OutLine contracts professionally qualified counsellors whose work focuses on rainbow-affirming counselling.
The counselling team and staff assist rainbow-identified people, their families, and anyone questioning their own sexual orientation, gender identity or who are intersex or have a variation of sex characteristic (VSC).
The counselling team are focused on affirmative engagement with people, assisting to build networks and relationships with people and services nationally. We have established strong links with AOD services, other rainbow community services, community mental health services, sexual health services and youth services. Our work engages with state services and public health programmes in many DHBs, including gender affirming health care. We support the growing sector of affirming private independent practitioners, professional health bodies, and support developing research projects. We are working to gather information, resources and learn about primary health services improving access to support for rainbow whānau nationally.
Tommy Hamilton – Contract Counsellor
He/him, They/Them
Tommy became part of the counselling team in 2014. The contribution and practice Tommy shares with the team is as a narrative therapist. Tommy chose to study narrative therapy specifically with the intention of working in a rainbow affirming practice. He also works in youth development and community development where he developed many of the micro skills needed in counselling and where he noticed a distinct gap in rainbow affirming practices for the people, he worked alongside seeking day to day mental health and well-being support.
Tommy has experience working with any age of person, within families and individually, he works alongside multi-disciplinary teams and peer-based programmes. Tommy works via video counselling and is based outside of the National office.
Tommy is interested in revealing or restructuring the ways we understand the impacts of minority stress and micro aggressions rainbow people encounter day to day. He also believes in accessible and affordable counselling, as well as building access for all counsellors to grow in their awareness of rainbow affirming practices. A current interest is improving referral processes for rainbow people across the country. If you are in any region in Aotearoa, Tommy aims to find support through regional and local networks close to people.
Tommy also has trained as a phone volunteer and been on the OutLine board since engaging with OutLine in the early 2000s.
Hayden Oswin – Contract Senior Counsellor
He/him
Hayden helped create the Face-to-face Counselling Service at OutLine in 2011. Hayden chose to study Person-Centred Therapy and Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and mainly uses these collaborative and structured approaches when working with clients for counselling.
Hayden is experienced with working therapeutically with adults (people who are 20 years of age and older) and from a variety of genders and ethnicities. He works mostly with individuals and has had some experience with working with couples. Hayden is based in the Auckland Office and sees most of his clients in person in the Counselling Room based at St. Mary’s Bay.
Hayden’s passion is working with people from the Rainbow Community and to provide a collaborative, respectful, and affirming environment where people are able to obtain the support they require with intentionality.
He trained as a phone volunteer at OutLine in 2004 and has been on the OutLine Board on two separate occasions. Hayden has been a Member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors since 2011.
Jacqui Ivankovich – Counsellor
She/Her
Jacqui has eight years of experience working with rangatahi, rainbow communities and whānau. She studied a Diploma of Counselling and is a Member of the New Zealand Association of Counsellors.
Jacqui brings a warmth, realness and deeply empathetic energy to her practice. She takes a holistic, person-centred, strengths-based approach when working with people and holds a person’s knowledge of themselves at the forefront of their therapeutic relationship.
Jacqui is the mother of one teenage daughter and lives on the North Shore of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, where she enjoys spending time with friends/whānau, immersing herself in nature and enjoying coffee at some of her local cafes.
Ross Palethorpe – Student Counsellor
He/They
Ross joined the counselling team at OutLine in January this year after working as a phone volunteer. He is currently a student on the Bachelor of Applied Counselling at MIT, and works at OutLine as part of his studies. He has worked in education for over fifteen years and has a passion for supporting young people.
Ross uses narrative therapy, person-centred counselling, and trauma-informed practice to support clients. He has experience working with clients who are neurodiverse, disabled people, and people working out their gender identity. Ross is transgender and a member of PATHA, as well as a student affiliate of NZAC.
Ross is not currently taking on new clients but will continue to see existing clients.
Olivia Campbell – Student Counsellor
They/Them, She/Her
Olivia joined the OutLine counselling team in March 2022. Olivia has completed a BA in Psychology, a PGDip in Counselling and Guidance, and is currently in their second year of a Master’s in Counselling at the University of Waikato. Their counselling practice is based in a narrative approach and Olivia also draws on trauma-informed care, te ao Māori, and cultural sensitivity. Olivia’s background is primarily in working with teenagers and young adults, although they are happy to see clients of any age.
Olivia lives in Tāmaki Makaurau with their partner and cat named Crab. They identify as queer and non-binary.
Vicky Clothier – Contract Clinical Supervisor
She/Her
Vicky joined OutLine as the Clinical Supervisor in 2013. Contracted to provide Clinical Supervision to our counselling service as well as ongoing training and supervision to our phone volunteers. The contribution and clinical expertise she share’s with the team is as a mental health and addiction counsellor and clinical supervisor. With 18 years’ experience in the sector, Vicky has developed a sound practice that has guided the development of policies and processes that ensure OutLine delivers an ethically safe clinical service that follows Health and Disability Sector Standards and Clinical Best Practice Guidelines.
Vicky’s clinical passion is ensuring therapeutic and peer support is available for all; during her career she has led LGBTTFQI focused outreach projects delivering addiction counselling to street based sex workers alongside New Zealand Prostitutes Collective, another working with Body Positive delivering counselling to HIV positive communities, with a special interest in the harm associated with chem sex. Vicky has also led a homeless outreach service on K road (above Merge cafe) and more recently was the Team Manager of an acute mental health/addiction, respite and short term treatment service in South Auckland.
More recently Vicky has moved to Wellington and has commenced a role with the DHB in the Regional Personality Disorder Service, providing specialist consultation and supervision in the work with personality disorders. This move to Wellington has meant Vicky is no longer available to facilitate our Volunteer Forums, though she has agreed to stay on as the Clinical Supervisor for the service, facilitating monthly supervision with the Counsellors and our Trans Peer Support worker. Vicky is also in the process of reinstating our Outline NZ Wellington clinic to ensure face to face counselling is available to Rainbow communities in the Wellington region.
Vicky accredits the passion of all the staff and volunteers at OutLine for her ongoing commitment and dedication to the work of affirming diversity in our Rainbow Communities.