WHAT WE DO

We are carving space where rest, rage, and play can co-exist.

To be alongside others who just get it, for solidarity in our shared experiences, and to feel free to do what works best for you and your body. 

You are welcome here, wherever you are in the diagnostic odyssey; having a formal diagnosis is not required to engage with our offerings.

Come along and let’s explore rest, connection and creativity.

Getting Here

OUR TEAM

Photo of Amelia Jacobson, she wears a patterned vest. Mixed flowers are in the background.

Thanks to
Nico Rose Penny and Caitlin Roper for our lovely team photos!

Amelia Jacobson (she/her)

  • Amelia grew up in Naarm (Melbourne) and now lives in Tāmaki Makaurau. She values linking evidence-based clinical knowledge with experiential practices of rest and play. With a decade of experience in creative facilitation, Amelia has witnessed how the arts can connect communities. Curious to integrate her interests in disability theory, lived-patient experience and creative-practice, Amelia completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Creative Arts Therapy in 2024.  She digs connecting with people in all their funky weirdness.

Photo of Beth Nicholls, she wears a floral dress and grey jacket. Pink flowers in the background.

Beth Nicholls (she/her)

  • Beth is originally from Chicago, where she lived and worked alongside people experiencing poverty and homelessness for over three decades. She has called Tāmaki Makaurau her home for the last four years. Beth loves listening, learning, and being a part of something bigger. She has had a personal journey with chronic pain, which helps to inform her role at The Rest Sanctuary. She is excited to be part of The Rest Sanctuary community and its ongoing celebration of rest, creativity, and connection.

Photo of Sarah Jacobson, she wears a pink floral dress, a variety of flowers in the background.

Sarah Jacobson (she/her)

  • Sarah is originally from the Southside of Tāmaki Makaurau, she travelled widely, then landed in Naarm (Melbourne) for many years, before persuading her aussie husband to relocate with their three children to Aotearoa. After a career in early childhood education, Sarah has been practicing as a counsellor for over five years, weaving together curiosity for others stories and her strongly held values for social justice. Whānau experience of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome has offered Sarah an understanding into navigating the systems of care and the gaps within them.

OUR VALUES

Our team is guided by the rights model of disability and concepts of disability theory. 

For us this looks like:

Centring autonomy and agency

Active listening and continuous learning

Awareness of diversity of experience

Valuing collective care and inter-dependence

Acknowledging our community are experts by experience

ABOUT US

We are a small not-for-profit organisation grounded by lived-experience. 

Imagination is at the heart of what we do. The Rest Sanctuary is emergent, dynamic and evolving— as we dream into new ways of navigating the crevices in systems of care.

  • We acknowledge the mahi of many BIPOC activists, cultural workers, artists and writers who have carved lineages of rest and community care.

Large digital illustration, abstract swirl shapes in blue, orange, white and purple. Light moves across the image.