With the start of 2024, our counselling room at Papakura Family Service Centre underwent an upgrade, thanks to the generosity of Craigs Investment Partners, we have been able to transform our counselling room with new furniture, books, and resources, along with an upgrade to the sand tray used for therapy.

These improvements have significantly enhanced the overall effectiveness and comfort of our counselling sessions, enabling us to provide therapeutic services at a deeper level to support our communities.

Located in the heart of Papakura and Takanini, our Family Service Centre's serve as community hubs providing integrated health, education, and social services to whānau in the wider Counties Manukau areas. Our counselling services are open to individuals of all ages, ranging from five to 85 years, with no restrictions on the number of counselling sessions they can receive. Our counsellors work with clients on a variety of issues including mental health, anxiety, depression, loneliness, and challenges in relationships.

Reflecting on the impact of these changes, Sophie, Counsellor at Papakura Family Service Centre, shares, “I can’t begin to express my gratitude for the new resources we were able to purchase for our counselling room. The feedback I have received from clients so far is that with all the new furniture, the room feels much larger and lighter. I have started using some of the new children’s books and one of the new resources (emotion cards) with a teenage boy to help him identify and articulate emotional awareness – which has helped me see his tremendous growth and improvement in this area.”

Further feedback highlights the positive changes, “Aside from the furniture, I have been able to use the newly and properly built sand tray with multiple clients, which has been therapeutic and grounding for them in our sessions.”

“It can be easy to forget that you’re making a difference in someone’s life until they express their gratitude for the time you have shared with them on their journey. Like the time a woman told me that she believed if she had not come to counselling, she would still be in what she now realized was an emotionally abusive relationship that was leaving her physically and mentally unwell. To see her progress from struggling through her breakup to gaining strength back and thriving again was priceless.”

"He aha te mea nui o te ao? He tangata, he tangata, he tangata" – this proverb translates to “What is the most important thing in the world? It is the people, it is the people, it is the people,” speaks to the idea of how Great Potentials Foundation values our people, including our clients, staff, partners, funders, and supporters.