SERVICES
Individual Therapy
Life throws many surprises at us. While we cannot predict the outcome of any situation, we can take control of how we respond to those situations. With my Counselling sessions, you’ll learn about acceptance and how to exert your freedom of choice over whatever life may throw at you.
I offer various modalities of counselling that suit your need, such as Polyvagal Informed Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, CBT and Narrative Therapy. I also offer breathing exercises to increase rest and relaxation. Slow, paced diaphragmatic breathing reduces anxiety, panic attacks and depression.
My approach is based on the wholistic framework of health and well-being: Te Whare Tapa Wha. It is a model representing the four basic beliefs of life (Durie, 1998 & Mauri Ora, 2003):
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Te Taha Wairua (spiritual health)
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Te Taha Hinengaro (psychological/mental health)
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Te Taha Tinana (physical health)
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Te Taha Whanau (relational health).
I am an ACC Sensitive Claims and EAP (OCP) provider. I also provide I am Hope (Gumboot Friday) and MSD funded Counselling.
Wellbeing Support
Wellbeing Support is commonly referred to as professional supervision. We all need supportive people in our lives, whether this is found through mutual friendships or fellow colleagues. Sometimes it can be valuable to access external, independent people who can give us time to unravel, stand back from our work and gain a new perspective. It provides a safe place to go for being open about our work, its pressures and the impact it has on our mental health. It is also a place to share our successes.
Wellbeing Support consultation provides . . .
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an external independent access to someone who is not closely involved in your work.
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a safe place for sharing your heart and the burdens of your work
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an opportunity to gain a new perspective and problem solve
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an opportunity for you to consider the relationships you have with people you are working with.
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an opportunity to unravel difficult relationship dynamics with people and their effect on you and your perceptions.
There are three primary functions of Wellbeing Consultation
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A learning function (developing understanding of self and others)
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A supportive function (encouraging, guiding, facilitating)
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An analytic function (exploring, examining, clarifying)
Breathing Retraining
Stress, Anxiety and Trauma have been found to cause hyperventilation and disordered breathing. Hyperventilation is a normal reaction to stressful events. Once the stressful event has passed the breathing should return to its original pattern. If the stress levels are too high or too intense or continue for a prolonged period of time, breathing may not return to its previous pattern. As a result, the body gets adjusted to this altered pattern and creates new muscle memory in diaphragm and other breathing muscles. The altered breathing pattern could lead to a number of Psychological and Physical symptoms such as: agitation, rapid upper chest breathing, increased heart-rate, shortness of breath, nausea, tingling fingers, dizziness, fatigue, anxiety, panic attacks etc. Breathing retraining is aimed at restoring the healthy pattern of breathing by modifying the breathing habit and changing the muscle memory of diaphragm and other muscles.