Counsellors in Otago

Areas of specialty:

• Relationships
• Grief
• Alcohol & drug addictions
• Family-work balance

Adele's focus is to work alongside clients, supporting them to identify and achieve their own goals.

Areas of specialty:

• Anxiety and Depression
• Grief and Loss
• Stress and adjustment issues
• Anger management
• Addictions
• Couples counselling
• Trauma & PTSD

Anna works together with clients to ensure their perspective is heard and understood so they can work toward real solutions that are achievable and improve both function and wellbeing in day to day life.Anna works together with clients to ensure their perspective is heard and understood so they can work toward real solutions that are achievable and improve both function and wellbeing in day to day life.

Areas of Specialty:

• Anxiety and Depression
• Grief and Loss
• Drugs and Alcohol
• Trauma
• Family and Workplace relationships

Anthony specialises in working with adults (including couples) who are struggling with difficult emotions, thoughts, behaviours, and life circumstances. Anthony enjoys seeing his clients gain insights and new perspectives, find strengths, begin to change, and improve their experience and appreciation of life.

Areas of specialty

• Depression and anxiety
• Stress
• Trauma
• Parenting
• Child and Family
• Sexuality and sexual identity
• Relationship
• Team Issues

Languages Spoken:

• French and Italian

Chantal has 30 years experience in the fields of adult and child mental health, special education, disability, individual and family therapy.

Areas of specialty:

• Health issues
• Individuals & couples
• Gestalt & psychodynamic approaches

Dinah is a supervisor in a number of health and education fields for individuals and groups. Dinah is a group facilitator and trainer for the Gestalt Institute of New Zealand.

Areas of Specialty:

• Anxiety and Depression
• Relationships difficulties
• Stress management
• Life transitions
• Loss & grief
• Finding meaning in life
• Personal growth & development

Elizabeth helps you to look at your patterns of response to life's events through listening to your constructions about your life and the people you interact with, the beliefs you hold, the language you use and the stories you tell.

Areas of Specialty:

• Grief and loss
• Anger management
• Relationship Counselling
• Mediation

Geoff is a counsellor and professional supervisor within Catholic Social Services. He also has experience working with Victim Support as well as The Salvation Army as an alcohol and drug caseworker.

Areas of Specialty:

• Couples and individual work
• Work place conflict
• Depression & Anxiety
• Domestic Violence
• Addictive behaviour

Areas of specialty:

• Narrative therapy
• ACC & Family Court counselling
• Family therapy
• Child & adolescent counselling
• Clinical supervision

Graeme is an experienced counsellor and clinical supervisor and works for a number of​ ​services providing workplace counselling. In the past Graeme  has worked for child, adolescent and family agencies in care and protection. He has also worked in community, student health and psychiatric healthcare services.

Areas of specialty:

• PTSD
• Sexual violence
• Abusive relationships
• Couples
• Separation issues
• Depression and Anxiety

Helen's early work as a counsellor involved agency work in Christchurch, Dunedin Women's Refuge and Auckland Rape Crisis in the 1990's. Helen also ran a private practice in Oxford, UK for two years and has been in private practice since 2009.

Areas of Specialty

• Alcohol and other substance addictions
• Mental Health and wellbeing
• Trauma (including sexual) - current and historical, and recovery
• Workplace issues, dynamics, harrassment, abuse
• Illness and disability
• Grief
• Violence - interpersonal, systems
• Relationships - intimate, family, workplace

Jan draws from a range of counselling-therapeutic frameworks (primarily strength based) due to experience in working in a number of services - Addiction (both DHBs and NGOs), Mental Health, Rape Crisis, Public Hospital, Polytechnic (WelTec), private practice.

Areas of specialty:

• Addiction
• Relationship difficulties
• Abuse
• Parenting
• Stress and anxiety
• Depression
• Grief and trauma

Jill is an experienced seasoned counsellor and supervisor. She has worked with people from all ages and backgrounds in a variety of community and mental health settings.

Areas of specialty:

• Couples & individuals
• Chronic illness
• Trauma & grief
• Stress
• Gestalt therapy
• Interactive drawing therapy
• Sexuality and sexual identity

Joan works to support wellbeing and stress reduction. She aims to facilitate and develop mindfulness with clients. Joan also supervises nurses and allied health professionals.

Areas of specialty:

• Relationships
• Couples & families
• Psychodynamic approaches
• Object relations
• Psychodrama
• Sexuality and sexual identity

John works with individuals, couples, families and also offers group work.

Areas of Specialty:

• Depression
• Stress
• Communication difficulties
• Interpersonal relationships
• Grief
• Coping with change

Judith is a therapist who has experience working with a wide range of people.  She has worked in a government department for many years and is familiar with the stresses and strains of the workplace,  including the management of relationships within it.

Areas of specialty:

• Gestalt psychotherapy
• Group facilitation
• Clinical supervision

Lynley is passionate about helping facilitate and support positive change in people's lives. Prior to counselling, Lynley spent ten years working within the intellectual disability field.

Areas of Specialty:

• Workplace stress
• Managing Anxiety and Depression
• Couple counselling
• Family Violence

Life's problems can feel overwhelming. We try our best to stay afloat and when that doesn't work we can resort to more drastic actions. Our mental and emotional wellbeing bears the costs. Maria believes the way through these difficulties is to reach out and when we ask for help we are investing in ourselves.

Maria supports people to strengthen their courage and wisdom to find solutions and grow their wellbeing.

Areas of Specialty

• Life Stage Crises
• Trauma
• Grief
• Depression
• ACC Registered Counsellor
• Relationships

Pamela has been working in health and mental health for 20 years and more specifically in counselling for 15 years. Pamela has a small private practice in Queenstown and works primarily with adults and she is also approved to work with children in relation to sensitive claims.

Areas of specialty

• Trauma
• Sexual abuse
• Relationships
• Anxiety and Depression
• Eating disorders
• Sexuality and sexual identity

Sandra trained at The Ashburn Clinic, a therapeutic community in Dunedin.  She has extensive experience in dealing with mental illness and can also provide short-term focussed help for less severe difficulties.

Areas of Specialty:

• Anxiety and Depression
• Relationships
• Addiction & Dependency Issues
• Work Performance & Stress and Pain Management
• Trauma / PTSD
• Sexual Abuse / Sensitive Claim Issues
• Health Psychology
• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

Over the course of his clinical career Sean has worked with a number of diverse client groups from within acute mental health settings to forensics, chronic pain management, ACC/sensitive claim work and various other locales.

Sean is experienced in neuropsychological assessment, diagnostics and psychopharmacology.

Areas of Specialty

• Couples/relationships
• Sexuality
• Trauma
• Depression and Anxiety
• Domestic violence
• Addiction
• Workplace issues
• Grief & loss
• Responding to life changes or crises

Sonja is passionate about counselling. There is something very healing in the experience of being deeply attended and skilfully listened to, without judgement, and with warmth and empathy. Sonja's model of practise is relational and person-centred. She draws on a range of modalities in collaboration with her clients to best respond to their agreed needs and goals.

Areas of Specialty:

• Mental Health
• Depression, anxiety and PTSD trauma
• Grief and loss
• Family separation and conflict
• Work place stress
• Conflict and burn out
• Self esteem and assertiveness
• Personal growth

Suraya has worked with adults, youth and children in the field of counselling and art therapy for 25 years after 10 years of work in adult psychiatry in Auckland, London and Dunedin. Suraya uses her skills as an art therapist where ever it is helpful to assist clients to express their thoughts and feeling through a concrete creative medium which also allows for clarification, perspective and setting personal goals for change and growth. She has specialist skills in family and group work also using verbal sharing and art therapy. She is of Lebanese descent and welcomes clients from varied ethnic backgrounds.

Areas of specialty:

• Disability
• Addictions
• Trauma & grief
• Violence against women
• Sexuality & relationships
• Mental health
• Coping with change
• Palliative care
• ACC approved

Trisha's methods include strengths based counselling, problem solving, and skills development/education.