Kavneet Prakash

Welcome, thank you for taking the time to read my profile.

Qualifications and Experience

Reaching out for support can be stressful, I want to acknowledge your effort in taking the first step towards a healthier wellbeing. I am a NZAC (New Zealand Association of Counsellors) and dapaanz (Drug and Alcohol Practitioners’ Association Aotearoa-New Zealand) registered counsellor with experience of working with children, adolescents and adults.

My Approach

My goal is to provide a safe space for my clients, so that they can explore and make sense of what ever is going on for them. I have experience with supporting clients who experience depression, anxiety, stress, suicidal/self-harm ideation, substance abuse, relationship issues, parenting challenges, post-traumatic stress disorder and grief. I have been trained in a variety of modalities to pick and choose from to find what suits best for my client and their unique personality.

Some of the modalities that I have been trained in are Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Gestalt, Narrative Therapy, Solution Focused Therapy, Te Whare Tapa Wha, Tihei-Wa Mauri Ora, Fonofale, Talanoa, Art Therapy, Sand tray Therapy and the core of my therapeutic work is Person-centred Therapy. I weave in different aspects of the variety of modalities to tailor a unique intervention plan for each of my clients. I believe that every individual has their own strengths to navigate through their journey and my role is to walk alongside my clients and support them with my knowledge and experiences in a professional and empathic manner.

About me:

I am 27 years old. I was born in Fiji and raised in Aotearoa. I enjoy reading books, being out in the nature (hikes, beaches, sitting in the sun), exploring the beautiful parts of Aotearoa and spending quality time with my whanau (family). As a mother of a 5-year-old I have gained an awareness of many parenting challenges. I enjoy educating myself and supporting others who also experience challenges of parenthood.

Some of the highlights of my professional experiences

I have facilitated groups where parents got together and had a korero (discussion) about parenting challenges and solutions. I was very passionate about supporting parents who wanted to explore and understand their role as a parent in their family system.

I have supported adolescents with alcohol and other drugs (AOD) experiences. I have had the opportunity to educate adolescents about AOD. I enjoyed sharing my knowledge in a fun and interactive way with my clients as they learnt about different types of substances. In this role I also provided AOD counselling and have supported many clients in successfully achieving their goals to decrease their use or maintain abstinence.

I have had the opportunity to work with young children as young as 5years old. I have used activities such as the emotions cards, anger thermometer, sand trays, painting, etc to explore issues such as anger, emotional dysregulation, lack of confidence, challenges with parents’ separation and bullying.

I am always learning new ways of supporting my clients and work hard to practice within the code of ethics of NZAC and dapaanz. I have a very knowledgeable group of people who support me in my practice. These people are my external supervisor, peer supervision group and other peers who I have made connections with throughout my counselling journey.

I offer online, phone and face to face counselling. I am quiet flexible and will try my best to accommodate to your schedule as I prefer to work on weekdays and weekends.