Couples Counselling in Hawke's Bay, In Person in Havelock North
We are Grant and Christine Wattie. We have been married 40 years, we are Gottman, Imago and EFT trained, and we have spent more than two decades helping couples turn things around, including our own marriage when it was close to ending.
Book Your Free 15-Minute Call
Hawke's Bay is home
From Havelock North we are minutes from Hastings, a short drive from Napier, and within reach of couples across the region who would rather sit in the room than meet on a screen. For some couples, especially in a hard season, being in the same room changes what is possible. For others, online works just as well.
Havelock North
This is home for us. We live and practise in the village and see local couples face to face.
Hastings
Havelock North is essentially next door, only a few minutes away. When sitting in the room together is what a season needs, it is an easy trip.
Napier
We are around twenty minutes away, so sitting in the room together is easy to arrange. Many of our Napier couples mix in-person and online sessions.
Central Hawke's Bay and further out
Come in person when it suits, and meet us online when the drive does not. The work is the same either way.
What to expect
Couples reach out at every stage. Some are deep in it already, facing an affair or a partner with one foot out the door. Others can feel the warmth fading and want to act before it hardens into something worse. We work with both.
Most couples who reach out are not looking for years of weekly sessions that circle the same ground. They want change, and they want to understand what is actually going on between them. We do not treat you as broken. We help you see the dynamic you are both caught in, and we work at the level of who you are being, which is why the shift tends to come faster than people expect.
Expect us to be direct and warm at the same time. We name what is really going on, including the things couples tend to leave unsaid. We work through the Inside-Out Method, and for marriages in acute crisis the Phoenix Protocol, our approach for affairs, threatened separation, and shutdown. Around 85 to 90 percent of couples who do the work see the dynamic begin to shift within 7 days, with the deeper rebuild following.
How to choose a couples therapist in Hawke's Bay
Finding the right couples therapist matters more than most people realise when they start looking. The fit between you, your partner, and the person you work with shapes everything: how quickly things move, how safe the conversations feel, how honest you're able to be.
Specific training in couples work. Individual therapy and couples therapy are genuinely different disciplines. Look for training in specific couples methodologies: Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), Imago Relationship Therapy. And check how long they've been applying it in practice.
Experience with your specific situation. If you're dealing with affair recovery, make sure the therapist has worked extensively with this. If you're a high-achieving couple where the relationship has suffered because of the demands of work or business, look for someone who understands that specific dynamic.
An approach that makes sense to you. Ask how they work. Not just the methodology name. Ask what actually happens in sessions, what they're looking for, how they think about change. If the answer is vague or feels generic, that's information.
Someone you both feel you can talk to. Both of you need to be able to say things in that room that you haven't been able to say at home. If one person doesn't trust the therapist, the work becomes very difficult.
Questions worth asking
Before you commit to working with anyone, including us, ask:
- How long have you specifically worked with couples?
- What training and methodology do you use for couples work?
- How do you handle it when one partner is more willing than the other?
- What does a typical session look like?
- What's your success rate, and how do you measure it?
- What happens if we feel stuck or the sessions aren't helping?
A good therapist will answer these directly. If the answers feel evasive or overly reassuring without substance, trust that feeling.
Don't choose a couples therapist the way you might choose a dentist, based mainly on proximity or availability. The quality of the fit matters far more than the convenience. That said, if you're in Havelock North or Hawke's Bay, we'd love to meet you in person. And if you're further afield, online works just as well.
Questions about counselling in Hawke's Bay
We are in Havelock North, central to the region, minutes from Hastings and a short drive from Napier. We see couples in person here and also work online across New Zealand and overseas.
Yes. Hastings is a few minutes away and Napier around twenty minutes. Couples from Hastings, Napier and across Hawke's Bay come to us in person, and many mix in-person and online sessions.
We are Gottman, Imago and EFT trained, and we work primarily through the Inside-Out Method, with the Phoenix Protocol for acute crisis. The focus is on changing the dynamic underneath, not managing symptoms week after week.
No. We help couples in acute crisis with the Phoenix Protocol, and we also help couples who are simply drifting and want to reconnect before things get worse.
Around 85 to 90 percent of couples who do the work see the dynamic begin to shift within 7 days. The deeper rebuild continues from there, far faster than traditional open-ended therapy.
With a free 15-minute call. You tell us what is happening, and we tell you plainly whether we can help and what the path would look like.
It starts with a free 15-minute call. You tell us where things are, and we tell you plainly what we think is possible. No pressure, no script.
Book a Free CallBook a Mentoring Consultation
Book a private mentoring consultation with Grant and Christine. Includes the Relationship Readiness Assessment, Love Without Limits book, and video training.
Book Your Mentoring Consultation