A transgender woman and former student at Kaitaia's Abundant Life Church School said she was subjected to years of conversion therapy.
Tia Hohoia attended the school since the age of five and said she tried to be someone else for years.
"They taught that being gay, trans, lesbian was wrong, so that's why I said 'okay, I need to do something about that', so that's why I reached out and started that conversation with our leaders," she said.
The school said in March that it plans to shut down this year as it can no longer "operate with Christian values", an announcement that follows a national ban on conversion therapy introduced in February 2022.
Hohoia said that when counselling failed to change her feelings, a new theory was introduced: sexual abuse.
"There was a conversation that was started [that] there was the possibility that I was sexually abused and that the trauma may have blocked that from my memory," she said.
When that approach went nowhere, she said she was pushed to deny her feelings altogether.
1News previously spoke with Abundant Life School official Ivy Tan in March, who said the school wanted to help students "that are experiencing unwanted feelings towards the same sex".
In a statement received after speaking with Hohoia, Tan said she does not know what happened at the school prior to her joining and that she had never done conversion therapy with Hohoia or anyone else.
Andre Afamasaga of the Human Rights Commission said some schools were struggling to tackle rainbow issues and that the ban on conversion therapy is a window of opportunity for change and growth.
"This is a really good chance for schools to do their homework on this subject. I'm a survivor of conversion practices myself, and... it [seemed] like a great idea initially, only [for me] to find out that actually, these practices are indeed harmful," he said.
A few years ago, Hohoia moved away from Kaitaia and says she loves who she is.
"I'm surrounded by friends and family who support me; I have an incredible career, and I'm able to live my life expressing who I really am."
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