Self Help Therapy

If you are experiencing a mental health emergency right now click this link for a list of Aotearoa emergency numbers. 


Save the best 'til last

It's preferable to work through your problems gently with the help of a professional. Unfortunately there are too few skilled providers. It can be expensive too.  If you have made some progress bringing down your distress levels with the other recovery tools, then you might want to take a look at some self help psychology resources. 

Focus on zoning-in, grounding and meditation at the start. If you have settled a bit and feel stronger, have a look at the tools below. 

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

CBT understands that psychological problems result from unhelpful ways of thinking and behaving. CBT helps people learn better ways of coping with unhelpful thoughts and behaviours, thereby relieving their symptoms. 


If you have had trauma in your life it might be unhelpful to be told that your own thoughts and behaviour are to blame for your pain. Nonetheless these techniques are shown to help reduce distress. 

Just a Thought is a New Zealand website which offers free CBT courses, We are hoping to work with them soon to develop programmes especially for FND symptoms and flair-ups. Watch this space. 


Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)

DBT is a type of talking therapy based on CBT. It teaches you how to deal with difficult emotions. Suicidal and other self-destructive behaviours may be helped with DBT. It teaches how to cope with and change harmful behaviour.

'Dialectical' means trying to understand how two things that seem opposite could both be true. For example, accepting yourself and changing your behaviour might feel contradictory. But DBT teaches that it's possible for you to achieve both of these goals together.



Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT)

ACT is an action-oriented approach that stems from traditional CBT. The approach helps you stop avoiding, denying, and struggling with inner emotions. The tools help you accept that these deeper feelings are appropriate responses to certain situations that should not prevent you from moving forward in your life. With this approach you begin to accept hardships and commit to making  changes and living in accordance with your principles and values. This is a great approach for those with trauma. 


Polyvagal Theory 

Polyvagal Theory emphasises the role the autonomic nervous system - especially the vagus nerve - plays in regulating our health and behavior. The theory describes the physiological/psychological states which underlie our daily behaviour as well as challenges related to our wellness and mental health. Emma gives us a good explanation in this video. 

Local sites with local resources 

Therapy in a Nutshell 

This is a wonderful free site offering bite sized therapeutic skills. 


The Body Keeps the Score 

This book keeps coming up in our discussions. Here is the summary offered in its promo material. 

A world expert presents a sympathetic exploration of the causes of trauma and the new treatments making it possible for sufferers to reclaim their lives. What causes people to continually relive what they most want to forget, and what treatments could help restore them to a life with purpose and joy? Here, Dr Bessel van der Kolk offers a new paradigm for effectively treating traumatic stress. Neither talking nor drug therapies have proven entirely satisfactory. With stories of his own work and those of specialists around the globe, 'The Body Keeps the Score' sheds new light on the routes away from trauma - which lie in the regulation and syncing of body and mind, using sport, drama, yoga, mindfulness, meditation and other routes to equilibrium.

In the links below, we offer a link to a 7 minute summary of this book and the full two hour long audio book recording.