Kia ora whanau!

I am a passionate advocate for wellbeing as a priority in educational spaces, empowering our learners through child-led play, trauma-informed practice, neurodiversity & developmentally aware approaches, and reducing the inequality divide.

EDUCATIONAL WELLBEING COACH

Health coaches are a relatively new part of the health crisis solution. Trained in lifestyle medicine and with a future focus, health coaches support their clients to identify their goals and barriers and then walk the change journey together.
Like sport coaches who push athletes further, life coaches who identify strengths and solutions, and business coaches who guide managers to create good systems and habits, health coaches promote positive changes for the physical, emotional, mental and social health of clients.

Ashlee Sturme

I support schools and whanau to achieve a better holistic approach for learners.


Combining physical and mental health strategies,
the latest scientific evidence on health and human development,
lifestyle medicine and health coaching,
a drive for inclusion and equity,
alongside a passionate, colourful and unique presentation,


I am an Educational Wellbeing Coach working to bring it all together.

Are you ready to embrace holistic care in education?

Let’s give heart to teaching and learning:
Wellbeing first, through holistic solutions and approaches in education.

That’s what cha{lle}nging education wellbeing is -
the holistic individualised solution to our current health/school crisis.

A teeny bit about me…

Ko Pūtauaki te maunga
Ko Rangitaiki raua ko Tarawera ngā awa
Ko Mātaatua te waka
Ko Ngāti Awa, Ngāti Tūwharetoa me Te Arawa ngā iwi
Te Netherlands whakapaparanga mai
Nō Whakatāne ahau
Ko Ashlee Sturme tōku ingoa.

Kia ora!

I’m a wahine based in the sunny Eastern Bay of Plenty in Aotearoa, New Zealand. I am proudly Dutch and Māori and have a wide extended whanau. I love beautiful moments: the stars in the sky, all flowers, rainbows, glistening waves, being around happy people.

I have combined my passions for health, writing, helping people, positive psychology and child development… and now run three businesses and two charities!

As an advocate in the health/education intersect, I am proud to sit at grassroots, leadership, management and governance levels of different organisations and spaces.

This supports my understanding of the needs of our children and educators in Aotearoa and allows me to lend my skills to improving wellbeing for others.


And a little more…


I am qualified and published writer with experience in freelancing, a weekly column, novel and short story writing, project writing, newspapers, magazines & newsletters, social media management, communication, marketing, and content creation. I have written two novels, a contemporary fiction and a young adult fiction, with a third and fourth underway!

I’m a qualified Master Holistic Health Coach, with a focus on positive lifestyle medicine to support clients to achieve their wellbeing goals. My skillset includes health coaching in education support, metabolic health, neurodiversity, natural holistic health, te ao lens, mental health and wellbeing in schools, positive medicine, nutrition and parenting.

I hold space for women’s wellbeing support, including a podcast at www.enspirited.co.nz

I am passionate about driving better wellness outcomes for school leaders, teachers and students with the charitable trust and school wellbeing provider FLAX. www.flaxnz.com

I support PREKURE's mission to train quality health coaches in preventative lifestyle medicine, by working as a Coaching Facilitator and/or Lab Tech Lead in their live online class sessions, and as a student Assessment Marker . www.prekure.com

I am a publisher with Maia Publishing House, promoting our voices in Aotearoa. In 2023 our first title was released and we have now begun work on our second. www.koreromaia.co.nz

I have previously worked with newspapers, magazines and websites in New Zealand on a variety of freelance writing projects including feature articles and regular columns. I have completed several big project books including the post-2017 Edgecumbe flood book and have short stories published in four book collections. www.ashleesturme.com

I am a Trustee of Tūhura Wilderness, supporting our team to provide an engaging forest-school service to our tamariki through child-led play. Our sessions support increased self-confidence, self-management, emotional regulation, trauma healing, learning disabilities, appreciation and connection to our world and lifeskill development. www.tuhurawilderness.com

My work & volunteer experience also includes hospitality and events, retail, projects, magazine editing, ushering, event planning, modelling, expo coordinator, adult class facilitator, newsletter editor, parent support group lead, construction project management, emergency response, newspaper and magazine columnist, school board & governance, published crafter, social media manager, branding, curriculum design and more!

I am currently working on extending my te reo knowledge and am studying with Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi with the support of GNS, by looking at the impact of Whakaari on our local tamariki. which compliments my involvement in our town’s Community Emergency Response Team (CERT).