Cary McDermott

I am a counsellor with over 25 years of clinical knowledge and experience.  I will offer you a safe and confidential space where you can reflect on and address the issues that are concerning you.   

I can help you with:

• Anxiety
• Creativity
• Depression
• Grief and loss
• Relationship issues
• PTSD
• Trauma and Abuse
• Stress and burnout
• Workplace bullying
• Issues facing the LGBTQI+ community

Counselling/Therapy Services

In our first meeting, we will discuss what brings you to counselling, and what you are hoping to get out of coming.  You may want to:

• Build strategies to understand and interrupt your anxiety, as well as understanding its source
• Develop new ways of understanding and regulating painful or difficult emotions
• Set healthier boundaries in relationships
• Change recurring or painful patterns in relationships
• Recover from an abusive relationship, including narcissistic abuse
• Deal with workplace issues, including bullying and burnout

Counselling can help you deal with something you have been struggling with for some time, or a recent change or loss, or help you understand and recover from events in your past.  

Through therapy it is possible to develop an increased sense of mental and emotional wellbeing, and a more constructive and adaptive approach to your life.  

Counselling/Therapy Approach

Building safety and trust and a sense of being truly listened to and understood is the foundation of the therapeutic relationship.  This makes it possible to explore whatever it is you need to, to make sense of yourself and your emotions, to understand old patterns and behaviours, and how past relationships or events may have shaped your current responses.  So you can experiment with making changes with ongoing support.

I use a range of therapeutic models, working with you to find what works for you. including person-centred, trauma models, psychodynamic(attachment), systems therapy, emotion focused therapy, and also emotional/somatic integration therapy 

My practice is LGBTQI+ affirmative.  It is essential to how I work that however you identify, you are offered a safe and inclusive environment in which to experience therapy.

Background and Experience

I completed a Bachelor in Psychology and Masters in Social Science, and completed a full time Diploma in Counselling with the Human Development and Training Institute (HD&T).  I trained as a clinical supervisor and continued to train with experts in their fields both in New Zealand and overseas.  I am a full member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors.

I bring over 25 years of knowledge and experience to my work as a counsellor.  I have trained and worked with various therapeutic models and draw from a wide range including but not limited to psychodynamic (relational dynamics and attachment), emotional integration and somatic integration therapies, person centred/Rogerian, Gestalt, trauma models, systems therapy, emotion focused therapy, transactional analysis and mindfulness.

As well as working in private practice, I have worked in a range of community agencies dealing with many different psychological issues and contexts, with people from a wide variety of backgrounds and life experiences both in New Zealand and overseas.