Caroline Witten-Hannah
Registered Psychotherapist with Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist Specialism - PBANZ -
Family Court, ACC & CYFS Approved
Grad. Diploma Child Psychotherapy (AUT), BA Social Sciences
I am a Child Psychotherapist who has been working for 20 years, providing psychotherapy for
adults, adolescents, children and families.
I work primarily with children and young people and their families and can help children from
the age of three years. I work with a wide range of child and adolescent difficulties
including grief, loss, seperation problems, anxiety, trauma and other childhood problems.
In my work as a Child psychotherapist I use a wide range of therapeutic models according to
the age of the child or adolescent and their individual needs. I work in a therapeutic
playroom and offer creative media as well as talking when working with children.
I always liaise closely with parents and caregivers when helping children and young people.
I have considerable experience in the recovery from abuse and trauma, including treatment for
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
As a child psychotherapist I have a special interest in attachment. I have considerable
training and experience in working with parents and children to enhance attachment
relationships and correct disturbed attachments.
Anne O'Kane
Registered Psychotherapist and member of NZAP
Post Graduate Diploma Psychotherapy, Certified Imago Couples Therapist, Affect Regulation
Therapist, Registered General Nurse
Iam a registered psychotherapist and a member of New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists.
Prior to training as a psychotherapist I had extensive experience as a registered Nurse and
in care and protection social work.
I hold to a broad and holistic perspective to health, emotional and relational problems in
people's lives. I am able to offer an eclectic range of therapeutic modalities to meet the
individual needs of my clients.
Though my background I believe that I am able to develop an empathy with my clients in a
general way. As a psychotherapist I have worked for the last 15 years with victims of all
kinds of trauma, mental health issues, couple and family relational problems, grief and
loss, adolescent issues and health/mind-body awareness.
- I am ACC and Family Court Registered
- I am an Imago Certified Couples Therapist. (Imago New Zealand website)
- I am an Affect Regulation Therapy therapist. (Affect Regulation Therapy
website)
I use Affect Regulation therapy to promote balance, provide
stress reduction, improve mood etc along with mind body consciousness
- I work with Health West and am an approved counsellor with Primary Lifestyle Options and
Your Choice Programmes
- I am trained in Psychodynamic Therapy, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Cognitive
Analytic Therapy
I am committed to ongoing education, professional development and regular supervision. I
abide by the NZAP code of ethics in my clinical practice.
Melanie Woodham B. SOC. SCI (PSYCH) M. SOC SCI (PSYCH) (HONS)
Registered Clinical Psychologist
Member of the New Zealand Psychological Society
Member of the Institute of Clinical Psychologists
Member of EMDR New Zealand
My name is Melanie Woodham and I have been working with infants, children, adolescents and
families since 1999. I am experienced in the clinical assessment and treatment of a wide
range of psychological and mental health difficulties such as:
- stress and adjustment issues
- behavioural difficulties
- grief and loss
- trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder
- anxiety
- depression
- anger management and emotional dysregulation
- attachment and relationship difficulties
- parenting and family issues
- children living in out-of-home placements and adoption
- school anxiety
- sleep difficulties
I am a provider for ACC, undertaking both supported assessments and therapy for sensitive
claims. I also provide clinical supervision for other clinicians.
In my work I think it is important to work with the young person as well as their family. My
practice is informed by a wide range of treatments models such as Cognitive-Behavioural
Therapy (CBT), trauma-focussed CBT, Play Therapy, Eye Movement Desensitisation and
Reprocessing (EMDR), Mindfulness, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Parent-Child
Interaction Therapy (PCIT). I have many years of experience and am committed to ongoing
training and clinical supervision.
You can contact me on: mobile: 021 253 6957 or via email: mjwoodhampsychology@gmail.com
Trisha Cassidy MA Psych (Hons), BA Psych
Registered Psychotherapist, Member of the New Zealand Psychological Society, Provisional
Member of the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists
I am a registered psychotherapist who has been working for over 20 years in the field. The
main focus of my work is psychodynamic psychotherapy, working very much in a relational way
with clients to bring relief from symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, grief and loss,
anger, and general relationship difficulties. I specialise in recovery from sexual abuse
trauma and have been ACC registered for almost 15 years. Other specialist areas include
domestic violence, gender and sexuality, and family relational problems. I also have a
passion for working with young people and their families, and have extensive training in
family therapy.
A central focus of much of my work is to make conscious and shift patterns of behaviour in
life and in relationships that are challenging and problematic, and to support people
towards greater personal awareness and fulfilment.
You can contact me via email: trishacassidy24@gmail.com
Robyn Agnew MANZASW; SWRB #679; ACC Sensitive Claim Provider
Therapist
Contact to discuss appointment Ph. 027 526 5773
I trained as a social worker in the 1980s and have worked all my life as a therapist dealing
with trauma. Firstly in Child and Adolescent Mental Health and then within Oranga Tamariki
(CYF) as a Therapist, then Manager of child assessment and therapy services (Specialist
Services). During this period of work, I was ACC registered providing therapy services to
child clients.
I then provided national policy and support to social workers within CYF implementing and
running a Critical Incident Stress Management Service. This service triaged social workers
following work related incidents causing harm. It comprised a team of up to 60 trained
senior social work staff who would provide support to a site experiencing work related
incidents. I also trained a staff of up to 200 peers to provide day to day on site support
for affected staff.
Following this period of work, I took a sabbatical in the UK working for the first time as a
child protection social worker in the Scottish Highlands.
Coming back to NZ I worked in the Starship and then began working for HELP (sexual abuse
therapy) supporting families managing sexually abused children.
I now work solely in private practice, doing a lot of Sensitive Claim ACC work for clients
with historical sexual trauma. I enjoy helping with relational difficulties either family or
work related.
I was sitting in the Piha library recently, and struck up a conversation with a familiar
face. He was telling me he had been to the Auckland Writers Festival and had listened to a
Dutch woman talking about her 'going bush' experience in NZ.
We got to talking about hermits and heroes. I said I thought male and female sexual abuse
survivor heroic journeys were internal; requiring great personal courage and perseverance in
the face of adversity. He said that being hermit-like was not a human thing to do; that we
need each other; we are social beings; we need to talk to each other.
As I spoke to him I found myself talking about my ACC sensitive claim work with sexual abuse
survivors.
How my clients had learned to be silent contenders with their own abuse experience (their
heroic journey); most never sharing; and how in the process of therapy, one of the first
signs of health and revitalising energies, is their talking to people in their circle about
what happened to them.
I explained that human survival biology allows the parasympathetic nervous system to dampen
down human feeling and thought, into a hibernating state. And how the vagus nerve can
re-start human connectivity; how communion with others, in turn, uses the parasympathetic
system to dampen the extremes of fight and flight in the sympathetic nervous system.
How it is necessary to talk to others in order to understand what has happened to the spirit
within, after damage has occurred; and the role of the therapist in this, providing a
sensitive mind to assist the feeling states of clients to come to terms with their own
experience and become liberated into their true selves, not stuck in their trauma self.
How the ‘originating’ family psychodynamics have often operated to suppress all child
resistance to oppression and encouraged self-internalised denigration and punishment to
control the child’s own spirit.
How the child made the best decisions available at that time to survive, and how the adult
child needs to review the family patterning; the decisions the child made and if they are
relevant now.
How I feel joy with the adult child’s connection with this powerful new energy that allows
the adult to say Yes and No with no explanation.
This is the joy of therapy. Seeing client’s increasing independence and the liberation of
experiencing their true selves.
