About

I seek to become a human who can respond, rather than a human who reacts. I notice when I move our of reactivity, my experience of life feels better. I feel freer. It helps me to connect to calm when the inevitable storms of life arrive. 

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I’m now in my 5th decade of life. I am a mother (sons aged 27, 18 and a daughter of 15), a partner, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a cat-adorer.  I have lived in Auckland’s west for 20 years and have developed a recent love of both hiking and mountain biking in the beautiful Waitakeres. 

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I have studied in every decade of my life, and hold a BA, a Grad Dip in Psychosocial Studies, a BHSc (Hons, First Class) in Psychology, and a Postgraduate Diploma in counseling.

A great deal of my working life has been spent in social and business research, I have been a parent educator and coach and used to publish in parenting and health and wellness themed publications (read my articles here)

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Therapy is another form of ‘research’, and goodTherapy really happens when your therapist is engaged in the conversation with you – finding out about YOUR experience, and where YOU want to go, offering information and resources.

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I have spent three and a half years working as a counsellor in Adult Mental Health recovery, and have a depth and breadth of experience in having conversations about all manner of problems and difficulties that are troubling peoples lives. 

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I have said to all three of my kids at times: "The best life skill you can develop is to tolerate difficulty". That may sound negative to some, but I have found (along with my clients) that increasing my/our capacity to meet the uncertainties of life and living really does place one in really good stead for being able to live a life of greater ease. And the greater our personal agility the more energy we can access to enjoy life.

 

Reactivity takes so much precious life energy - wouldn't you like to begin to respond to life instead?

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I look forward to meeting you and speaking together

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Hilary

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