Catherine Hanson-Friend

Role: Counsellor/Social Worker/Trauma Therapist
Qualifications:
Registered Social Worker (SWRB NZ/ MANZASW) Post-graduate Diploma in
Counselling University of Canterbury, NZ), Certified Havening Practitioner® with
Havening Techniques®
​
Practicing Since:  1990​
Currently based:

Invercargill, Southland, NZ and will travel to surrounding areas.

Online/Zoom sessions available.

About me:
I am an experienced, mature, clinical, Registered Social Worker (NZ-SWRB) and
Counselling Professional (UC Post-graduate); Trauma Therapist / Health
Professional having practiced for over 30 years as a Social Worker and
therapist/counsellor in the UK; the USA; the Solomon Islands; Thailand and currently
in my homeland of New Zealand, most recently specializing in trauma-informed work.
Over the entirety of my practice, I have worked within:
a) the Health Care sector, including with:

 Trauma/PTSD/Domestic and Sexual Violence;
 Hospice/Palliative Care / Cancer Psychosocial work with patients and
whanau/family, providing End of Life counselling; Loss and Grief therapy; Life-
Story/personal history work [as a therapeutic tool] and therapeutic interventions with

Assisted Dying/Euthanasia patients and family; 

Traumatic Brain Injury with patients/family;
Elderly and Dementia Care and the three components of Mental Health, namely: cognitive health, emotional health, and behavioral health.



b) the Children and Families sector:

Predominantly in the Child Protection sphere (including Statutory and Family

Court work);

in fostering and adoption work (including adoption reunion work and step-

parent adoptions);

in humanitarian/volunteer work (including with child-sex-trafficking practices)
assisting in advancing effective Child Protection practices in developing areas
of the world, including the Solomon Islands and Northern Thailand.

As an advanced practitioner, an integral part of all my roles has been the
undertaking of complex and comprehensive psychosocial assessments, including
assessments of people with domestic/sexual violence histories and/or mental
health conditions, having a working knowledge of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).

In addition to my formal Social Work/Health Science and Counselling qualifications I
have attended/participated (and facilitated) multiple trainings, workshops and other
Professional Development forums to enhance, embolden and strengthen all my
skills.
 
I am a fully qualified and certified Havening Practitioner®, with Havening
Techniques® being backed by neuroscience and being evidenced to benefit many
health conditions especially anxiety, depression, stress, chronic pain, anger, panic
attacks, phobias and past or present trauma. This revolutionary psychosensory
therapy provides some with a way to make the most of their neural plasticity and can
assist in providing freedom from unnecessary fears, blocks and pain.
​
Each of my therapeutic interventions come laden with respect, acceptance,
compassion, appreciation, connection, inclusivity and safety, all whilst working with
the client on their stuck emotions/frozen feelings/buried trauma and overwhelming
anxieties.
​
I embody my knowledge of, and experiences with, various cultures and communities
within my work and fully embrace any opportunity to educate and empower people to
remember that their own healing potential is mostly deeply seated within
themselves. 
Being from New Zealand, I fully embrace and bring the effective, all-encompassing,
holistic Māori Hauora (Wellness of life) model/dynamic, Te Whare Tapa Whā {Sir

Mason Durie – 1984} to all my work, ensuring all the dimensions/elements of a
person are observed,
recognised and respected, in order to sustain hauora (health and wellbeing), namely:
 taha hinengaro – mental health and emotions;
 taha wairua – spiritual health;
 taha tinana – physical health, and
 taha whānau – whanau, as the epicentre of one’s wellbeing.