Jeannette Keukelaar – professional counsellor Whangarei

Hi. I’m Jeannette Keukelaar, and I am a professional counsellor based in Whangarei.

My qualifications include:

  • Dip Guidance & Counselling
  • BA (Sociology)
  • Diploma in Teaching
  • Diploma in Psychosynthesis Counselling
  • Certificated Imago Relationship Therapist
  • Certificate in Drug and Alcohol Counselling
  • MNZAC

As a registered counsellor with the New Zealand Association of Counsellors I undergo ongoing training and qualification every year. My many years as a practising counsellor means I can draw from a deep well of experience, skills and training. It has been an interesting and enriching journey.

My journey to becoming a professional counsellor and Imago therapy specialist

I have worked in the ‘people caring professions’ since I was a young school leaver; initially beginning as a nurse aide on my 16th birthday. At 17 I moved to Hamilton to work at the Salvation Army preschool children’s home. At eighteen and a half I returned home to Wanganui to train as a maternity nurse.

During my years of caring for my own family of four children, I was involved in Kindergarten and Play Centre committees and completed Play Centre training, which inspired me to reach for higher education. At this time I also had two foster children in my care. I was a trained volunteer for CAB and assisted in school holiday programmes.

In 1977 I was accepted into North Shore Teachers College. I loved teaching but yearned to work on a deeper, more personal level.

In the mid-80s I completed a B.A. in Sociology and trained in Naturopathy, which led me to apply for counselling training. At that time there was little available in New Zealand for counselling training. I completed a post-grad degree in Guidance and Counselling, while gaining counselling experience through working for a variety of volunteer groups.  The Guidance and Counselling studies gave me a deep appreciation for T.A (Transactional Analysis) and Family Counselling, which remains to this day an integral part of my work as a counsellor.

While still in Auckland, I started my own counselling practise, The Centre for Self Empowerment. In January 1991 I moved to Whangarei. I became an accredited NZAC (New Zealand Association for Counsellors) practitioner in 1992. At this time I also became accredited as a counsellor with ACC and with the Family Court.

In 1992 I joined Whangarei Rape Crisis initially in supporting clients and as the Rape Crisis Educator. Later I acted as an advisor to the group and supervisor to individual Rape Crisis workers.

I was part time tutor for Northland Polytechnic “School of Health & Humanities” 1997 – 1999

First Imago therapy relationship counsellor in Whangarei

Imago Certified I believe that an important healing experience which allows us to move forward in our lives is the personal sense of being validated. As a counsellor I have no difficulty in validating a client’s experiences and viewpoint. However it is much more powerful for an individual to be validated by one’s life partner. This observation led me to train as an Imago Therapist.

After relocating my practise to Whangarei in 1991 I later became a qualified Imago therapist. I was the first Imago trained counsellor in Whangarei and among the first counsellors with specialist relationship counselling qualifications in the whole of Northland.

Today I am part of a growing number of Imago therapists working in Northland.

The Centre for Self Empowerment – finding your inner guide

The Centre for Self Empowerment was set up as a place where people could come as a starting point for their journey to find their own empowerment. In counselling we do not prescribe or tell you what you need to do. We are there as your guide to finding your own way through.

Though I already was a qualified and accredited counsellor, my drive to dig deeper led me to retrain as a psychosynthesis counsellor.

Below is a comprehensive list of certificates and other professional training completed by Jeannette Keukelaar in her role as a counsellor

Certificates which included a year of academic study and practicum experience:

Certificate in Drug and Alcohol Counselling through CIT 1992

Certificate in Drama Therapy through Institute of Drama Therapy NZ & Human Dev. & training Inst.NZ 2000

Registered Imago Counsellor training – post-qualification training practitioners:

  • Wendy Palmer
  • Bruce Crapuchettes
  • Francine Beauvoir
  • Richard Stolp
  • Brenda Rawling
  • Maya Kollman
  • Sophie Slade

Short courses:

  • Clinical Supervision – 7 day certificate course

2-3 day workshops:

  • CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy); Wayne Froggatt
  • DBT (Dialectical Behaviour Therapy); Rutger de Ridder
  • Mindfulness; Rutger de Ridder
  • EMDR – (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing) ; Graham Taylor
  • Sandplay Therapy; Jean Parkinson and Lisabeth Toomy
  • Suicide Prevention
  • “Herstory in the Making” Therapy with Women who were Sexually Assaulted as children
  • Dream Workshops
  • Narrative Therapy; Jonella Bird; David Epstein
  • EFT (Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy; ICEEFT
  • The Body Remembers; Babette Rothschild

One day workshops/training:

  • Dealing with Crisis in Marriage; Luciano and Bess L’Bate (Marriage Guidance)
  • The Developing Mind; Daniel Siegel
  • Brief Interview for Posttraumatic Disorders ; John Briere
  • A Modified Cognitive Behavioural Approach to Acute Trauma; John Briere
  • Developments in the Treatment of Complex Trauma; John Briere
  • Abuse as Trauma, Betrayal, Loss and Stigma; Constance Dalenberg
  • The Trauma Model; Colin Ross
  • Trauma and Attachment Karlen Lyons-Ruth
  • Rebuilding Shattered Lives; James A Chu
  • Family Violence – The Hidden Presentation; Constance Dalenberg
  • EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques – Tapping;) Barbara Smith