My career has provided many different perspectives of the addiction sector: teaching addiction practitioners at undergraduate and postgraduate level; working as an addiction practitioner in rural and urban New Zealand; being a funder and planner for mental health and addictions across three DHBs; being a General Manager of an addiction service; and coordinating several sector groups. All these roles and the experience I gained have combined so well to support me to lead dapaanz as the professional association for New Zealand's addiction workforce, working every day to foster excellence in addiction practice. I am dedicated to supporting our practitioners across Aotearoa and also completed a PhD to understand how we develop addiction practitioners throughout their training and as they enter practice. Above all I am proud to call myself an addiction practitioner and work in our sector.