Emma Mackie-Watts

Finding a way through life’s difficult moments can feel overwhelming. I will help you find a place to start dealing with whatever is causing your distress; and I’ll provide a supportive safe place where you can talk freely and find answers for yourself.

Areas of Special Interest

• Depression
• Anxiety
• Grief
• Complicated Grief
• Trauma
• Relationships
• Career
• Stress
• Illness
• Life changes

Counselling Services

Counselling is a chance to talk about things in your life that are making you feel stuck, sad, confused or worried; anything really that makes you feel like you can’t find a way through on your own. It’s somewhere you can talk freely and go away feeling like you’ve been heard. I’ll listen to you objectively, not as a family member or friend. I’ll help you make meaning from hard or troubling experiences, so that you might learn to live with them and maybe even grow from them.

Perhaps you’re feeling stuck in a particular area of your life, or in general. You might be grieving the loss of a loved one or the end of a relationship; struggling with a traumatic experience, or a career set-back. Whatever you’re finding difficult, I’ll help you find answers for yourself. We’ll work together through anything that’s having a negative impact on your day to day life.

There is no judgement, I’ll hear what you have to say with an open heart and mind. I won’t give you all the answers, and I won’t try to “fix” you or solve all your problems. I believe you have the answers within yourself, you might just need a little help right now to find your way through.

Counselling Approach

Using a pluralistic approach, I acknowledge that each person has their own individual preferences and needs. This means I’ll talk to you about what you feel might be most helpful for you when it comes to your counselling sessions. This approach recognises that some people will want more direct guidance, while others will not; some might want to focus on their past experience to make sense of their current problems, whilst others will want to focus on their current ways of thinking and how that’s getting in their way right now. A pluralistic approach recognises that there is no one right way of doing therapy and that different clients need different things at different times.

Background and Experience

I’ve worked with adults experiencing a wide range of difficulties, including depression, anxiety, grief, trauma-related mental health conditions, eating disorders.

I have extensive experience working with grief and loss, including complicated grief caused by multiple or traumatic losses. I work with grief as it presents due to the death of a loved one; the end of a significant relationship; miscarriage; being unable to have children; redundancy; and being separated from family and friends through immigration or other factors.

Note about location: I no longer work from the CBD, however please consider coming to my Devonport office which is a 10 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland CBD, followed by 2 minute walk.