I am currently located in Whangaparaoa for face to face and phone counselling. Please click on the contact link if you wish to make an appointment or have any enquiries.

A little about my philosophy and how I aim to help you...

I believe that it is Truth and Grace that brings healing. Sometimes we need more of one than the other and my aim is to find the balance that will help you heal and grow.

Grace
This discribes the counselling relationship. A sense of unconditional posative regard, or love. An attitude that is completely accepting of the person even if some of their behavior is 'unacceptable'.

Truth
I believe that it takes more than just love to help a person heal and grow. Specific Truth delivered withing a truely caring relationship is the key to true lasting change. Truth is a sensative topic in a post-modern world however, I think of there as being absolute truth and relative truth. Absolute truth is about the principle that stands outside of culture and preference. While I believe that there are absolute truths that are the best things to base our lives on I don't think they are always easy to find. This struggle is what counselling is about, locating the subtle lies/mistruths that undermine our lives and replacing them with absolute truth that heals and is a solid foundation to live out of.

My counselling work is always using these two factors. Some counselling work, particularly with greif and trauma is more about Grace. Other times with my mentoring, coaching clients, it is more about fault finding and stratagy and the balance is more about truth and refining life 'rules' and 'principles'.

Modality
My counselling approach consists mainly of CBT & Narrative techniques, woven in with David Riddell's 'Wisdom Model'. I believe that each person has a belief system that they operate from, that has been constructed from conclusions drawn, mostly subconsciously, about life as they see it, throughout their lifetime. You can read more about this in my other article.

Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.