Devash Naidoo

I learned that courage is not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.
– Nelson Mandela

I offer an individualised and tailored approach that will be focussed on empowering you to achieve your goals.

Whether that is to recover from trauma, rebuild your life after a physical injury, manage a mental illness, achieve sporting success, function better as a team or find an holistic pathway to general well-being, I will bring respect, experience, and expertise to the work we do together.

My lived experiences has connected me with people from many cultural backgrounds. I enjoy finding the key to truly hear and understand my clients, and I will ensure my approach is culturally relevant to you.

I can help you with:

• post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• complex post traumatic stress disorder (cPTSD)
• sexual abuse / trauma
• critical incident group debriefing
• psychological readiness for return to work
• concussion
• pain management
• relationships
• mood management of depression, bi-polar disorder & chronic dysthymia
• anxiety
• desensitisation of fear based responses
• clinical supervision for health professionals
• corporate & executive coaching
• sports performance enhancement

Balancing your head-&-heart-spaces

DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy) will provide you with a set of skills and strategies that will help you cope more effectively with life struggles. These skills are particularly useful for managing emotions, making wiser choices, and developing more flexible ways of responding to other people.

DBT skills will help you to:

• be aware of what’s happening in the present moment
• manage the distress of strong emotions
• recognise and respond appropriately to your emotions
• communicate clearly with other people
• set effective boundaries
• keep relationships positive and healthy

Relief from Traumatic Memories

People who have experienced trauma often find that everyday events reactivate the trauma memory and its physical sensations. This over reaction in your brain can keep you locked in a cycle of distress and fear. EMDR or Eye Movement Desensitisation & Reprocessing, is a way of understanding how painful memories are formed and then restructuring how they are stored in the brain. It is a carefully guided process that uses eye movement and the signals of the brain to reduce how your body and brain react to the original trauma memory. This leads to your emotional and physical responses to future triggers of the trauma becoming much more manageable. EMDR is an evidenced based, empowering form of therapy in which you remain in control of the process. You will be fully awake, alert and are not hypnotised in anyway.

Life after Concussion

Concussion can happen on the sports field, in war zones, in car accidents, and from a slip on the stairs at home. Concussion consequences can result in significant life changes for you and those around you. People with concussion can experience changes in their cognitive abilities, feel like they don’t have control over fluctuations in their moods, anxiety about managing ordinary tasks in public, and find themselves feeling worried and overwhelmed about their future.

Families, friends and employers can also be impacted by ongoing concussion symptoms. While the demands of the immediate recovery are obvious, managing the consequences of long-term changes can be an unexpected challenge. Managing, adjusting and accepting changing roles and expectations is key when learning to cope adaptively with the impact of concussion related symptoms.

I am experienced in managing the mental injury sustained by concussion and committed to assisting the individual and the system that surrounds them in finding a constructive pathway forward.

Performance Enhancement

I love empowering people to develop their internal motivation to succeed and find ways to sustain the effort required to reach their goals. I bring my hands on experience as a personal trainer and my knowledge as a psychologist, to help people in sports and business become forward focused and goal oriented.

I have worked with sports people, at both the grass roots and competitive levels, to develop a psychological mindset that takes them from aspiration to success. I can help you manage anxiety, develop a big match temperament, or simply relax into the process of enjoying your code. I also help sports and work teams work in synchronicity and peak optimally.

About Devash

I chose to immigrate to New Zealand in 2011 and have had the privilege to grow my skill-set in assisting people recover from the mental, emotional and behavioural consequences of extreme experiences.

Prior to embarking on my psychological career I acquired qualifications as a personal and sports performance trainer. I worked for the Sports Science Institute of South Africa in a variety of roles, most meaningful was helping athletes from underprivileged backgrounds develop a pathway to a professional career. My training as a psychologist has gifted me with the opportunity to work within many contexts including the South African army and navy, and later for Doctors Without Borders as a humanitarian aid worker in The Occupied Palestine Territories, Iraq, Jordan and Ukraine. I have been fortunate to acquire breadth and depth across contexts and specialised training frameworks to contribute to trauma recovery.

Since coming to live in NZ I have worked as a psychologist for the Department of Corrections, Hawke’s Bay DHB Community Mental Health, Te Taiwhenua o Heretaunga, and Refugees as Survivors in Auckland.

I am a registered ACC clinician for aiding recovery of mental health as a consequence of physical or mental injuries. I aspire to utilise my experience and specialised training to enhance holistic well-being and psychological recovery through my independent practice.