ĀHUA Psychology

13/07/2025

Growth isn’t always pretty, but it is always worth it.

What lessons hit you the hardest lately?

16/06/2025

Surfing might be the most humbling thing I’ve thrown myself into since retiring from competitive ski racing.

Learning a sport you didn’t grow up doing is a real ego check. After years of having the basics dialled in without even thinking, this has been a full return to beginner mode.

Over the years surfing has forced me to practice what I preach when it comes to focusing on the process, giving myself grace, finding points of progression in the most challenging sessions, and fully embracing failure and many, many mistakes.

Here’s a few takeaways from the lineup after my most recent trip to Sumatra.

What’s been humbling you lately?

14/05/2025

When your body reacts before your brain catches up — that’s not weakness. That’s survival mode.

Certain triggers can hit hard, fast, and seemingly out of nowhere.

Reminder: You are not broken — your body is doing exactly what it was wired to do: keep you safe.

HOWEVER, when your brain is using old data to keep you safe in situations where you’re no longer at risk, problems can arise. Problems with your mental health, your relationships, your mahi, your sense of self, identity, and even your physical health.

And this is why nervous system work matters.

You can’t always think your way out of a survival mode — but you can learn to relate to it differently.

That starts with practices that work with the body, not against it — things like EMDR, somatic work, and building safety through connection.

Your story doesn’t end with what happened or did not happen in the past.

It continues with how you care for your nervous system now.

07/05/2025

Healing isn’t about waiting for someone else to change. It’s about owning your part, letting go of what’s not yours, and choosing to move forward anyway.

26/01/2023

Do you experience mental health and challenges that relate to your mental wellbeing? Whether those challenges are severe or very mild, I’m keen to hear from you.

By filling out this survey, you will help myself and other psychologists create offerings to better support people with their mental health and well-being.

In return, be in to WIN A $50 BOOKETY BOOK BOOKS VOUCHER for your next read. Please note, sharing personally identifiable information is optional. If you do not fill in your email, your results will remain anonymous. For those wanting to go into the draw to win, you will need to leave your contact details.

Take 5 min to fill out the survey here: https://forms.gle/v9SyiUYeRt8aJf8k6

I very much appreciate your time and support!

Ngā mihi nui ki a koe 😀

Taylor
Registered Psychologist
BSc MSc Psych (hon) PGDip Psych Practice
www.ahuapsychology.com

20/12/2022

Silly season can be a hoot but it can also be really s**t.

HERE ARE REASONS WHY SILLY SEASON CAN SUCK, AND 9 WAYS TO SUPPORT YOURSELF DURING THIS TIME.

• MERRY Christmas, only nobody can be merry ALL OF THE TIME.
• Missing loved ones - dead, or alive and distant.
• Pressure to spend time with people and in places that may be triggering.
• Feeling isolated, lonely, and left out.
• Financial stress that coincides with taking time off and the desire to treat yourself and your whanau to gifts, holidays, and yum kai.
• Christmas doesn’t take away a person's suffering (physical and / or mental) but it can create unwanted reminders of what they do not have.
• A new year prompts reflection, some will be reflecting on what has been lost, while others will be anticipating what challenging times ahead will bring.
• Misrepresentations on social media leading to self comparison, and feeling a ‘lack of’.
• A lot of people are just really fu***ng tired. An entire year is a very long time to be hacking away at life, especially when you throw in the cost of a pandemic, war, and human rights crises in the mix.

9 ways to support yourself this silly season:

• Be curious before you be critical. Consider the WHY behind your own, or someone else's actions.
• Make room for the ups and downs. The more we resist our own discomfort, the more consuming it can become.
• Do not assume people can mind read, challenge yourself to speak up, voice your needs, ask for help.
• Define your own boundaries. Practise putting these into action but voicing them.
• Spend less time on your phone. Comparing your life with others through misrepresentations on social media is dangerous.
• Challenge yourself to say no and respect other peoples no.
• Be open to receiving. You are deserving of kindness and love.
• Continue with routines that you know serve you well.
• Notice unreasonable expectations you have of yourself and others. Challenge these.

Tag someone who may need this right now.

📷

12/12/2022

Today I get to drop the ‘Intern’ in front of the Psychologist and call myself a Registered Psychologist 😅

This year I have been practising as a registered intern psych, learning the ropes of being an ethically safe and competent psychologist with guidance from my supervisors.

Last week I sat my final exam in front of a panel of experienced psychologists to determine my readiness to practise as a psychologist… turns out I’m ready.

At times, it’s been a bit of slog getting this far. In the process, I lost my mum to cancer. Naturally a few of my own injuries and surgery were thrown into the mix.

It’s been humbling to connect with the rest of my cohort and learn that many have faced loss and setbacks and irrespective of that, the process of registration was a challenge for us all, but a worthy one. And now here we are!

I feel so very lucky to have had many incredible humans support me along the way. While I’ve been wishing to celebrate with my biggest fan, she had other plans and so I choose to acknowledge all the others who believed in me and gave me a nudge and a hug when I needed. Especially my Dad.

And to all the beautiful people I get to work with, tēnā koe - I appreciate you all more than you know.

While it’s my job to guide you through the ups and downs, you teach me what it means to persevere, to love, and to adapt when it’s easier not to, more than anyone else I know.

You are all quite simply amazing - even when you don’t feel like it. Keep going.

Big aroha.

See you in 2023!

20/10/2022

“There is no success without suffering” - you reckon Earl? I say bo****ks.

Earl Nightingale was a well acclaimed 1960’s dean personal development and one of many to unknowingly fuel a generational glorification of suffering in the pursuit of excellence.

Today I challenge you to question this socially ingrained expectation that to do great things, one must be willing to suffer.

It is true that to do most things one must be willing to experience discomfort. It’s inevitable. And the more willing we are to make room for discomfort, the less likely we are to suffer.

But where do we draw the line?

I challenge you to look at the way you pursue your goals, your expectations of yourself, and how perceived expectations from others shape your work habits?

What, if anything, needs to change?

I share this from a place of struggling with my own habits around my pursuits from high performance sport, to academia, and now my career. I value challenge and progression but the way I have been taught to quantify whether or not I am on the right track is by how HARD I’m working. Lately, I’ve been redefining hard work as smart work, and challenging myself to put that into practice.

What's your relationship with work?

17/10/2022

Wānaka - let us reconnect with the people and places that lift us up! Pop on down to the Dinosaur Park this Thursday at 7.30am for a kōrero, cacao and cold water swim for those that are keen.

If you're not feeling social that is more than okay. There is no need expectation to mingle or swim, all we ask if for you to show up by being present with yourself and your community.

We would love to see some friendly faces :)

PS. this is not a cacao ceremony of any kind. We will simply be enjoying some yum cacao using quality ingredients. BYO mug if you like choccy in the mōrena!

03/10/2022

03/10/2022

On Friday morning we all dragged our sleepy heads to the lake for a kōrero, a swim and some yum cacao - reconnecting with the tangāta (people) and wāhi (places) that lift us up.

We showed up to hold space by simply being there.

We listened and shared challenges and moments of appreciation as we do this rowdy thing we call life.

We found that a lot of us share the same challenges.

We found aspiration in the possibilities of what can be within this beautiful community.

We found presence in our bodies, with the land, and with each other as we settled into the weirdly comfortable discomfort of some very cold water.

We shared laughs, nourished our bellies with creamy hot cacao, and said see ya soon not because it’s polite, but because we will.

While you thanked and I for facilitating, I think it’s important to express our gratitude to each of you for showing up for yourselves, but also for your community.

Genuine connection is made possible with your presence in these spaces. And for that, I am so darn grateful. THANK YOU 💙

We’re very keen to facilitate similar events on the reg and will let you know what’s next real soon - stay tuned!

Big aroha to for these beautiful shots.

26/09/2022

To the person who wants to heal.

You are not broken. You can be healing and whole. You can be growing and grown.

If you are on a mission to heal, I honour you. Truly. But what about you? Can you honour yourself even when you feel messy?

Can you honour how far you’ve already come even when you have a long way to go?

Can you acknowledge what you already have even while you recognise what’s missing?

Can you receive love even while you identify all that you don’t love about yourself?

Healing can be uncomfortable, but it does not have to be burdened with more suffering.

It can be a big part of your life, but it doesn’t have to BE your life.

It can be an investment, but it doesn’t have to be a financial burden.

It is often ongoing, but it doesn't have to be fiercely relentless.

Be gentle in your chaos. Healing is not an end result and so it must be sustainable 🖤

Photo by the talented