FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

My office days are Tuesday and Wednesday 8am to 5pm and Thursday and Friday 8am to 3:30pm. I have set regular appointment times between those hours. As I have a number of ongoing clients at any one time, the specific days/times available will be limited. I am unavailable Mondays, evenings and weekends. If you wish to enquire about appointment availability, or have other questions, please use the "Contact" link in this website, or email directly. In your message, it helps if you can provide a brief description of the nature of the issue you are seeking therapy for, and also any days and times that you are available, or definitely not available. You are also welcome to call, however due to the nature of the work I am often unavailable to answer and you may have to leave a voicemail. Text messages are strongly discouraged for initial contact as these can be missed, and I am unable to set an auto-response (e.g., when I am away or unavailable).

This is a common question and hard to answer initially; a bit like "how long is a piece of string" ... it depends! The key factor is for us to develop a joint understanding of the issues. Depending on the issues and complexity this may take one or more appointments. We will then have a sense if this may be brief, medium or longer term. We will need to consider this in conjunction with your own preferences and goals, together with what works in therapy. Using a physical health analogy, if you have a stomach ache, the intensity and duration of treatment will vary depending on whether it is a tummy bug, appendicitis or cancer.

As a therapist, I offer regular therapy appointments which are weekly or fortnightly, depending on what is available at the time. At the initial appointment we will discuss and explore the issues that are bringing you to therapy, and what you are wanting from therapy. At the same time you will also be able to get a sense of whether you would like to work with me. By the end of our first meeting (maybe a few more depending on the issues) I hope for us to reach an initial shared understanding, and we can discuss how we could approach this in therapy. We would then continue to meet in that same weekly or fortnightly space for as long as is helpful for you.

We are located at 11 St Marys Road, Ponsonby, which is very near the major Three Lamps intersection (College Hill, Ponsonby Road, Jervois Road and St Marys Road). Our building is a cream villa situated next door to Honey Cafe. Please see the map and photo below. Free parking (up to two hours) is available on St Marys Road and the surrounding streets (e.g., Dublin Street,Caroline Street, Green Street), or there is paid parking in the Ponsonby Shops nearby. Please note there is strictly no parking behind our building. Those spaces are privately allocated and other cars may be towed away. It is best to arrive at the scheduled appointment time, as we do not have a waiting room. However if you are early we do have two chairs available in the hallway, or alternatively people wait at the cafe next door, or the park next to the cafe (St Marys Reserve).

Appointments (initial and ongoing) are one hour long and the fee is $200 (including GST). Payment in full is due at the time of the consultation, payable by standard eftpos card or cash. Credit cards can be accepted, but will incur an additional $5 charge (including GST). Should an account remain unpaid after an appointment, future appointments may be postponed until payment is received. In the unlikely event that debt collection services are required, the cost of these services will be added to the amount owed.

Appointments that are cancelled or rescheduled for any reason without 24 hours notice (aside from emergencies) may be charged the full fee. This is because there is insufficient time to offer the appointment to another client who may be on the wait-list for an opening. Failure to attend a booked appointment without any notification will incur the full fee, which will need to be paid prior to future appointments being made.