Testimonials

Debbie has carried many hats since her family moved into your community. And these hats were all aligned to serving and supporting others. As a parent, Debbie has always been very supportive of her children and the school. Debbie has always been fully committed to the care of her children, but also found the time to lead the school's fundraising committee for a while. However, what impacted me the most was the support and love Debbie provided to a caring community member who was facing terminal illness several years ago. The compassion, empathy and care came very natural to Debbie. And more recently Debbie has been supporting students who have faced their own personal challenges in life. Debbie is able to empathise and understand where the child is coming from, the challenges the child is facing, and seeks a wide range of strategies to support the child and whanau. Debbie is passionate in what she does, patient and caring for those who are facing challenges in life, and very professional in her area of expertise. And above all, she cares about others.

Neil Fraser

Principal

Ngatea Primary School

From the moment Debbie met the child she was to be working with, she engaged deeply with them.

Debbie speaks in a language that the children understand. She creates a safe environment for the children to play and for talk to happen. In her professional way, Debbie supports and encourages the children to vocalize any issues, using puppets, toys and games.

Our child is speaking through Tom the puppet at the moment. We are asking how Tom is feeling today, techniques that work. Super impressed with this work. Some of our children are in trauma and in crisis and they need someone of Debbie's calibre to be on their side, in their corner and teaching them the tools that can help them.

Following the sessions, Debbie is happy to give her time to talk through her noticing's about the child and to offer some actions that may help. From speaking to her it is obvious that she understands how children think and behave. We are so lucky to have her working with us.

Jayne Bolsover - DP Te Puru School

Debbie has been great to work with as a facilitator coming in to work with our taiohi/students on-site at Thames High School. She is timely and communicates well to ensure all sessions are planned and was flexible to work into our timetable. She created a way to show progress and worked with the taiohi/students to find out what interested them and created sessions to suit their needs.

Debbie has an amazing way of connecting with young people (Bolt her lovely dog helps with this too), helping them express throughs and feelings and giving them the tools they need to help with their next steps. She helps taiohi/students to connect with their peers, to help them create a network of support. Debbie really cares, not only about the individual but about finding out who they are, their friends, their Whānau and their community.

I would recommend Debbie and the work she does to anyone who is open to making a difference in a young person's life.

Natalie O'Neil, Deputy Principal, Thames High School, 12 Dec 2021

I was fortunate to be recommended Debs service after my daughter was having trouble at school. My husband and I had recently separated and she wasn’t handling it well at all. Short temper, emotional and completely shut down when trying to talk. I was desperate to get her professional help but she didn’t want to. After meeting Deb, her kind heart and genuine love and care, she was excited to get started. All through play and art my daughter learnt so much about herself, feelings, what they mean and how to work through them. With the tools she has gained from the time with Deb (and the beautiful Bolt- Debs dog) she can verbalise her feelings. Her father and I have noticed such a change in our girl. I could not highly recommend enough. What a godsend Deb has been for our little girl.