General
You will receive reassurance, hope and practical strategies to enable you to achieve the changes you wish to make. Sue is adept at identifying and revealing the different ways that people process and interact. Through understanding these differences and the behaviour patterns that result, you will gain assurance of who you are and how you function and be able to move towards seeing and using your partner's differences as complimentary to your own to make positive long term changes.
Contacting Kiwisense
My aim is to reply to enquiries within 48 hours or sooner if possible. It can be helpful to email ([email protected]) with a brief outline of the issues you are struggling with. If you choose to phone (021 712115) you will appreciate that an answer phone may be activated.
Fees
All prices include GST. The rate is $70 - $100 per hour, or part of. Some pricing flexibility is available depending on individual or couple sessions. I have a preference to book 1.5 hour sessions for couples as an hour is often too short for couple work. Pre-marriage counselling session lengths and pricing are negotiable to suit specific needs.
My Commitments To You
- I will make available to you, the benefit of my counselling experience along with the understandings gained from my personal life experiences to help you find your own solutions to the issues you face. I will not however, dishonour you by taking on the responsibility for fixing you, your problems, or the people in your life.
- Provide confidentiality within the limits detailed in the NZAC Code of Ethics.
- Regularly examine my own practice through supervision and self-reflection with the aim of maintaining a high standard of service.
- Have your best interests as the guiding principle of my practice.
- I will suggest to you, referral to another counsellor or other professional if I consider that there may be someone else who is more able to help you with your particular issue.
FAQ's
Q) How do I know who would be the right counsellor for me to see?
A) Counsellors are all different. They have had different life experiences, different training, draw from a large pool of different ways of working, called modalities and have different personalities. The first session should be one of investigating whether this particular counsellor is the best person to be working with you for this problem at this time. The counsellor, using their professional judgement and experience, should also be making an assessment on their suitability to be working with you.
There are three questions that you might consider by the end of the first meeting with any counsellor.
Q) Am I committed to more sessions?
A) No. It is your choice whether you continue counselling.
Q) Is it better to see us both together or can I come on my own?
A) If both partners are able to make it at least for the first session, often faster progress can be made, as the counsellor is able to observe the dynamics operating within the relationship. At the end of that session, the options of continuing together or having individual sessions will be discussed, and the future direction of counselling negotiated.
Q) What do I do if my partner does not want to come to counselling?
A) Relationships are a living entity and respond to changes. Even if one partner in the relationship seeks help, positive change can result.
Q) Will I be "undone" during counselling?
A) The fear of being "undone" is very real for some people, particularly for those who still must function as a parent or at work after they leave the counselling room. While some counsellors go looking for "buried pain" with the idea that getting it out will help the client feel much better. It is not my policy to practice in this way.
It is my belief that we all have the ability to lock emotional things away when we do not have the support or resources to deal with the intense feelings at the time. I regard this function as a safety mechanism that is designed to enable us to continue with daily life and its commitments. I believe that there is the potential to re-traumatise someone if these feelings are brought out prematurely and therefore will not seek to "undo" any client.
When the time is right, the support and understanding is present and sufficient trust has been built with the counsellor, the intense feelings will emerge of their own accord and the client will experience them not as being "undone" but as an enormous sense of relief and freedom.
A) Counsellors are all different. They have had different life experiences, different training, draw from a large pool of different ways of working, called modalities and have different personalities. The first session should be one of investigating whether this particular counsellor is the best person to be working with you for this problem at this time. The counsellor, using their professional judgement and experience, should also be making an assessment on their suitability to be working with you.
There are three questions that you might consider by the end of the first meeting with any counsellor.
- Do I believe that this counsellor has understood the situation that I am in?
The answer to this question will give you an indication as to whether you have been listened to effectively. - Have I built some level of trust in this counsellor's ability to help me with the problems I have at the moment?
This will help determine whether the skills that the counsellor has and the strategies that they have to offer so far have been realistic, and show that they have some understanding of my life and environment. Are they on the same planet? - Can I be honest with them and would they welcome me telling them that I would rather see someone else?
The answer to this question will give you a sign whether you have connected with the counsellor.
Q) Am I committed to more sessions?
A) No. It is your choice whether you continue counselling.
Q) Is it better to see us both together or can I come on my own?
A) If both partners are able to make it at least for the first session, often faster progress can be made, as the counsellor is able to observe the dynamics operating within the relationship. At the end of that session, the options of continuing together or having individual sessions will be discussed, and the future direction of counselling negotiated.
Q) What do I do if my partner does not want to come to counselling?
A) Relationships are a living entity and respond to changes. Even if one partner in the relationship seeks help, positive change can result.
Q) Will I be "undone" during counselling?
A) The fear of being "undone" is very real for some people, particularly for those who still must function as a parent or at work after they leave the counselling room. While some counsellors go looking for "buried pain" with the idea that getting it out will help the client feel much better. It is not my policy to practice in this way.
It is my belief that we all have the ability to lock emotional things away when we do not have the support or resources to deal with the intense feelings at the time. I regard this function as a safety mechanism that is designed to enable us to continue with daily life and its commitments. I believe that there is the potential to re-traumatise someone if these feelings are brought out prematurely and therefore will not seek to "undo" any client.
When the time is right, the support and understanding is present and sufficient trust has been built with the counsellor, the intense feelings will emerge of their own accord and the client will experience them not as being "undone" but as an enormous sense of relief and freedom.