| Liz Jamieson-Hastings |
Elizabeth Anne Seaton Jamieson-Hastings (1944 – 20 November 2022) was a New Zealand addiction counsellor and writer, and founder of the Substance Abuse Education Trust. In 1998 Jamieson-Hastings was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to drug and alcohol education.
Jamieson-Hastings was born in Petersfield, England in 1944 and moved to Auckland, New Zealand with her parents. Her father Frederick Ernest Roy Merrit was a New Zealander, and worked for H. T. Merritt, a carpet importing company founded by his grandfather. Jamieson-Hastings mother was Josephine Anne Watson. Jamieson-Hastings attended Hilltop School in Auckland and Woodford House School in Havelock North.[1]
Jamieson-Hastings was an anorexic, a bulimic and an alcoholic by the age of 21.[2] Jamieson-Hastings then became involved in drug and alcohol rehabilitation. She trained as an councillor and educator with the United States Navy, and taught at the University of Arizona. Returning to New Zealand, Jamieson-Hastings founded the Substance Abuse Education Trust in 1988. She worked with prisoners in the maximum-security area of Paremoremo Prison, and in schools.
In 2009, when she was in her sixties, Jamieson-Hastings wrote an autobiography Still Standing: From Debutante to Detox, published by HarperCollins.[3]
After her death on 20 November 2022, Jamieson-Hasting's estate was auctioned for the benefit of drug and alcohol treatment and advisory groups.[4]
In the 1998 New Year Honours Jamieson-Hastings was appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to drug and alcohol education.[5]