Ko te Moana ki te Tonga o Haina tōku moana.
Ko Hongipua tōku rohe.
Ko Tāmaki Makaurau tōku kāinga.
Ko Kaimātai Hinengaro tōku tūranga mahi.
Ko Jennifer Wai Hei tōku ingoa.
Kia ora, my name is Jennifer and I am a Clinical Psychologist. I provide clinical psychological services for children/adolescents and adults, working with both individuals and families.
My goal is to create a kind space where we can work on your goals for therapy and make changes you want in your life. Whether there is one person or multiple family members in the room, this quote by Thich Nhat Hanh sums up our task together: “When you plant lettuce, if it does not grow well, you don’t blame the lettuce. You look for reasons it is not doing well. It may need fertilizer, or more water, or less sun.” The task of therapy is to figure out what happens that gets in the way of your path and find ways to improve on these issues and move forward. We work as a team on the overarching aim of thriving which is defined by you.
I was born in Hong Kong and grew up in Auckland from age five, with variable levels of fluency in Cantonese and Mandarin maintained throughout the years. I am learning some beginner Te Reo Māori (by self-learning at the moment) as well. I have an interest in the richness of cultures (such as the language/metaphors from your culture) as a reservoir of information or resources for supporting a person’s wellbeing.
Areas of Interest/Focus:
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Family relationships
- Intergenerational trauma
- Grief and loss
- Adjustment issues
- Burnout (e.g. carer, work, parental)
- Perfectionism
- Procrastination
- Cultural or cross-cultural difficulties
- Impact of social media, discrimination and/or stigma
Please note that I am unable to offer the appropriate level of support to clients with current suicidal risk or acute medical risk to one’s physical health associated with eating disorders. If you are struggling with these difficulties, I would advise that you consider seeking out your GP or local community mental health services.
Therapy Approach
I work from a perspective of what works according to the person I am working with. This means the most important person in my approach is you and your feedback on our process.
I am interested in your strengths that come through from your individual, family and/or cultural history as part as understanding where you have come from as well as how your difficulties came to be. I also strive to keep the current family/whānau, social/occupational and iwi/community environment in mind, especially for those from culturally diverse or marginalised backgrounds.
For children, teenagers or other dependents, the work I offer will almost always involve working with parents/families as a young person’s most important support system. For adults, the approach can much more likely be individual therapy but can involve family therapy as well.
My approach is usually grounded in Acceptance Commitment Therapy, family/systems and attachment work, mindfulness and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). I have also trained in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) and Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT). I do draw flexibly from a variety of ideas across the therapy field, including reading more widely about developmental, cultural, critical, and systemic theories.
FAQs
LOCATION AND HOURS
I offer appointments online, in Albany or Parnell through the week including afterhours/weekends appointments in both locations. At the moment, I am usually in Albany on Monday and Thursday afternoons, and in Parnell on Saturday afternoons. Other than that, my schedule is flexible and may depend on room availability.
When you make an enquiry about available appointments, please let me know what locations (e.g. Albany or Parnell) and some times/days you prefer and I can let you know what I have available.
APPOINTMENTS AND FEES
If you would like to speak to me before considering making any bookings, you are welcome to reach out through the contact form via TalkingWorks for a phone conversation at no cost or obligation to you.
I generally recommend that you limit the personal information you send by email, for maintaining your personal privacy.
Session charges:
Online appointments:
$150 for individual sessions (adults) - 50 minutes
$160 for child/adolescent, parents or family sessions - 50 minutes
Face to face appointments in Albany/Parnell:
$175 for individual sessions (adults) - 50 minutes
$190 for child/adolescent, parents or family sessions - 50 minutes
EMDR sessions (online and face to face) - $225 for 80 mins
Payment information:
An invoice will be sent to you by email after the appointment, with payment usually due within 7 days. The invoice will detail the payment instructions. I do not have an EFTPOS machine or cash change onsite.
Payments are accepted by direct bank transfer (preferred), cash. An online card payment option is also available with an additional processing fee of 2.4%.
Please consider getting in touch if you are experiencing financial hardship as a barrier to therapy, as I do offer a small number of low-cost sessions and/or sliding scale fee structures as part of my commitment to a more equitable practice.
While it is my aim to make access to psychological services is as affordable as possible, prices and policies regarding cancellations may be adjusted if they fall out of balance of my practice costs or affect my ability to provide quality work. Thank you for your understanding.
CANCELLATIONS (FACE TO FACE APPOINTMENTS)
For any changes to face-to-face appointments made with less than 48 hours notice, the following will apply.
- If you need to cancel a face to face appointment, please notify me 48 hours prior so that I can cancel the room booking within a reasonable timeframe. If cancellation is received in under 48 hours, a late cancellation charge could apply to cover room hire (approximately $34.50).
- Shifting a therapy session from face to face to online on late notice does not incur any extra charge. However, if a face to face appointment is changed to an online appointment on less than 48 hours notice, it will still be charged as a face to face appointment.
- If you are presenting with any COVID-19 symptom/s ahead of a face to face appointment, please let me know so that we can have a discussion about potential arrangements (e.g. shifting to online).
Generally, it is best to communicate with me early on if you anticipate circumstances may happen affecting an upcoming face to face appointment.
Consideration will be given for issues of financial hardships or exceptional circumstances. My aim is to be as fair and balanced as possible and welcome having discussions with you about any of your concerns.
REGISTRATIONS AND MEMBERSHIPS
- Registered Clinical Psychologist with the New Zealand Psychologists' Board
- Doctor of Clinical Psychology (University of Auckland)
- Member of New Zealand Psychologist Society
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Get Directions
1 Gibraltar Crescent, Parnell, Auckland 1052, New Zealand
April, 2024
Friday
August 26,2019
- Tuesday
- 9:00am - 10:00am
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