Peter J. Adams

I was born in Auckland of Scottish/Irish/English ancestry. I initially graduated from the University of Auckland in the early 1980s with postgraduate training in philosophy and psychology. I practiced as a clinical psychologist for 13 years during which I developed specialist expertise in the area of addictive behavior and violence. This led me into playing an active and often leadership role in community initiatives that included forming a violence collective, establishing innovations in mental health and addiction services. From 1991 on, I brought this enthusiasm for community development into the University, and developed postgraduate training programs on addiction practice and alcohol and drug teaching in our medical programme. My research and writing have spanned a range of areas including families and addiction, public health approaches to gambling, social theory, existentialism, applied rhetoric and violence.