Dr Kathryn Ryan

Services Offered

The aim of therapy is not primarily to achieve insights into the past, but rather to improve our self awareness. Unfortunately, the less aware we are, the more we stay stuck in old patterns that don’t work anymore. Therapy helps us look at ourselves in a new way, which leads to new understandings and new meanings.

• Individual Therapy: Brief ‘solution focused’ therapy. Short, or long term, individual adult psychotherapy
• Couples & Family Therapy: Therapy for couples and families.
• Supervision: For psychotherapists, counsellors, community social workers, and other health professionals.
• Group Work: Sensory Modulation Life Skills Programme

What does Counselling and Psychotherapy Takapuna offer?

• Provides a safe space where painful stories and feelings can be explored
• Helps reduce your symptoms – for example, stress, anxiety, depression, irritability
• Improves your ability to cope with life and its stressors
• Helps you understand how, and why, you have become who you are
• Helps you grow in self awareness, confidence, and happiness
• Helps you develop more satisfying intimate relationships
• Develops a strengthened sense of inner identity and freedom to be who you are

Please call or contact me to talk about which option will be the most beneficial for you or if you are unsure of anything.

Psychotherapy has helped many people deal with emotional and psychological distress which can be experienced in many ways including:

• Feelings of anxiety and/or panic
• Feelings of depression, sadness, grief or emptiness
• Dealing with losses such as bereavement, divorce, loss of employment, retirement
• Marital issues
• Difficulty in dealing with stress, or recovering from stressful situations
• Lack of confidence or excessive shyness
• Extreme mood swings
• Traumatic life experiences, including physical or sexual abuse
• Difficulty making or sustaining intimate relationships
• Repeatedly becoming involved in unsatisfying or destructive relationships
• Self harm
• Alcohol issues
• Problems with food and body image
• Difficulties with strong emotions, such as anger
• Cross cultural adjustment
• Post Natal Depression and Bipolar Disorder

Life Skills Programme

Do you have intense emotions such as anxiety, depression, frustration, overwhelming sadness, anger, jealousy and mood swings?

Would you like to learn a set of skills that will help you deal with these emotions?

With the Life Skills Programme you will learn a series of invaluable skills such as:

• Mindfullness
• Distress Tolerance
• Sensory Modulation
• Emotional Regulation
• Interpersonal Effectiveness

Come to a skillful behaviour teaching group, where the focus is on active learning!

Please contact Kathryn Ryan to find out more about the Life Skills Programme.

About Kathryn Ryan

Kathryn is a Registered Psychotherapist with 20 years experience, having trained and worked as a psychotherapist in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She also spent some time working in Japan. She returned to New Zealand in 2003 and subsequently worked in private practice and for Community Mental Health services. Kathryn currently works in both Specialist Psychotherapy Services and private practice. Kathryn also co-facilitates specialized DBT based Life Skills Groups.

Therapeutic methods Kathryn uses in her work include:

• Psychodynamic theory
• Attachment theory
• CBT – Cognitive-behavioural Therapy
• DBT – Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
• Mentalization Based Therapy
• Compassionate Mind Training
• Solution Focused Brief Treatment
• Sensory Modulation Training