Taimalelagi Mataio Faafetai (Matt) Brown, is a New Zealand born Samoan author and
renowned communicator who works to eradicate domestic violence by supporting those
who perpetrate violence, to heal. A survivor of family violence and childhood sexual abuse
himself, he originally started his domestic violence advocacy work by sharing his story with
the men who frequented his busy barbershops as a way to foster vulnerability, healing, and
connection. Matt believes his true calling lies in his work to redefine societies view of
masculinity and to help end the cycle of domestic violence plaguing families all over the
world.
For over a decade Matt has hosted free men’s anti-violence support groups from locations
like barbershops, construction sites, gang pads, prisons and in indigenous spaces. He has
facilitated multiple programs inside men’s and youth prisons and was named a Corrections
NZ patron in 2020.
Since 2018, Matt and his wife Sarah have partnered with the NZ Ministry of Social
Development as ambassadors for their ‘It’s not OK Campaign’ and were funded to develop
and launch an app; InnerBoy to promote accessible healing for indigenous men. The couple
are proud ambassadors for the work of Aviva Families, a family violence service centre in
Christchurch, NZ and for MATE; a program that sits within a domestic violence research
department in Griffith University in Australia.
Together the couple co-founded She Is Not Your Rehab and launched the concept in Matt’s
2019 TEDx talk. He says the movement is an invitation for men to acknowledge their own
childhood trauma and to take responsibility for their healing so that they can transform
their pain instead of transmitting it on those around them.
They released their first book; a NZ #1 Bestseller She Is Not Your Rehab, with the goal to
encourage intergenerational healing in 2021, also raised funds and donated 10k+ copies of
the book to refuges and all NZ prisons, simultaneously launching a successful book club
program inside prison. In 2022 they opened the She Is Not Your Rehab art gallery which
hosts the exhibition; ‘Who is She?’ in collaboration with Mr G; a renowned NZ artist.
Both Sarah and Matt became members of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2022 and were
awarded a Commonwealth Points of Light award by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as Head
of the Commonwealth before she passed.