Walking Towards Your Dreams

Meet Wesley McLay

Wesley McLay enjoys walking alongside our partners as they realise, they can walk towards their dreams and achieve their goals. His own personal and professional experiences with mental health and disability are helping to shape his work in the ConneXu Outcomes Team.

Working in the Outcomes Team based in Tauranga, Wesley says he is eager to come to work each morning.

“I really enjoy being able to see people achieve what they want to do and encouraging them to attempt it and try it. It just gets me out of bed in the morning, and I am eager to come to work.”

Wesley says his own personal and professional experiences help with his understanding of disabilities and mental health.

Originally from Oamaru in the South Island, he was born with spina bifida but wasn’t diagnosed until the age of 18.

“One day, I sat down and I couldn’t get back up again. Then I found out my spine was not connected to my pelvis since I was born,” he says.

“Once diagnosed I had to wait to stop growing, and during that time my spine collapsed and broke my vertebrae, so I experienced long periods of recovery.”

“I also struggled with mental health at the time and through my recovery process I started to do drawing and sketching art, and later on I started writing fiction novels,” he says.

“I’ve got life experience in respect to disability and mental health. This helps me to be able to recognise the different barriers other people are facing and then be able to try different ways of doing things.”

Wesley says these barriers can be different for everyone.

“Depending on the goal, at times disabled partners might have a lot of barriers and might feel they can’t do it. Or sometimes they may not realise that they have the power and support around them to do it or work towards it,” he says.

“They might have to go through a lot of hoops to try a goal, so part of my job is giving them the freedom and encouragement as well as the support and plan to do that.”

Wesley says his other varied career experiences help him to think outside the box to try different things.

“I’ve worked in hospitality, on tourist boats in Milford Sound for Fiordland Travel and was an adventure photographer for 12 years, taking photos of rafting and jetboating and helicopters, Weddings, Portraits, Wildlife/landscape and Macro photography. I’ve done retail work and I worked in landscaping until I blew out my cartilage in my knee,” he says.

Before coming to ConneXu in October 2025, he had worked at another disability provider in Tauranga for the past 15 years in roles as a Support Worker and a Team Leader.

“I previously worked at another disability provider. About 10 years ago I tried to set up the same kind of outcomes role. Even though it was piloted and working, the role unfortunately didn’t get the green light to continue past the pilot,” he says.

He’s excited to be focusing on outcomes full time at ConneXu and says his job makes him come alive.

“This is what drives me and it’s what makes me come alive in my thinking and ideas,” he says.

“The passion that it gives me helps disabled partners to feel a bit of hope that things can be done. This is where I’m meant to be.”