National DBT Service
Te Whare Mahana offers New Zealand’s only national residential Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) programme. Situated in Golden Bay, Nelson Tasman, this internationally renowned programme is for people experiencing frequent high levels of distress and have had little success from hospital and community treatments.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy is an intensive behavioural treatment approach, helping people work through complex histories and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and learn new skills for managing relationships and coping with distress. American psychologist Marsha M. Linehan developed the well-established treatment model as a better way of treating people with Borderline Personality Disorder and chronic self-harm/suicidal behaviours. DBT is now routinely used to treat a wide range of different and co-occurring mental health problems, including anxiety and depression.
DBT emphasises the learning and refinement of skills to help regulate emotions, change thinking patterns associated with problems in daily living and reduce misery and distress. DBT incorporates the acquisition of skills to assist residents in improving interpersonal effectiveness and their quality of life.
“Before coming to us, our DBT residents’ multiple suicide attempts and frequent severe self-harming episodes have really challenged DHB outpatient mental health services. When referring, clinicians often describe our residents as being ‘on a trajectory to death’. They have exhausted all local treatment options but are wanting to live – that’s what we give our residents, their lives, their futures.” Shelley Harvill, DBT clinical manager.
Click here to find out more about who DBT is for.
The programme
Our programme offers up to six placements in a 24 hour-staffed home in Golden Bay, Nelson Tasman. The environment is welcoming, private and safe.
Treatment includes twice-weekly individual therapy sessions with intensively trained DBT clinicians, multiple skills classes and crisis coaching, skills practice groups and 24/7 access to DBT coaches. There are also opportunities to apply therapeutic learning through shared living, daily skills groups, household management, recreational and vocational activities and during home visits. Family/Whanau therapy and Transition/Home-based consultation are provided to support long-lasting change.
We have links with the Nelson Marlborough District Health Board, including the Alcohol & Other Drug service and Acute Psychiatric Unit. We also work with Golden Bay Integrated Health Centre, WINZ, Te Whare Mahana’s Community Mental Health, Employment and Vocational Services and the Ark respite care.
Staff
Te Whare Mahana is blessed with long-serving, highly trained and experienced specialists who share a passion for helping people achieve “a life worth living.” The Te Whare Mahana team believes that within the DBT framework, there are great opportunities to develop core learning, essential for self-understanding and living effectively in the world around us. Our staff greatly appreciate how hard clients work and have enormous respect for their bravery and commitment, matching our commitment to finding the “nugget of gold” within each of us and working with clients to create a meaningful life they actually want to live.
VOLKER MUELLER - THERAPIST
Originating from Germany, Volker has lived in Golden Bay since 1988. He is a counsellor specialising in DBT therapy, preferring to work within the evidence-based framework of DBT. His work at Te Whare Mahana includes individual therapy, skills training and group facilitation. He has completed two intensive DBT trainings and multiple advanced DBT related workshops.
NICK LAURENCE - DBT Therapist
"With whakapapa back to England, Scotland, and Denmark, Nick is a fifth-generation pākeha New Zealander. Raised in a strong family and extended family environment in Tāmaki Makaurau / Auckland and having also spent formative time in Ōtepoti / Dunedin and Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington, Nick moved to Mōhua / Golden Bay in early 2021 to live in a more sustainable and connected way. Nick completed his Doctorate of Clinical Psychology at Massey University, investigating the question of how psychologists can assist individuals experiencing distress due to bigger-than-self issues in society and the biosphere. This inquiry informed a clinical philosophy grounded in embodied embedded mindfulness practice, which naturally fits with the focus of DBT as a treatment approach. In his spare time, Nick enjoys tramping, DJing, field hockey, and is an avid Black Caps fan."
SURIETHA MALAN - DBT Health Nurse
As a registered nurse, Surietha feels very blessed to have joined the team at Te Whare Mahana. Twenty years ago, she flew into Wellington and started a new life in New Zealand. Surietha has worked in the community health sector for 25 years and loved it. She is passionate about helping and supporting people by developing skills to be healthy, contributing community members. Meaningful relationships being at the core. She recently relocated from Waikato to the very peaceful Golden Bay, enjoying taking their golden retriever for walks on the beach.
EMMA FURNESS - Care Coordinator
Ko Emma Furness tāku ingoa. No Ōtepoti ahau. Ko Kai Tahu me Ngāti Pākehā ōku iwi. Emma is the Care Coordinator for the DBT team, monitoring and coordinating treatment plans for onsite and offsite residents. She originates from Dunedin, has a degree in Psychology and is working on her Masters and eventual registration as a psychologist. She has been a yoga teacher for 17 years, has run several businesses, is a mum of two, and loves being immersed in nature.
LESLEY BRAY - COACH/SUPPORT WORKER
Lesley is a senior coach (overnight support worker), household manager and part of the TWM clinical team, having completed the DBT intensive training. She has worked at Te Whare Mahana since 2002, helping many people reach their full potential through the DBT programme, including by promoting exercise and healthy eating combined with the DBT skills to form the path to wellness.
MARTY MARSH - COACH/SUPPORT WORKER
“Ko Anthony Marsh tāku ingoa, i whānau au i Ōtepoti, i pakeke ake au i Taieri. Ko Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Waitaha ōku iwi.” Marty is a DBT coach and support worker at Te Whare Mahana and has completed a DBT intensive training. Growing up in Mosgiel, just outside Dunedin, his whānau, Marae, and urupā are all in the deep south of Murihiku. After decades in the corporate world, including some time working for Te Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu on Whai Rawa, he moved to Golden Bay. Marty is also the DBT Cultural Advisor to support the team’s bi-cultural competency.
HOLLY BRACKNALL - COACH/SUPPORT WORKER
Holly joined the team at Te Whare Mahana in 2017 as a Peer Support Worker and now also as a DBT Coach. She is originally from the UK but has been in New Zealand since 2015. She is a qualified Outdoor Instructor bringing experience working in the outdoors with adults and children, often with behavioural problems. It is her belief that through positive experiences in the outdoors we learn our place in the world, a sense of purpose and responsibility not only for ourselves but for those around us too. Māori believe that our emotional, intellectual and spiritual selves are born daily from the land, that thought itself comes from here. If we break that connection to the land we also break the connection to ourselves.
ALENE SHERSON - COACH/SUPPORTWORKER
“Ko Alene tāku ingoa. Nō Ngai Tahu ahau.” Alene was drawn to Golden Bay as a nature sanctuary after many years of living in Auckland. She has a background in Speech-Language Therapy working with children with complex communication needs and has Specialist Teacher training in Vision and Hearing Impairments. As she has always been motivated to work alongside people supporting them to have a voice and feel seen; DBT training interests her in its holistic, humanistic skills-based approach to a life worth living. Her values are to be inclusive, celebrate diversity and to experience life as a learning journey.
REBECCA RAE-HODGSON - COACH/SUPPORT WORKER
Rebecca joined the team as a DBT coach and support worker in 2021. Rebecca has moved to Golden Bay to be closer to her family after living in Australia for 15 years and is looking forward to building a life here. As a disability support worker and Occupational Therapist, Rebecca enjoys finding innovative ways to support people to engage in meaningful activities and live full and meaningful lives. She hopes to bring those skills to her new role. She also loves crochet, bush walks, baking, board games and dogs.
Rod Barker - COACH/SUPPORT WORKER
Growing up in Rotorua Rod enjoyed the recreational aspects of the region. Surrounded by lakes, rivers and bush inspired his connection with nature. Cycling and other outdoor pursuits became a way of life and inspired Rod to expand his limits. Learning, interacting with people and nature are other passions he enjoys. Rod is stoked to become a member of the DBT coaching team. Much of what comes from DBT aligns with his own values and interests as the focus is about creating a life worth living. This is something he is motivated to work on continually. The DBT worldview also resonates with him as it incorporates dynamic systems perspectives where things are seen as being interconnected and impact each other. Looking at life through this lens helps Rod appreciate the complex interplay between himself, society, and the environment.
PETE JACOBSON - Coach/Support Worker
"Ko Ngāti Pākehā toku iwi. No Te Whanganui-a-Tara au. Ko Pete Jacobson toku ingoa". Pete is a second/fifth generation pākehā, with whakapapa that goes back to England and Germany. He grew up in Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington). In a decade long exploration starting with climate change, Pete became deeply curious about people - what moves us, and how we navigate the world. He's spent years practising mindfulness, learning and teaching relational practices and exploring coaching, particularly peer-peer coaching. Pete also loves surfing, dancing, making music, badminton, connecting with Te Ao Māori and quality time with friends from all generations.
RAFFI JONGKIND - Coach/Support Worker
Hailing from Pikikirunga along the banks of the Wainui River, Golden Bay, Raffi has returned to local roots after 6 years of study, work and travel in busier places. He has worked at Lifeline Aotearoa and the National Telehealth Service in Auckland, with intermittent involvement in Rites of Passage work here in the Bay, whilst on the path towards registration as a Psychologist. His passion is working with people for whom systems have thus far failed, recognising he could well have been walking a similar path, had the leaves fallen differently. Raffi thrives in nature, swimming all year long, navigating controversial discussions, and has a taste for fantasy worlds through books and video games. "
Juliette McConachy - COACH/SUPPORT WORKER
Juliette recently returned home to the fertile soil of Mohua after many years of living and learning on the red earth of Ahitereiria. Juliette is a E-RYT® 500 registered yoga teacher, YACEP® yoga teacher trainer and a studying Somatic Movement Therapist. Juliette is the founder and director of Awakening Arts, school of yoga and eco-somatic therapies. When she is not immersed in the mahi of Te Whare Mahana, Juliette is focused on the curation and delivery of her unique yoga program that accentuates a trauma aware and eco-somatic approach to living mindful, meaningful lives.
LYNDSAY JONES - COACH/SUPPORT WORKER
Born in Whanganui and raised in the far north, Lyndsay then spent the majority of her 20s living and travelling abroad, taking in the beauty of the world and foreign cultures. The tide then carried her south to Te Wai Pounamu in 2009 and for 7 years has called Mohua home. Lyndsay is inspired as she joins the DBT team as a support worker/coach to become a part of the holistic approach within mental health recovery. Outside of this mahi you’ll find her teaching contemporary bellydance, crafting ceramics, swimming in the sea and playing music with friends.