About Julian

Originally from Yorkshire in the UK, I moved with Lisa and our two boys to New Zealand in 2013.

My background is in supporting families and individuals with complex health and social care needs and spent several years working in inner city Sheffield for the Sheffield Multi-agency Support Team. 

On moving to new Zealand, I joined the Department of Corrections, working in both the North and South Islands, and this was when I became particularly interested in Men's Mental Health.

Whilst my career has been enjoyable and rewarding, I felt that prevention was much more effective than intervention, and working with people to develop their own tools and ways of coping with adversity can enhance their mana.

Building on my experience, I retrained and completed my Bachelor Of Counselling and saw the  potential for positive transformation in my clients almost immediately. Working at Canterbury Men's Centre for the past 3 years has allowed me to walk alongside people long term on their journeys towards better health and wellbeing and I feel privileged to have been a part of this.

My therapeutic approach is based in Person-Centred and Narrative Therapy, keeping the client at the heart of everything I do. My passion is in working with trauma as this is so often at the root of many challenges we face in life - mental health 'symptoms' such as depression, anxiety and low self esteem are the fruit of this trauma and the root cause may never be addressed. Once this is tackled in therapy, many of these symptoms disappear, allowing the person to flourish.