Abby Driver

Contact me and we'll arrange a time for an initial session. The initial session will be focused on clearly defining the problems you are wanting help with, since we can't address an issue without first defining and understanding it! I'll guide you through this process, and by the end of the first session most clients find that we have a lot more clarity about the issues, how different issues might interrelate, and we will start developing a plan about how we will resolve them.

If you find the first session helpful, then I'll generally recommend that we meet for a further three sessions initially as by this time we can often make some significant progress in addressing the issues we've identified and you'll likely have a good sense of whether the work we're doing is achieving what you want. After these initial sessions, we can carry on if it feels necessary, finish our work if we've achieved what you wanted, or re-evaluate our approach if there are things that need tweaking in how we work together.

I hold firmly to the belief that the client is always the expert in their own experience - I could never know anyone as well as they know themselves. My role therefore is to help you to gain clarity, identify and resolve your problems and support you to make changes by supporting you, providing an outside perspective, and asking questions to help you to explore and consider ideas in new ways.
I do not see it as my role to give advice or tell you what to do, but rather as someone who can prompt you to ask the right questions so that you can work out for yourself what will work best for you.

While there are a range of different approaches to therapy, I primarily see it as a place to resolve internal psychological problems. I want therapy to be a place where you can resolve issues you are having as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
While there are times where therapy may operate more like a conversation or a place to simply have a 'sounding board', most of the time I engage in therapy in a very active way, keeping the focus on the issues you came to address and making sure that we make consistent progress.

Absolutely yes! In keeping with my general philosophy, I believe that the client is always the expert in their own experience, including their own gender identity.
I am more than willing to help people explore questions around identity when they are unsure, but I will always do this from a position of neutrality, as I firmly believe that no gender nor sexual identity is any more natural, valid, or legitimate than any other.

Please get in touch! I'm always more than happy to discuss things and answer any questions you might have before you commit to a session. I believe it is crucially important that you find someone that you feel comfortable working with, and I am committed to providing as much information as possible to help you make that decision.

I have supervision fortnightly with a clinical psychologist on the Gold Coast, and I have engaged in regular ongoing training in the ten years since I graduated. More importantly though, I actively and regularly review our work together.
One of the main ways I do this, if you consent, is by recording our sessions. This enables me to go back and rewatch segments of our sessions so that I can review and improve the way I'm working with you, and gives me the opportunity to better analyse the things we are trying to resolve together. This process of reviewing actual sessions is called 'deliberate practice', and is an evidence-based method for improving outcomes from therapy.

- Full Member of New Zealand Association of Psychotherapist (NZAP)
- Registered with Psychotherapists Association of Aotearoa New Zealand (PBANZ)
- Member of Professional Association for Transgender Health NZ (PATHA)

- Masters of Psychotherapy (AUT)
- ISTDP Core Training (3 year course, Melbourne Centre for ISTDP)
- ISTDP Advanced Training (3 year course, Melbourne Centre for ISTDP)
- Certificate in Counselling Skills (Metanoia Institute, London)

- Typically $170 per fifty minute session. Subsidies may be available for some clients.

- Monday to Friday, 9am to 3pm