Rata Counselling Centre Team Christchurch

Paul Howard – Manager/Senior Counsellor

M.A SW (Applied), B.A Sociology/Drama & Dip. Counselling.

Paul joined the Rata team in November 2011. Previously he has been working in community mental health for twenty years in both Christchurch and North Canterbury. Paul has strong interests in counselling and group therapy and is committed to people creating and finding their own pathways and solutions using all the resources available.

Wendy Nicholson – Administrator/Receptionist

Wendy is our friendly receptionist/administrator and first point of contact for all of Rata's clients. She also looks after administration, co-ordinates counsellor and client appointments, does the initial accounts, and is Personal Assistant to the Manager. She works alongside Joan and Maria, our friendly receptionists.

Before joining Rata, Wendy managed a community organisation and also taught accounting and computer applications.

What she loves most about Rata are the clients and the inspirational counsellors. When not at Rata, Wendy’s burning desire is to be able to spend more time gardening.

Joan Macown – Receptionist

Joan works at Rata alongside Wendy and Maria as one of our friendly receptionists. She greets our clients, takes bookings and does whatever needs to be done to keep the place running smoothly for staff and clients.

Currently, Joan is also working part time in a reception/administration role at a Medical Centre. Before this, Joan worked in a community orgainisation as an Employment Coach/Receptionist. Previously to this Joan taught for many years at primary school level.

What she loves most about Rata is the interaction with both counsellors and clients, as well as the variety of tasks - no day is the same.

When not at Rata, Joan likes to spend  time running, painting and reading, along with spending time with her 2 adult children and her 4 beautiful grandchildren. Her burning desire is to travel overseas especially to Europe.

Maria Moody – Receptionist

Maria loves living in Christchurch, New Zealand and emigrated from England 14 years ago with her husband Ian and has a 12 year old daughter Jasmine who was born in NZ.

Maria really enjoys working at Rata, meeting and interacting with the clients and working with all the friendly and caring counsellors and reception staff.

When not at Rata, Maria enjoys spending time with her family, her cat Milo and her dog Casper, she also enjoys listening to music, watching movies and walking.

Maria’s burning desire is to learn to play the guitar and sing.

Beth Garvey – Senior Counsellor MNZAC, MTAAP

Dip. Counselling, Dip. Psychotherapy, Dip. Relationship and Psychosexual Counselling  BMus, TTC

Beth loves her work at Rata. Working from a ‘client centred’ approach, Beth really enjoys helping her clients’ on their journey of growth and being with them as they understand who they are, identify what is important to them and discover their potential. Beth is a member of the local committee of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors (NZAC) as she has a deep interest in counselling and the local counselling scene. Prior to joining Rata, she worked as a secondary school teacher and a phone counsellor. Beth brings a Jungian approach to her work and has many counselling qualifications as well as supervision training.

When Beth is not at Rata she fufills her love of music by playing in two orchestras, and is involved in choirs. Photography is another passion of hers.

What Beth likes most about working at Rata is the friendly staff and warm, friendly supportive atmosphere. This touches every part of her day; to all the clients, staff and executive as well as the counsellors she supervises to help develop their counselling skills, approaches and abilities.

Heather Hulse – Senior Counsellor MNZAC, MNZCCA

BA, Diploma of Teaching, Diploma of Counselling with Psychotherapeutic Studies (NMIT)

Heather’s love of travel and extensive involvement in teaching and education are just some of the skills and experiences she brings to her role of Counsellor at Rata. Working from a client-centred approach, she helps adults, couples and youth across a range of issues including depression, anxiety, self-esteem, anger management, relationship issues, sexual abuse and grief and loss.

Heather uses a range of modalities with her clients including Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), basic Transactional Analysis (TA), Solution-Focused. She is one of only a few Christchurch counsellors to have completed Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) for couples. Other strengths are that she is approved for ACC counselling for sexual abuse clients, has training in post abortion loss, grief and loss,  and undertakes clinical supervision of counselling trainees.

What Heather loves most about working at Rata is the varied and rewarding work and being part of a team that offers a valuable and affordable service. When not at Rata, she likes to travel and once lived in Cameroon, West Africa for 3 years. She has 3 (now adult) children and is actively involved in several voluntary organisations.

Noeline Allan - Senior Counsellor for Youth Provisional Member NZAC

Dip Counselling, Dip Business

Noeline is one of our friendly youth counsellors helping young people (10-25yrs) with a range of life issues and concerns.  She works from a person centred approach and has a special empathy for working with Maori, having been raised bi-culturally.

Many not for profit organisations have benefited from Noeline's skills and support and her commitment to the community is second to none. She has helped set up and manage the Whakaraupo Carving Centre Trust, Sumner Bays Trust, Lyttelton Community House, Work Peninsula and the Lyttelton Harbour Youth Council.

What Noeline loves most about Rata is the friendly, whanau (family) feel. To Noeline, Rata is a place that truly cares about its clients, always providing a high standard of service and giving her opportunity to constantly train and up-skill.

Noeline also enjoys entertaining friends and family, singing, and going to concerts, plays and movies. So it may not surprise you to learn that if Noeline could be anyone for a day she would be Kiri Te Kanawa as she has always wanted to sing opera. A proud mother of 2 and doting grandmother to a gorgeous 2 year old grandson, Noeline also enjoys gardening, walking and reading and one day would like to travel the world.

Paula Lapslie - Senior Counsellor for Youth MNZAC

MCouns (Hons), Diploma of Counselling.

With years of experience of working with young people, Paula is one of our friendly youth counsellors who work with youth aged 10 – 25. She is here to listen, support and help you through a range of issues including relationships, depression, abuse, family breakdown, fear, addictions and bullying.

Paula’s counselling works from what is known as the Narrative approach. We all have stories in our lives all happening alongside each other. Often we live our lives according to the stories that we tell ourselves or others tell us about ourselves. Many of the stories that influence our lives are created at home, at school, in the community and the places we hang out and it is these stories that often influence how we live our lives.

Using the Narrative approach, Paula helps people understand the context in which these stories began; how these stories shaped their lives and in short, provide opportunity for hidden or missed stories to be told.

Paula loves her role at Rata and believes it is a privilege to work alongside young people and engage with them in a spirit of collaboration, as they reflect on their life.

Paula is also a mother to two adult children; one who lives in Christchurch and the other in Auckland, and enjoys spending time with them and her family. Other interests include reading, walking, swimming, going to the movies and the cafe scene. If she ever gets the opportunity, she loves fishing.

She has spent much of her adult life outside of Christchurch in various parts of the South and North Island due to her job and loves being back in Christchurch and reconnecting with friends and family.

Her professional work has been varied over the years but much of it has been with young people in various contexts, such as telephone counselling, schools and community. Most recently she worked in the area of domestic violence. Paula would love the opportunity to meet you and listen to your story at Rata Counselling Centre Christchurch.

Other Staff

As part of our team we are fortunate to have our qualified volunteer counsellor.

Senior Trainees

Our Executive Committee are: