Tena koutou / greetings

I am a white middle class male of the ‘baby boomer’ generation. Born in Kirikiriroa/Hamilton, I spent my formative years in Te Papaioea/Palmerston North. Times were simpler then, and my mother didn’t go back to work until her 3 children were well into their school years.

After 15years of other work I came into Social Work in the late 80’s, around the time my own family had its origins. Through the 90’s I worked in Youth Justice Residential, and noted the lack of opportunity to work with family/whanau. I moved into youth/rangitahi mental health in 2000 and I was invited into a family therapy team in 2006. Working with experienced & skilled colleagues has been a marvellous ‘nest’ and I feel privileged to have learnt & grown in this kohanga setting.

In 2008, driven by the desire to know more about what I was expected & capable of contributing when in the room with a family/whanau, I studied with the late Antony Brewer at the Otago Uni PG Certificate in FST. With a relatively large cohort of 11 colleagues from all around Aotearoa this year of study was, for me, a powerful springboard into copious reading, pondering, learning, growing as a thinker, and as a facilitator of conversations with family/whanau groups.

One of my persistent ponderings at this time was ‘why do family therapists not have a way to connect and commune? We are a small country, it shouldn’t be too hard’. A number of forces lead to the compiling of the 2009 Werry Centre Report into FT in NZ, a reference group was established, and out of that came FSTAANZ.

I have been involved since mid-way through the reference group stage, and am as excited as ever about the prospects for communication and collaboration in the family therapy community in Aotearoa.

Nga mihi
Graham Allan
Chair, FSTAANZ
Otautahi

Terry Ebeling MSSW MNZAP Registered Psychotherapist

Terry is a highly regarded clinician and clinical supervisor and also has taught family therapy and clinical supervision at the postgraduate level and continues to facilitate family inclusive practice workshops. He has thirty five years clinical experience in both inpatient and outpatient psychiatric services, employee assistance work and clinical supervision.

Since obtaining a Master’s Degree in social work in 1987, Terry worked as a family therapist within the Brown Schools psychiatric hospital system in Austin Texas, which had a close affiliation with Harry Goolushian and Harlene Anderson of the Galveston Family Institute.  

Terry is a Registered Psychotherapist and is a member of New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists. In Dunedin, Terry works with a primary mental health mental health service, Family Mental Health Services, also provides family therapy services for Otago Youth Wellness and is in private practice at Delta Psychology.