Your Path
To Wellbeing
At Monod Counselling, your wellbeing is at the heart of what I do. I provide a safe, confidential space to help you navigate challenges and create meaningful change.
Sessions in English, Spanish and Portuguese · Auckland and online
Free intro chatFirst things first
What is counselling?
Counselling is a well-established profession in the English-speaking world, but it is often confused with coaching, which is a different thing altogether.
Works with what you feel
A professional therapeutic relationship. We look at your story, your emotions and your relationships. The focus is on understanding and healing, not on performing better. It requires university training and membership of a professional body.
Works with what you want to achieve
Goal and performance oriented: career, habits, targets. Valid and useful, but not designed for trauma, grief, anxiety or emotional wounds. It’s not a regulated profession.
It’s also not the same as clinical psychology: I don’t diagnose or prescribe medication. I work with you, in the present, on what you’re going through.
About
Counselling rooted in yoga and Buddhist practice
I’m Gustavo. I was born and raised in Buenos Aires and now work as a counsellor in Auckland. I know firsthand what it means to live far from home, adapt to another culture and hold on to your own identity along the way.
Alongside my counselling training, I’m a certified Kundalini Yoga instructor and my work is informed by a Buddhist understanding of life: presence, compassion and impermanence. It’s not decoration. It’s how I understand suffering and change.
This might sound familiar
Is this for me?
- Something feels off but you can’t quite name it.
- You’re going through a hard time and feel alone.
- You live far from your country, family or the people you love.
- You have relationships that cause distress or conflict.
- You are carrying something from the past that still weighs on you.
- You want to understand yourself better and grow.
You don’t need to be in crisis to ask for support. You don’t need the right words or a diagnosis. Sometimes the first step is just a quiet question: what would it feel like to be truly heard?
You don’t have to walk this path alone.
Testimonials
What people say
"I came in convinced the problem was New Zealand. One day Gustavo asked me: if New Zealand offers you this, what do you offer your life here. I sat with that question for weeks. He didn’t give me answers, he changed the question. That’s what shifted."
"Thank you for your unconditional support over this past year and a half. To me you were like a piece of wood to hold on to while I was drowning. I am endlessly grateful."
"We acknowledge Gustavo for his consistent professionalism, care and strong commitment to wellbeing. He is highly valued for the work he undertakes supporting individuals and families."
When you’re ready, I’ll be here.
Starting counselling doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. Often it means you’re listening to yourself more closely. You don’t have to walk this path alone.
Counselling
What it is and how it works
Counselling is a professional supportive relationship. We work together to understand what you’re going through and find your own resources to get through it. There are no right answers. There’s your process.
Counselling, coaching and psychology: which is which
Three different things that get confused all the time. Here is the difference, plainly.
Works with what you feel
A therapeutic relationship. We look at your story, your emotions and your relationships. Requires university training and membership of a professional body.
Works with what you want to achieve
Goals and performance: career, habits, targets. Useful, but not built for trauma, grief or anxiety. It is not a regulated profession.
Assesses and diagnoses
Makes diagnoses, applies tests and sometimes refers to psychiatry. I do none of that. If you need it, I will point you to it.
In practice: if what you need is to understand what is going on and have someone to think it through with, counselling is the place. If at some point something else is needed, I will tell you and help you find it.
The process
Three steps, no fuss
You reach out
An email, a WhatsApp or the form. You don’t need to have anything figured out or know what to say. Wanting to talk to someone is enough.
A free 15-minute chat
Before any session we have a short, free conversation. You tell me what you are looking for and we see whether we are aligned. No commitment, no pressure.
Your process
60-minute sessions, at your pace. In person in Parnell, Auckland, or by video call from anywhere in the world.
Areas of work
What I can help with
I work with adults and couples across a wide range of experiences and identities.
- Anxiety, stress and burnout
- Trauma and PTSD
- Grief and loss
- Couples and relationships
- LGBTQI+ community
- Neurodiversity and ADHD
- Migration, resettlement and refugees
- Cultural identity and belonging
Practice
Sessions and fees
You can reschedule or cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost. Invoices sent by email.
Gustavo Monod
About me
I became a counsellor after many years of searching for answers. Answers for my own path, and answers that could help me better understand people and the communities we live in.
Along the way I understood something that holds up everything I do today: healing and growth do not happen in isolation. They happen in relationship. That’s what ultimately led me to counselling.
"The curious paradox is that when I accept myself just as I am, then I can change."
Carl RogersHow I work
My main approach is narrative therapy. Together we explore the stories you tell about yourself: the ones that hold you up and the ones that no longer serve you. Often the problem isn’t you: it is the story you got caught in.
I work from a person-centred approach. You lead the process; I listen, accompany and hold. Change isn’t forced, it emerges at its own pace.
Yoga, Buddhism and counselling
I’m a certified Kundalini Yoga instructor (KRI, 2017) and maintain a personal meditation practice. When it makes sense and you want it, I integrate breathwork, meditation and mindfulness into the work. They help regulate emotion and reconnect body and mind.
My perspective is also informed by a Buddhist understanding of life: presence, compassion and impermanence. Observing thoughts without clinging to them opens a space where acceptance and change can coexist. There are many counsellors. Very few work from this place.
Cultural identity
A central focus of my work is cultural identity. Our roots are not something we leave behind when we migrate: they are a source of strength and belonging we carry with us.
I was born and raised in Buenos Aires. I know the loneliness of adapting to a new culture, the weight of expectation and the wish to belong without ceasing to be who you are. That’s part of what I bring to every session.
Training and registration
- Bachelor of Health Science (Counselling)
- Registered member of NZAC (New Zealand Association of Counsellors)
- Certified Kundalini Yoga instructor (KRI, 2017)
- Narrative therapy · Problem-solving therapy
- Practice in Parnell, Auckland · International online consultations
For clients and referrers
How I work
If you’re considering referring someone, or assessing me, here is a summary of my approach, who I work with and what to expect from a session.
Approach
Narrative therapy and person-centred practice, integrating mindfulness and somatic work when the client wishes.
Population
Adults and couples. Particular experience with migrants, refugees, the LGBTQI+ community and Spanish and Portuguese speakers.
Format
In person in Parnell, Auckland, and online. 60-minute sessions, generally weekly, adaptable to each situation.
I work collaboratively with community organisations and support agencies. For further information on availability, clinical supervision or referral process, get in touch.
A quiet space, unhurried and without judgement.
Confidentiality and ethics
I’m a registered member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors and work under its code of ethics, with regular clinical supervision.
Everything discussed in session is strictly confidential. The only exception is where there is a real risk of harm to the client or a third party, where an ethical duty to act applies. Records are stored securely under the New Zealand Health Information Privacy Code 2020.
Frequently asked questions
Before you start
The things I get asked most, gathered here so you can come to a first session without loose ends.
If you are in an emergency
Monod Counselling is not a crisis service. If there is immediate risk, call 111. For urgent mental health support in New Zealand, the national helpline 1737 is available 24/7.
Contact
Get in touch
You don’t need to have it all figured out. Sometimes knowing you want a space to talk is enough. I reply within 48 business hours.
- Email
- WhatsApp
- PracticeParnell, Auckland, New Zealand
- OnlineVideo call · international
- LanguagesEspañol · English · Português
Legal information
Privacy, terms and conditions
Everything you need to know about how I handle your data, how payments and cancellations work, and how your sessions are protected.
Privacy policy
- What data I collect. Only what you fill in on the contact form: first name, last name, email and the message you write.
- What I use it for. Only to reply to you and arrange a first session. Never for advertising or mailing lists.
- Who I share it with. Nobody. I do not sell, rent or pass on information to third parties. The form uses an external service (Web3Forms) that forwards your message to my inbox; under its privacy policy, submissions are kept on its servers for up to 3 years and then automatically deleted.
- Session records. Clinical notes are stored securely and separately from this site, in line with the Health Information Privacy Code 2020, the New Zealand Privacy Act 2020 and the NZAC code of ethics.
- Your rights. You can ask me at any time for access to your data, or for it to be corrected or deleted, by writing to Monod.counselling@gmail.com.
- Cookies. This site uses no tracking cookies and no third-party analytics.
Terms of use
- This site is informational. It does not replace urgent medical or psychological care.
- Monod Counselling is not a crisis service. If there is immediate risk, call 111. For urgent mental health support in New Zealand, the national helpline 1737 is available 24 hours.
- Writing to me through this site does not create a therapeutic relationship. That relationship begins only once we agree on a first session.
- The text on this site belongs to Gustavo Monod. Images are either his own or licensed for use.
- These terms are governed by New Zealand law.
Payments and cancellations
- Intro chat of 15 minutes: free.
- Individual 60-minute session: $150 NZD.
- Payment is made by bank transfer before or on the day of the session.
- An invoice is sent by email.
- You can reschedule or cancel up to 24 hours in advance at no cost.
- Cancellations within 24 hours are charged the full session fee.
- If something comes up, let me know. There is always room to talk.
Accessibility
This site is built so that as many people as possible can use it. It keeps text contrast readable, can be navigated by keyboard, works on small screens, and turns off animations if you have reduced-motion enabled on your device.
If you find anything that makes the site hard to use, write to Monod.counselling@gmail.com and I will fix it.
Last updated: August 2026.