Rachelle Whitehead
Hello! I’m Rachelle Whitehead, born Canadian and raised my family in New Zealand for the past 35 years. I am a Registered Social Worker and Counsellor, specialising in Child and Adolescent Therapy and Child Sexual Abuse work (ACC Sensitive Claims). I am working toward completing my Accreditation for EMDR Therapy- specialising in Children and Trauma. I have experience in working with children and family/whānau for the past 16 years.
services
Child and Adolescent Therapy and Counselling
Therapy for Adults
ACC Sexual Abuse Therapy
Private one on one Zoom/Skype sessions for parents offering a SPACE Treatment for child and adolescent anxiety and OCD. SPACE stands for 'Supportive Parenting for Anxious Childhood Emotion'
Services for Professionals
Contact our service for a referral form
Supervision
Court Referrals - working with the many parts of families in supporting parents to be the best they can be by improving the systems of interactions between them for the benefit of their child.
Social Work Referrals - offer a packages of care and customised quotes.
What I treat
Anxiety in children
Loss and grief issues in children
Trauma/ abuse and PTSD in children and young people
Parents /caregivers coping with Emotional Distress of Parenthood
Childhood Sexual Abuse (ACC)
MY METHODS
EMDR (Eye Movement, Desensitization, Reprocessing)
Trauma Informed Therapy
Parent-Child Therapy
Attachment Therapy
Tele-Therapy and support by arrangement
MY APPROACH
Free from danger
Free from anxiety
Reliable
Make safe
A safe place to explore the world
A Secure Base
adj: Exploration and openness to new information 6. When relationships offer a sense of security, individuals can reach out to others and deal with conflict and stress positively, building healthy bonds, which promote confidence in connecting with loved ones.
Provides the guiding tenets for connectiveness and healthy development of affectional bonds.
Testimonial
After our 10-year-old started experiencing severe anxiety, we found ourselves unsure what to do to help him. We were so happy to find Rachelle at A Secure Base. With her help and support we followed the SPACE programme, which aims to educate parents and guide responses when parenting an anxious child. It was greatly supportive to develop strategies, with Rachelle’s guidance, as we progressed. Our son is now back to engaging happily in sport, friendships and school and just said yesterday “I am feeling so much better – I am even excited about [friend’s name] birthday”! With Rachelle’s support we have all built a greater understanding of anxiety and strategies to deal with it when it occurs.
Fleur
Privacy Note
We have a limited confidentiality policy which means if we genuinely believe a person’s life is at risk of harm we will endeavour to work with the person, family /whānau to get more support. This sometimes means making a notice of concern to Oranga Tamariki.
A Note about Covid-19
We take extra precautions by -
• Disinfecting all touched surfaces before and after our sessions
• Options available to wear a mask
• We ask that if you or your child feels unwell in any way that you contact us to re-book the session or opt for a virtual session instead.