A Place for Soul, Spirit, Mind and Body

“…the dearest freshness deep down things…”, Gerard Manley Hopkins, ‘God’s Grandeur’

The Centre has its roots in Christian spirituality.

We don’t represent or belong to any one church. We certainly don’t push our spirituality on clients who come to the Centre. It’s more a part of our being – how we are, how we relate to each other and the people who seek our services.

We aim to welcome all, provide a safe space/sanctuary for the difficult work of inner healing, and treat each person we work with with full respect, compassion, and dignity.

First and foremost, we are professional counsellors and psychotherapists. We have undergone rigorous training, have full membership of relevant professional bodies, and are committed to maintaining professional ethical and therapeutic standards. In addition to an environment of professional rigour and excellence concerning ‘mind’ (how our feelings, thoughts, and past experiences affect our present life and relationships), we provide a place where ‘soul’ and ‘spirit’ – those aspects of us which are sacred, of infinite worth, of profound depth, meaning, and purpose, and which connect us with a much greater whole – can be recognised, honoured, and nurtured.

We do not assume that spirituality and faith will be important for everyone we work with, or that it will mean the same for everyone. We are interested in each person’s own experience of spirit, soul, and God, and seek to nurture this if this is part of healing for them.

If Christian faith is important to you and you are looking for counselling and psychotherapy services, we feel like we have a lot to offer. We assume that faith is an asset rather than a liability. Many of our practitioners specialise in working at the interface between Christian faith and life issues – for example, the overlap between Christian faith and issues such as the place of feelings, depression, anxiety, sexuality, relationship difficulties, anger, trauma, major life transitions, life purpose, connecting with God etc. We have a member of staff who is a trained spiritual director.  We also have a member of staff who is tangata whenua, and can work with spirituality from both a Christian and Maori cultural perspective.

In addition to witnessing to the sacredness of the human person, we view human life as inherently embodied. Our counsellors and psychotherapists are interested in how your body – the physical aspect of us – may be holding and communicating important parts of your life story.

We have therapists specially trained in working with physical illnesses and somatic symptoms (for example, ‘irritable bowel syndrome’, ‘chronic fatigue’, ‘urticaria’) in which “stress” and unresolved emotional and psychological factors may be playing an important role.

 

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