Before Amend was born, Watene (Wa) Watene was already deep in the trenches—working where pain hides and potential is often overlooked. For five years, he served inside the Department of Child Safety, supporting children who had been removed from unsafe homes and helping those who had disconnected from school re-engage with their education. He stood with kids whose stories mirrored his own—stories of trauma, loss, and feeling like the world had given up on them. 

Later, Wa moved into education, teaching at a school designed for boys who had been excluded from the mainstream system. For eight of those years, he created and ran a mobile classroom—driving into neighborhoods, knocking on doors, sitting in parks, doing whatever it took to reach the most disconnected boys in the community. But what most people didn’t know at the time—was that every lesson he taught… was also one he needed to learn himself.

 From that truth—and a deep desire to heal himself while helping others—Amend Movement was born in December 2019. 

It started simply: men’s walks. No classrooms. No therapy talk. Just men walking side by side—no pressure, no shame—just honest conversations, grounded presence, and a space to finally let their guard down. These walks became sacred ground for men who were silently breaking behind closed doors. For the first time, they weren’t expected to “harden up” or “fix it”—they were simply invited to show up. 

The impact was undeniable. 

From those first few steps, Amend grew quickly. The walks turned into circles. The circles turned into community. And soon, women began to show up too—drawn by the safety, the honesty, and the hunger for healing. From 2019 to 2022, we opened our doors to both men and women, running workshops, retreats, and mentoring programs—each one built around one simple truth: healing happens in safe, real connection. 

But something kept pulling us back to the men. Not because women didn’t belong—but because we saw clearly what was missing in so many homes, relationships, and families. 

Strong, grounded, emotionally present men. 

In 2023, when Alan Ward joined the leadership team at Amend, everything shifted again. Alan had walked his own path through pain, breakdown, and breakthrough—and when he joined forces with Wa, the vision became sharper. 

They both saw it: men were crying out for a new model of leadership—one that didn’t start with power or dominance, but with healing, integrity, and emotional strength. 

So we brought the focus back—fully and unapologetically—to men. 

We refined our programs, restructured our spaces, and poured everything we had into building what we now believe is the most important work in our communities: 

Helping men become emotional leaders, build safe homes, and create healthy relationships. 

Because when a man heals, his children grow up safer. When a man leads with heart, his partner feels seen.

And when a man finds peace within himself—he stops passing his pain to everyone around him.

 This is Amend Movement. Not self-help. Not a quick fix. But a call to rebuild from the inside out.

Fathers wanting to break generational cycles, preparing to be fathers and build emotionally safe homes, Partners committed to creating healthy, connected relationships, single men doing the work now so they’re ready for what’s next

Men who never had role models — and want to become one

From the shadows of Aotearoa to the streets of Australia, to parts of Europe,

we’ve walked into the spaces most won’t — gang headquarters, recovery homes, classrooms, prison cells,

We don’t wait for men to come to us - we go where healing is needed.

 We have been working with former service men, ex-military, police officers, TRG, current and former gang members, school teachers, to your everyday man that's a blue- and white-collar worker, men from all cultures and races.

The beauty of what we do is the rooms and spaces we hold no one knows each other, we are all in a space free from judgement and being held with love and trust - we believe everyman deserves to feel safe, seen and have a voice, this is where deep healing in our communities takes place. When spaces like this exist.

And now — we’re building a future where emotional leadership is the new standard.