Jenhai Weeding

Kia Ora,

I am a registered Psychotherapist with 30 years of experience working with children and families. I specialize in working with caregivers who are having relationship difficulties with their infants/toddlers. The aim of the therapy is to help parents to better understand their baby’s needs and communications, as well as strengthen the relationship between them.

Some parents may have difficult feelings about being a parent which may feel confusing or uncomfortable. Other parents, on giving birth may be struggling with depression and/or anxiety. My aim is to work together with the parents and infants that I see to help them connect more fully with each other and improve their sense of emotional well-being.

I offer an opportunity to provide a safe space to think together about what might be the underlying reasons that are causing you to have baby or toddler worries.

What might those worries include?

• Parent-child relationship worries
• The impact of trauma
• Bonding difficulties
• Adjusting to being a new parent
• Processing a difficult birth experience.
• Post-natal depression
• Separation anxiety
• Prolonged feeding/ sleeping difficulties with your child
• Grief and Loss
• Self-esteem concerns
• Behavioral difficulties
• Parental childhood difficulties

Services offered:

• Parent-infant psychotherapy works with the parent and the infant together with the aim being to improve the wellbeing of the parent-infant relationship. Becoming a parent can and does create many challenges both from an emotional and psychological point of view, as you seek to adjust to another little person joining the whanau.
•  I offer caregivers the space to be able to talk through their worries and concerns about their baby/toddler and think together about how past experiences might be affecting their relationship with their infant. This also provides an opportunity to receive information on child development that helps caregivers to see their child’s point of view.
• Parent-child attachment therapy 4-8 yrs Sometimes parents find there is a disconnect between themselves and their child. Parent-child attachment therapy can help strengthen the attachment relationship and provide a greater understanding of the reasons your child is behaving in certain ways. For both, the child and the parent this kind of child-parent therapy can deepen the enjoyment and closeness in the relationship.
• Parent Consultation Service– to provide developmental guidance and therapeutic support to Caregivers on emotional and behavioral difficulties/concerns with their children 0-8 years.  This might be a one-off meeting to think together about a particular concern or provided on a more regular basis as needed.
• Individual Psychotherapy sessions- There may be an issue or concern that as an adult is troubling you and affects how you view yourself and interact with your close relationships. Taking time out to explore what might be the underlying cause can improve your sense of emotional well-being.

About me

I have lived and worked in Aotearoa/New Zealand for the past 13 and a half years. Before that, I worked in the UK starting my therapeutic career in a background of social work and counselling. I have worked in the field of disability, adoption, fostering, and child mental health. After qualifying as a Play Therapist, I spent 8 years working in the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) in the UK. My work in New Zealand has consisted of working with mums and infants; young children in foster care, along with their caregivers; and children and their families who have suffered a  bereavement. I have been in private practice for the past 7 years.

In my work over the years, seeing previously disconnected parents and young children find mutual joy and delight in each other is what led me to train as a Parent-infant Psychotherapist.

I am happy to provide a free 15-minute  phone consultation to answer any queries you might have.

I look forward to hearing from you.