A counsellor on the North Shore

In the room

Some things are easier to say in person

Online counselling is genuinely good and it suits a lot of people. But there is a difference between talking about the hardest thing in your life to a screen in your own kitchen, and saying it out loud in a room where somebody is sitting across from you. For some people, and for some subjects, the room matters.

The practice is in central Takapuna. It is a quiet, private space, not a clinic, and not somewhere you will run into a waiting room full of people you know. The exact address and access details come through when you book.

Getting here

Takapuna is straightforward from most of the North Shore and about fifteen minutes over the bridge from the city outside of peak. There is council parking around the town centre, and the Akoranga and Smales Farm bus stations are both close, which makes the Northern Busway a realistic option if you would rather not drive.

If a session is going to be hard, allow a bit of extra time. Arriving flustered from circling for a park is not the ideal start, and a spare ten minutes beforehand is worth more than people expect.

Areas people travel from

Most clients come from around the Shore, including Milford, Devonport, Belmont, Hauraki, Northcote, Birkenhead, Albany, Browns Bay and Mairangi Bay. A number come across the bridge from the city, usually because they would rather see someone outside their own suburb, which is a perfectly good reason.

On running into people

Takapuna is not a big place and this is a real concern, particularly for anyone coming about addiction. Sessions are spaced so you are not passing another client on the way in, and if being seen locally is genuinely the thing stopping you, online sessions remove the problem entirely.