Paul Wood (fourth from left) spoke at an inspirational event hosted by Legendary Te Kūiti. He was pictured with, from left, committee members Faye Thomas, Jenna Connors, Andy Connors, Brian Hanna, Tanya Williams, Janene New, Isaiah Wallace and Louisa Last.
Better never stops for Paul Wood, as locals found out at an inspirational night out in Te Kūiti on Monday.
Wood, a clinical psychologist, keynote speaker and author, was front-and-centre at the Les Munro Centre to share his journey from delinquent to doctor in front of around 100 locals.
The free event, presented by Legendary Te Kūiti (LTK) and sponsored by The Lines Company (TLC), aimed to encourage and inspire locals to live better lives, LTK chairman Andy Connors said.
“It was an amazing opportunity to bring an inspirational speaker to town, and I’m absolutely stoked with the number of people that turned out,” Connors said.
“Here’s a guy that has had a pretty tough life and he’s come out the other side and done good. That’s the sort of message that’s in our community every day and we’re just hoping we can inspire other people to follow,” he said.
King Country News 7 May 2026
Although Wood grew up in a two-parent home with his three brothers in the 1980s and 1990s, he confessed to being “raised by the streets” as violence and gang membership took his attention.
His parents weren’t equipped to lead him through the lessons of life, leaving him exposed to the common messages to “harden up” and negative influences.
“All of us need to feel accepted, all of us need to feel that we make contributions to the tribe that matters. And the problem is, if you don’t have a positive tribe to help you in that respect, then you can be led down unhelpful places and that’s what happened to me,” Wood said.
Wood’s world was turned upside down at 18-years-old when his mother died; days later, he met up with a drug-dealer who he killed for trying to sexually abuse him, leaving him with a murder charge and almost 11 years behind bars.
“I made every choice that put myself into that situation. I made every choice to earn me my place in prison. I was on a path from when I was about 12. From that point onwards, I was on a clear path,” Wood said.
While in prison he worked through his issues and began studying and eventually became a doctor of psychology where he now helps others to a better path.
Times have changed though, with Wood identifying youth being raised online as the new threat, but he encouraged parents to shepherd their children to “make hard choices now and have an easy life later”.
“There’s a lot of young people today who spend so much time on their devices. We think they’re safe in their rooms, when actually they’re depriving themselves of the opportunity to be out in the world, learning how to solve problems, learning how to engage with other people,” Wood said.
“We want to start talking with our kids as early as possible, so that when we really need to talk to them later on, that bridge is already built,” he said.
He posed three main questions to the public and offered tools for their own positive change – am I present, am I open and am I doing what’s right?
Wood gave the crowd breathing techniques to “be where your feet are” and to help turn a reaction into a response, he challenged people to be open to both being authentic and understanding other perspectives, and “listening to what your gut is telling you”.
Paul Wood (fourth from left) spoke at an inspirational event hosted by Legendary Te Kūiti. He was pictured with, from left, committee members Faye Thomas, Jenna Connors, Andy
Connors, Brian Hanna, Tanya Williams, Janene New, Isaiah Wallace and Louisa Last.
