Richard Hall

BSc Degree qualified and providing award winning and 5 star rated therapy in New Zealand with his company 'Mind Support', Richard has now added 'Havening' to his specialist knowledge to assist in trauma, PTSD, anxiety, depression, stress, IBS/Chrohns disease and couples counselling, to name some of the areas he succesfully specialises in.

He has taken (and continues to take) multiple courses and studies in all aspects of mental health including in ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy).

He is also fully qualified in Mental Health First Aid and is a qualified Clinical Hypnotherapist and NLP Practioner.

He practices in person in Ōpunakē, Taranaki and throughout New Zealand and Internationally on Zoom.

More about Richard and his journey to becoming a Therapist.

Richard has two grown up children, Rick and Josh, a grand daughter, Alexa, and a loving partner, Katrina, who is also his Practice Manager. Apart from his passion for therapy and counselling, he has a life-long love of motorcycles and travel. He also likes to get out on his mountain bike, and enjoys a game of tennis.

Before arriving in NZ in 2015, Richard spent 30 years in the Fire Service in Scotland and the N.E. of England, attending a huge variety of emergency incidents. During that period, he dealt with people suffering from all types and levels of trauma (note: trauma is not what happens to you, but how your mind and body react to what has happened to you). While working as a Fire Officer/Instructor and gaining qualifications in Advanced Trauma and Counselling in 1998, he came to believe there had to be a better way of helping casualties and colleagues to deal with their trauma. He began to look at ways to do that.

The breakthrough came in 2002 while attending a work-management course. It was here that Richard was introduced to the concept of Neuro-linguistic Programming or NLP. This teaches individuals to change negative thought patterns, which includes methods to manage trauma and pain. This led him to start the first of his NLP courses in 2003 and to further explore how pain and trauma could be reduced, or in some cases, eliminated. In 2007, he completed his Bachelor of Science degree (BSc) in Glasgow whilst still working full time. In particular, this five year period of study, helped him understand the importance of evidence-based research.

He then returned to his NLP studies, and then in 2015 when he had a chance meeting with a Psycho-therapist from Nelson in NZ, who encouraged him to take further training and specialise in helping others. Having read up on the scientific evidence of guided visualisation this prompted him to complete his Master Practitioner in Clinical Hypnotherapy qualification, which he did in the U.K. Since then he has taken (and still takes) multiple courses and development opportunities in mental health, and studies the works of those he considers to be some of the best therapists in the world. After reading about and studying Havening he was taken aback by the evidence, research and positive results. Because of this he undertook his Havening training in April 2023 with Stephen Travers and has not looked back since. He is very proud to be a member of the Havening Practioner community.