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Darinee Turnwald NZ Therapist

Gentle, trauma-informed therapy for adults, teens and children

Holistic Therapy Services

Based in Katikati — supporting clients across New Zealand in person and online

What I offer

I provide personalised holistic therapy services that supports the whole person — mind, body, and spirit.

Whether you’re feeling stuck in anxiety, overwhelmed by trauma, or watching your child shut down or lash out, we’ll find an approach that meets you where you are.

My work blends neuroscience, somatic techniques, creative tools, and naturopathy, always held in a safe, supportive space.

You don’t need to know what kind of therapy you need. You just need to show up — and we’ll work it out together.

Investment - Its time to invest in you 

  • Individual Therapy Session (60 mins): $140

  • Teen / Child Therapy (45–60 mins): $140

  • Zoom sessions (NZ-wide): Same as above

If cost is a barrier, please don’t hesitate to reach out. I offer a limited number of spaces at a reduced rate on a sliding scale, based on individual circumstances. Your wellbeing matters, and I’m committed to making support accessible.

Darinee Turnwald NZ Therapist
Havening Techniques®

Havening Techniques®

A neuroscience-based approach to healing trauma
Havening is a gentle, touch-based technique that helps the brain process and “de-link” traumatic memories from emotional distress. It’s calming, safe, and deeply effective for trauma, PTSD, anxiety, phobias, and emotional overwhelm.

Additional Information

Havening is a gentle, touch-based technique that helps the brain heal from trauma, anxiety, phobias, and emotional distress. Developed by Dr. Ronald Ruden, it is grounded in neuroscience and built upon our understanding of how the brain encodes and processes trauma. When a traumatic event occurs, the brain activates a network involving the amygdala—a part of the brain responsible for emotional responses. This process can leave a lasting imprint, where certain memories or triggers cause the body to react with intense fear, anxiety, or emotional overwhelm.

Havening works by using soothing, therapeutic touch on the arms, face, or hands to generate delta brain waves—the same calm brain state seen in deep rest. When a distressing memory is gently recalled during this process, these delta waves interact with the part of the brain holding the traumatic encoding. This interaction opens calcium channels in the neurons, setting off a process known as traumatic depotentiation—where the emotional receptors attached to the memory are effectively deactivated. As a result, the memory no longer carries the same emotional charge or triggers.

This process reflects the brain’s natural ability to change and heal, known as synaptic plasticity. Havening allows the brain to rewire itself safely and gently, leading to permanent emotional relief. Clients often describe it as deeply calming and transformative, offering new freedom from past pain without needing to relive the trauma.

For more information about Havening go to

Havening.org

Somatic Therapy

Somatic Therapy

Your body knows the story — and how to heal
Somatic therapy helps you tune into your body’s signals and release stored tension and trauma. It’s especially helpful if you’ve tried talking therapies and still feel stuck.

Additional Information

Somatic therapy is a gentle, body-centred approach that recognises how trauma and emotional pain are often stored not just in the mind, but in the body as well. By bringing awareness to physical sensations, breath, posture, and movement, somatic therapy helps release tension, restore a sense of safety, and reconnect you with your body’s natural capacity to heal. It offers a deeply compassionate pathway for those navigating trauma, anxiety, or emotional overwhelm—supporting lasting change from the inside out.

Interactive Drawing Therapy

Interactive Drawing Therapy

When words are too much — draw instead
IDT uses simple drawing as a way to express and process thoughts, feelings, and memories that are hard to name. It’s powerful for children, teens, and adults, and you don’t need any art experience — just a pen and a page.

Additional Information

 IDT is a powerful, hands-on approach using crayons that blends words, images, and feelings on paper to access your deep inner wisdom and support healing. By engaging both hemispheres of the brain, IDT helps people express what’s hard to put into words. Clients draw or write as they talk—often using visual metaphors—and then reflect on what emerges. The page becomes a mirror, offering new perspectives, clarity, and insight. This method is especially effective for those who struggle to articulate their emotions, fostering self-awareness, inner resourcefulness, and profound change. You don’t need to be a good drawer for IDT -stick figures are just fine.

Naturopathy

Naturopathy

Healing the whole person, not just the mind
With a background in naturopathy, I bring a holistic lens to mental health — considering your physical wellbeing, nervous system, stress levels, and the connection between body and brain.

Additional Information

As a qualified Naturopath for over 30 years, it is naturally within me to bring a holistic lens to our sessions. When working with trauma and mental health, I gently explore all aspects of your wellbeing - including your physical health, emotions, beliefs, and relationships. Trauma affects every part of us, so healing needs to be just as whole. We begin wherever you feel ready, and build from there with care and compassion.

Who I Work With

My holistic therapy services support adults, teenagers, and children navigating:

  • Anxiety and panic

  • Depression and low mood

  • Emotional overwhelm or shutdown

  • Trauma -including experiences such as emotional neglect, physical or sexual abuse, violence, bullying, sudden loss, or medical trauma, or living with PTSD

  • Self-harm and distress in teens

  • School refusal and regulation struggles in children and teens

  • Chronic pain

  • Grief, burnout, or a general sense of “not coping”

How We Can Work Together

In person

The Katikati Community Centre or from my practice in Katikati

In schools

for children and teens
(by arrangement)

Online via Zoom

for clients across
Aotearoa New Zealand

 I also accept referrals from the Western Bay of Plenty PHO, The Katikati Community Centre and Oranga Tamariki and Intensive wrap around Service (IWS). 

If you live in the Western Bay of Plenty, you may be eligible for six fully funded counselling sessions. I’m happy to guide you through the process -just get in touch.

Darinee Turnwald NZ Therapist

“Healing begins the moment you decide to stop walking alone.”

I am a mental health and trauma therapist based in Katikati,  Bay of Plenty, New Zealand. 

Tel: 0212610116
Email: darinee.turnwald@gmail.com

Katikati Community Centre
45 Beach Road
Katikati  3178

I work from the Katikati Community Centre, from home, schools and Zoom