Counselling services

As a college, we want to support every learner who is finding their studies or general life more difficult than usual.

Our team of counsellors aim to help learners navigate through these difficult times by helping to find their own solutions, coping strategies or linking them in with external agencies. Our counsellors at Rolleston College have diverse sets of knowledge, skills and experience. Each counsellor is appropriately trained and maintains a professional registration with an external association.

Our counselling team offers a free and confidential service for learners. They accept self-referrals, or referrals from whānau and staff who are concerned about a learner. 


How do I make an appointment with one of our counsellors?

  • You can ask your parent, or any teacher that you like and trust to make an appointment for you.
  • You can email us and ask for an appointment at any time on our shared email counsellors@rollestoncollege.nz.
  • Or you can drop in to see us at any time to ask us to book an appointment. 

After a referral is made, an appointment will be booked, and we will send a slip asking to meet with you.

In an emergency, arrangements will be made to see the student on the same day.


Our counsellors

Our counsellors at Rolleston College have diverse sets of knowledge, skills and experience. Each counsellor is appropriately trained and maintains a professional registration with an external association.  

Marc

I joined the counselling team at Rolleston College in 2023. I bring a wealth of experience from my previous roles as a school counsellor, technology teacher and tradie. I look forward to supporting our students, staff and whānau. Outside of work, I am a fly-fisher, motorcycle enthusiast and a family man.

Paula

I joined the Rolleston College counselling team in 2023. For many years, I have run a private counselling practice, using a feelings based form of therapy that brings people to an understanding of their feelings and themselves—creating balance, understanding and the confidence to take forward steps in life. In addition, I have International Coaching Federation training. 

It is my pleasure and privilege to work in support of the ākonga, whānau and kamiahi at Rolleston College.


Ainslie

Ko Ainslie tōku ingoa.

I have been a counsellor for the past ten years and am a full member of the NZ Association of Counsellors. In addition to my counselling work, I serve on the NZAC School Counsellors Advisory Panel. My career spans more than twenty years in the education sector, where I have taught Health, Physical Education, Outdoor Education, and Counselling.

My areas of interest and strength include supporting learners managing low mood and anxiety, navigating disordered eating, and experiencing life transitions, such as starting a new school, changes in friendships, or adapting to shifts in family dynamics. I work in a neuroaffirming way, supporting neurodivergent learners effectively.

I take a structured and intentional approach to my counselling practice, drawing on a range of modalities and models I am both trained in and aligned with. These include Sir Mason Durie’s Te Whare Tapa Whā model, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), and the Focused Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT) modality.