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Rata Gordon (they/she)

Kia ora, I’m Rata.


I support sensitive, courageous humans to reconnect with their creative flow—and to trust the wild, wise intelligence that lives inside them.


My vision is a world where all beings feel their power, and where each unique creative dream has space to grow, move, and take form.


Through online and in-person workshops, I guide people to move through creative blocks and dive deeply into their inner worlds. My offerings include Path of the Poetic Heart and the Mischief Makers Mentorship—spaces where creative spirits are stirred, and soulful messes are welcome.

You can find my writing at Maʞing Mischief on Substack.


I delight in tending to communities of creative practice. My work lives in the fertile spaces between poetry, movement, visual art, and theatre—and I love the beautiful messes that arise when those worlds meet.


I’m a poet, and my debut collection Second Person was published in 2020 by Te Herenga Waka Press. My poems have also appeared in Best New Zealand Poems, Landfall, Sport, The Spinoff, and more.


For the past 15 years, I’ve explored movement as medicine. I’m a certified Open Floor teacher, trained through Open Floor International, and my dance practice continues to shape—and be shaped by—my writing. Both are doorways to the rich and unruly voices within.


My background is in mental health and community development, and I’m a registered arts therapist. I hold a Master of Arts in Creative Arts Therapy (Clinical), with First Class Honours, from Whitecliffe College.
My dissertation--Dreaming with my body: Arts-based research, expressive arts therapy, and new motherhood—explores the intersections of movement, creativity, and the transformative experience of becoming a parent. 


I currently teach in the Creative Arts Therapy programmes at Whitecliffe College, and live on the slopes of Mount Karioi in Whāingaroa, Raglan, Aotearoa.