Services
I work from a professional, relaxed, conversation-style approach that is unique to each person I work with.
Individual Therapy Sessions
$205 (50minutes)
Safe, confidential, non-judgemental, evidence-based sessions to help you explore patterns and work through memories, thoughts, emotions and behaviours.
Working together, we’ll explore what is happening for you now. If appropriate we will look at what you may be carrying with you from your past and where you want to go in the future. I will provide processes and strategies to build your inner resources and work towards psychological flexibility, mental and emotional integration and wellness.
My philosophy is to foster a genuine relationship between us that integrates, accepts and honours all parts of you.
I can help you with:
Trauma – post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), historical abuse, complex trauma
Sexual abuse assessment and treatment
Self-doubt, self-criticism and worry
Adjustment to life events
Emotional dysregulation
Anxiety
Depression
Grief and loss
Mindfulness skills training
Mood disorders
Intrusive thoughts and compulsive behaviours
Relationship issues
Self-acceptance and self-compassion
Stress, emotional health and wellbeing
Helping you build your inner resources and work towards psychological flexibility, mental and emotional integration and wellness
ACC Sensitive Claims
Assessment and Treatment Provision
Anyone in New Zealand who has experienced sexual violence may qualify for ACC support under the Integrated Services for Sensitive Claims (ISSC).
I am a highly experienced, approved Provider for ACC ISSC. This means that in my practice I assess for mental injury from sexual abuse and then provide treatment services. Clients thinking about initiating an ACC sensitive claim or proceeding with an existing claim can contact me confidentially via the contact page or email me to discuss further.
If you would prefer to discuss the ACC ISSC process with a male psychologist at any stage then I can recommend an experienced colleague.
Trauma-sensitive Yoga
Using gentle, invitational and self-directed yoga forms in a safe space, this evidence-based practice can be woven into Individual Therapy Sessions to help you to regain a sense of connection and agency over your body.
I have successfully completed the Trauma-Sensitive Yoga 20-hour Foundation Workshop for Health Professionals & Yoga Teachers. This training with the Centre for Trauma and Embodiment at JRI Yoga Program allows me to integrate trauma-sensitive yoga processes into my individual therapy sessions.
Breathwork
Our breath is intimately linked to every system in our body. The way we breathe influences our nervous system, and has a reciprocal relationship with our emotions; they mutually affect each other.
Breathwork supports you to become aware of your breathing and then actively change it to create physiological, mental or emotional benefits for yourself. Breathwork can be included in your Individual Therapy Sessions as a gentle way to process, understand and manage emotions that are not able to talked through rationally.
iRest Yoga Nidra
iRest is an evidence-based meditation protocol that is both integrative and restorative. It is designed to bring the benefits of yogic and meditative practices to the wider population. It can help you to heal unresolved issues and traumas, and to recognise the inner resources and equanimity that is always present within you, amidst all changing circumstances in life.
iRest Yoga Nidra meditation can support psychological and spiritual healing. There is a growing body of evidence showing iRest to effectively support the healing process across a broad range of presentations, including PTSD, chronic pain, stress, depression, anxiety and sleep issues.
iRest can be practiced by anyone, regardless of physical ability or experience with meditation.
I have completed my Level 1 iRest teacher certification.
Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (EMDR)
$230 (50 MINUTES) 90 MINUTE SESSIONS ARE SOMETIMES PREFERRED, PLEASE ASK FOR MORE DETAILS.
EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing. It is a powerful, research-based type therapy that is one of the recognised trauma treatments by the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Institute for Health and care Excellence (NICE).
EMDR therapy is an integrative treatment approach that consists of eight-phases. It is a comprehensive approach that addresses the physiological storage of our memories and how it informs our experiences.
EMDR helps people to recover from problems triggered by traumatic events in their lives. EMDR suggests that when a person is involved in a traumatic event, they may feel overwhelmed and their brain may be unable to fully process what is going on. The memory of the event can seem to become “stuck” so that it remains very intense and vivid. The person can then re-experience the event via all their senses that were triggered and the full force of the distress they felt whenever the memory comes to mind.
EMDR aims to help the brain “unstick” and reprocess the memory properly so that it is no longer so intense. It also helps to integrate the memory. This allows the person to experience less emotional impact from the memory, so that they can think about the event without experiencing such strong feelings.
During a session, a traumatic memory is intentionally activated and brought into our working memory. The person is then asked to focus on particular aspects of the memory, while simultaneously tracking the rapid movement of the therapists fingers (or tactile taps or auditory tones). The movements are rapid left to right movements in front of the person’s eyes. This is the bilateral stimulation part of EMDR. These side-to-side movements are though to effectively stimulate the “stuck” processing system in the brain so that it can reprocess the information more like a non-traumatic memory. Therefore, reducing the memory’s intensity, vividness and emotional charge. Change is understood to be a by-product of reprocessing due to the alteration of memory storage and the linkage to adaptive memory networks. The experience is still remembered, but the fight, flight, or freeze response from the original event is resolved.
This effect may be similar to what occurs naturally during our REM (Rapid Eye Movement) sleep, when our eyes move rapidly from side to side as our brain processes the events of the day. Some research suggests that EMDR is effective because concentrating on another task whilst processing a distressing memory gives the brain more work to do. When the brain is not giving its full attention to processing the memory, it starts to become less vivid. This allows the person to integrate the memory, distance themselves from it and begin to remember the event in a more helpful and manageable way. One of the most attractive aspects of EMDR for some people is that it requires less sharing of traumatic information which can feel less overwhelming than traditional talk therapy.
Workshops
I offer curated, evidence-based workshops that are open to everyone, whether they are a client of mine or not. New dates are announced on a regular basis