home life and happy work/life balance. Hopefully I can keep it up!” – OMV dad