Personal Counselling for Clarity, Change, and Emotional Balance
If you're someone who reflects deeply on life, relationships, and meaning, I offer counselling that helps you understand your emotional world and find a way forward that feels steady and true to you.
Thoughtful counselling for people navigating emotional and relational change
I offer individual counselling for people who are navigating relationship challenges, emotional overwhelm, or major life decisions. My work supports people who want to understand themselves more clearly, respond more effectively in relationships, and move forward with greater confidence and ease.
This is not couples therapy. Instead, I work one-to-one with individuals, using a relationship-informed approach that respects both personal growth and the relational contexts people live within.
All sessions are provided online via Zoom, making counselling accessible wherever you are in New Zealand. I maintain a small, selective caseload, working with clients where there is a strong fit and readiness for thoughtful, meaningful work.
What I Help With
I specialise in three core areas that many people seek support for:
Improving your personal functioning in a relationship
Many clients come to me wanting to:
- communicate more effectively
- reduce emotional reactivity
- understand attachment patterns
- create healthier boundaries
- feel more grounded and confident
I help you explore your emotional world so you can respond wisely and strengthen the relationship with authenticity.
Clarity during relationship strain or confusion
If you’re feeling stuck, disconnected, or unsure whether to stay or leave, therapy can help you slow down, understand what’s really happening, and make decisions that align with your values.
Together, we explore:
- relationship ambivalence
- conflicting needs
- emotional overwhelm
- patterns that keep you stuck
- what “a good life” looks like for you
This process helps you move forward with clarity and self-respect.
Rebuilding your sense of self after separation
Separation often brings grief, confusion, relief, and fear all at once. I support clients to:
- understand what happened
- process emotional pain
- rebuild identity
- break repeating patterns
- prepare for healthier future relationships
Many people describe this work as the turning point where they rediscover confidence and begin living with greater ease.
A Thoughtful, Relationship-Informed Approach to Individual Counselling
My approach integrates several evidence-informed modalities to support deep, lasting change:
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
A practical and effective approach for:
- emotional regulation
- distress tolerance
- navigating intense relationship emotions
- making values-based decisions
DBT helps you understand your emotional experience and choose responses that support healthy connection and self-respect.
Trauma-Informed Practice (including polyvagal understanding)
Many relationship struggles are shaped by past experiences.
I pay careful attention to:
- nervous-system overwhelm
- shutdown or avoidance
- hypervigilance
- early attachment wounds
This ensures that therapy feels safe, paced, and respectful of your capacity.
Existential-Humanistic Counselling
This perspective explores meaning, identity, responsibility, freedom, and the tension between being yourself and being part of a relationship.
My guiding question is always:
“What is a good life, for you?”
Clients often find that this work helps them:
- reconnect with purpose
- understand competing desires
- clarify their values
- find peace with difficult choices
Background & Experience
I have a long history in community mental health, including work as a counselling supervisor, supporting clients with depression, anxiety, trauma, personality disorder recovery, and complex relational patterns.
I also offer relationship therapy consultations for Relate, one of New Zealand’s specialist relationship counselling services.
My practice is now intentionally small. I work with a limited number of clients where there is a strong therapeutic fit and a shared intention toward meaningful, lasting change.
Dan holds a Master of Science in Mental Health Counseling and is certified by the Existential-Humanistic Institute, reflecting his grounding in both clinical and existential-humanistic traditions. Alongside his counselling work, he is the Practice Manager for Relate, supporting the delivery of specialist relationship therapy across Aotearoa. He is also a secondary trainer with the Presence Oriented Relationship Therapy (PORT) Institute, contributing to practitioner development in presence-based, relational therapeutic practice.
