Our Team

Meet our team of highly-skilled Psychologists who are expertly trained in delivering evidence-based interventions.

Sophia Dawson
Senior Psychologist & Founder

“I bring an authentic, compassionate, and playful style to therapy, valuing authenticity, connection, and rapport as the foundation for meaningful growth. It is important to me to integrate nutritional psychology and lifestyle medicine to support the mind-body connection, as I believe that mental health and physical health are so deeply connected. I love to infuse humour, compassion and warmth into each session so you can feel heard and understood without judgment”

  • Sophia is the Founder of WHOLEistic Psychology and is a Senior Psychologist who expertly works with adolescents and adults. She is currently a PhD student in the area of nutritional psychology where she is exploring the use of dietary intervention with those with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).

    Sophia is the Resident Psychologist for companies PREKURE and The PCOS Nutritionist, where she expertly teaches Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) skills to students and clients. She also enjoys using a psychodynamic psychotherapy lens in her work with clients. Sophia also offers supervision to mental health professionals, where she enjoys supporting her supervisees to progress and develop as practitioners and individuals.

    Sophia has worked in forensic, inpatient and community settings, where she has gained extensive knowledge working with an incredible, diverse range of clients. She is passionate about supporting each of her clients to move towards the people they want to be and the life that they want to live, acting as their ally along the journey.

    • PhD Candidate at the University of Canterbury (current)

    • Postgraduate Diploma in Psychological Practice (Massey University)

    • Master of Science (First Class Honours) in Psychology (University of Auckland)

    • Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Psychology (University of Auckland)

    • Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, minoring in French (University of Otago)

    • New Zealand Psychologists Board (General Scope)

    • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

    • Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

    • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)

    • Schema Therapy

Dr Ryan Botha
Senior Psychologist

“Ryan utilises and a variety of evidence-based approaches in the therapeutic process and is able to effectively tailor treatment to meet the unique needs of each client. Having gained experience in multiple therapeutic settings for more than a decade, Ryan has had the opportunity to refine his clinical skills and explore his passion for helping others.”

  • Dr Ryan Botha is a registered Neuropsychologist and Counselling Psychologist with the New Zealand Psychologists Board (NZPB). Operating as an online psychologist, Ryan provides professional and confidential therapy to a diverse client group ranging from children to adults.

    Ryan also has experience providing to supervision to psychologists, counsellors, psychotherapists, clinicians in training and therapists. Ryan has published in international peer-reviewed journals and presented internationally on topics that have included: personality disorders, neuropsychological assessment, clinical risk assessment, culturally responsive psychology, narrative therapy, and research methodology. Ryan has been appointed as an Honorary Research Associate with New Zealand Institute for Security and Crime Science. 

    • Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) Psychology (University of Fort Hare, South Africa)

    • Master of Social Science (Psychology)(University of Fort Hare, South Africa)

    • Philosophiae Doctor in Psychology (University of the Free State, South Africa)

    • New Zealand Psychologist Board (Neuropsychologist Scope)

    • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

    • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

    • Narrative Therapy

Samantha Urgert
Senior Psychologist

“I provide an environment and therapy style that is relaxed, client lead and based on a shared understanding of reaching the goals that client’s find most meaningful. In session, I provide a safe and empathetic space to empower clients with the tools and resources needed to create sustainable life changes.”

  • Sam is a Registered Psychologist skilled at using evidence-based approaches to support clients on their journey to living connected and fulfilling lives. She has had experience working in public health, GP practices, community settings, and high schools, both in-person and virtually. Sam has worked with all ages, and is particularly passionate about supporting children, adolescents and young adults.

    She began my career working with high risk young people with complex needs. Most of these young people were enduring the impact of severe childhood adversity and experienced difficulties regulation emotions, managing behaviour, and struggled with negative thoughts. Sam is passionate about supporting young people to develop the tools they need to build a strong self-esteem, enhance their resilience, and to re-establish a balance so they can achieve their chosen goals. When they feel well equipped with the tools to cope, they are more able to overcome challenges they face daily.

    • Postgraduate Diploma in Psychological Practice (Massey University)

    • Master of Science in Psychology (Honours), (Massey University)

    • Postgraduate Certificate in Science (Psychology), (Massey University)

    • Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Zoology (Massey University)

    • New Zealand Psychological Society Membership (NZPsS)

    • New Zealand Psychologist Board (General Scope)

    • ACC Registered (ISSC)

    • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

    • Trauma-Focussed CBT (TF-CBT)

    • Dialectical Behavioural Therapy (DBT)

    • Sensory Modulation techniques

    • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

    • Mindfulness

    • Neurobiological approaches

    • Brief intervention models such as Focussed-Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (FACT)

Dr Dayna Cooper
Clinical Psychologist

“Dayna is positive, encouraging and calm, with a great sense of humour and a passion for supporting young people to reach their potential and overcome their difficulties.”

  • Dayna is a Senior Clinical Psychologist with over 15 years of experience in the child and adolescent mental health field, across a variety of settings that include youth development, NGO’s, Te Whatu Ora/public mental health services and private practice.

    She currently works full time for a child and adolescent practice in Auckland but sees a small caseload of teletherapy clients in the evening. She is warm, friendly and approachable and takes a strengths-based to all her work with her clients. Dayna is experienced in providing assessment and therapeutic intervention in a wide range of areas including ADHD and ASD, emotional dysregulation, self-harm and suicidal ideation, trauma, grief and abuse including PTSD, OCD, depression, anxiety disorders and dissociation. Her area of passion lies in working with individuals experiencing significant and longstanding emotional or behavioural dysregulation and supporting those with grief and trauma using DBT, Schema Therapy and EMDR.

    • Bachelor of Arts (Psychology) (Massey University)

    • Master of Arts (Psychology): First Class Honours (Massey University)

    • Master of Clinical Psychology (Massey University)

    • New Zealand College of Clinical Psychologists (NZCCP)

    • New Zealand Psychologist Board (Clinical Scope)

    • EMDR Association of Australia (EMDRAA)

  • • Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) including Prolonged Exposure for PTSD

    • Schema Therapy

    • EMDR

    • Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT – including CBT-E for Eating Disorders and TF-CBT for PTSD and trauma)

    • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

    • Motivational Interviewing

    • Narrative Therapy

Dr Geoff Sutton
Clinical Psychologist

“I think that meeting the person where they are is really important in the therapeutic process. That basically means I’m really keen to work out what your strengths and challenges are with the aim of figuring out what gets in the way of your goals and how we can work together to work towards what you value.”

  • Geoff works as a clinical psychologist with the aim of finding the best ways to support individuals through their challenges. He has worked in the military and sports contexts in the past although mostly focuses on supporting the wider Aotearoa NZ community, with particular interests in anxiety, OCD and trauma. As NZ has unique social and cultural challenges which makes access to mental health support harder than it needs to be, his aim is to make accessing support as easy as possible so that individuals can get the support they need.

    • Bachelor of Science in Psychology (University of Canterbury)

    • Graduate Diploma of Psychology (University of Psychology)

    • Master of Science in Applied Psychology (University of Canterbury

    • PhD Applied Psychology (University of Canterbury)

    • PGDip Clinical Psychology (University of Canterbury)

    • New Zealand Psychologist Board (Clinical Scope)

    • Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)

    • Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT)

FROM THE FOUNDER

“It is important to me to integrate nutritional psychology and lifestyle medicine to support the mind-body connection, as I believe that mental health and physical health are so deeply connected.”