I provide supportive, compassionate, and positive general counselling with a focus on older children, teens, adults and families. Many prefer to think of me as a coach who helps them develop skills to cope with and overcome problems and to identify the life that they want for themselves and to work with me on ways to create that life for themselves.
I enjoy helping people generate visions, hopes and goals for the life they want for themselves and then supporting them in moving towards creating that life for themselves. I provide my clients with relational, therapeutic and skills-based counselling around;
I also provide lots of visual resources of useful strategies and plans to help cope with challenges. I have a strengths focus and my main therapeutic modalities are Schema Therapy, Internal Family Systems, DBT, Solution Focussed Therapy, Existential Therapy and the client centred Motivational Interviewing.
I have worked as a counsellor for 19 years and counselled over 2500 people and 350+ Autistic and ADHD people. I have 4000+ hours counselling Autistic people and over 800 counselling hours working with families. I have 25+ years of experience in the education and health sectors; 16 years as a school counsellor, 6 years as a Special Education Teacher, 1 year with CADS (Community Alcohol and Drug Services) in the Waitemata DHB and 2 years at Spectrum Care. I have supervised other counsellors for the past 9 years.
I have worked as a counsellor in private practice, schools, the Waitemata DHB with CADS and an NGO for the past 19 years. I live with my partner and teenage sons in Northcote Point. I was raised on the North Shore and my sons attend schools that I was a student at so I know this local community well. I have lived and worked in Japan and the UK. I meditate, enjoy music, bush walks, swim, kayak, lift weights, bodyboard at Muriwai and advocate for my Autistic son and neurodiverse people in my spare time.
- Member, Registered with the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (MNZAC)
- Registered Teacher
- Bachelor of Arts (University of Auckland)
- Diploma of Teaching (Auckland College of Education, now UoA)
- Graduate Diploma Psychosocial Studies (Psychotherapy, AUT)
- Post Graduate Diploma of Counselling (University of Auckland)
- Masters in Counselling (University of Auckland)
- $140 per session of counselling and supervision
- Negotiable for students and those experiencing financial hardship.
- Counselling funding for some Autistic people is available through WINZ and Carer Support hours.
- People with anxiety and/or depression can access WINZ funding for counselling through their GP.
My hours are:
- Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 430pm-730pm
- Thursdays 9am-4pm
- Saturdays 12pm-5pm
I see clients:
- Face to face in Northcote Point
- Online (using Zoom, Discord, What’s App, Messenger) and phone appointments available.
- I can home visit (Central, North Shore)
I work as a Counsellor at a High School; so, I counsel private clients after school hours only and cannot provide immediate crisis support. Email is an effective way to make contact.