Family therapist bolstered by new award

Helping others is in Rosalind Arnott’s nature. It was this pull that drove her to enrol in a Bachelor of Social Work at Massey University in 2011 and build a career as a family therapist.

Since 2022 she has been working for Hamilton-based organisation True Colours Children’s Health Trust, providing therapy and counselling to families who are grieving the loss of a child or have children with complex medical diagnoses.

It is a role that requires a strong understanding of therapeutic models, family dynamics, child development and mental health, and demands both compassion and resilience. There, Rosalind found her niche.

“It is challenging, but I love it,” she says, adding that it is an honour to “walk beside people at the toughest time in their lives”.

Wanting to expand her skillset and knowledge base to enhance her work, she enrolled in a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Sciences at the University of Auckland in 2023, with a focus on cognitive behavioural therapy. This was followed by a Master of Health Sciences, which she began this year by distance learning from the Waikato – all while working full-time and raising two children.

While admitting there are “juggles that come with it”, she says postgraduate study is the highlight of her academic journey so far.

“There is far more interaction between lecturers and students at the postgraduate level, which I love, because you come in with knowledge that is also respected.”

Rosalind is one of four inaugural recipients of the Friendship House Postgraduate Violence Prevention Award, which was established in 2024 by the Friendship House Trust, a charitable organisation that assists New Zealanders in building healthy relationships, families and communities.

“Friendship House is committed to creating safe, thriving communities by reducing family violence and empowering whānau,” says Friendship House Trust CEO Neil Denney. “Guided by our values of collaboration, respect and excellence, we partnered with the University of Auckland to establish a postgraduate award in family violence studies. This initiative ensures that future professionals enter the workforce equipped with advanced knowledge and skills to break cycles of harm and foster well-being across Aotearoa.”

The award recognises students completing one of two postgraduate courses focused on domestic violence in New Zealand: Interpersonal and Family Violence and Domestic Violence: Challenges and Responses. It is open to those enrolled in a range of degrees, with the first cohort of recipients studying across faculties in public policy, counselling and health sciences.

Rosalind completed both courses this year, hoping to increase her knowledge of domestic violence and utilise the learnings in her work as a family therapist.

“We see a lot of stress in our role and we know that stress can contribute to domestic violence and family harm,” she explains. “I wanted to be able to identify domestic violence and address it when we see it happening. How can we be most effective in that space?”

Already the courses have proved valuable to her work, supporting the specialised knowledge family therapy demands and allowing her to implement preventative measures.

“They highlighted how, in the helping professions, we probably don’t have enough of an in-depth understanding to really be driving down statistics. By the end of the courses, I felt far more comfortable in being able to identify domestic violence and in understanding that it’s so much bigger than physical violence. I also had a greater understanding of how much we can do to decrease the risk of occurrence, when those stresses and signs are showing.”

One such sign that is prevalent in Rosalind’s line of work is financial stress. She is now able to pinpoint this as a potential risk and connect families with social workers or other support to prevent escalation.

As her experience with the courses shows, people working outside the domestic violence space will benefit from enrolling. She encourages students across faculties to do so:

“Everyone should have to take these papers. New Zealand’s domestic violence statistics are appalling, and it would make such a difference if we had lots of people with some sort of understanding who could identify signs earlier, before they progress into family violence.”

Rosalind is grateful to the Friendship House Trust for funding the award, which supports those already working in the community to undertake postgraduate study, recognising both experience and undergraduate qualifications.

“It felt like an encouragement and recognition of both my academic and professional work, which was really lovely,” she says. “There’s a little bit in your brain that says, ‘Okay, I can focus more fully on my learning and on applying that knowledge to my work, knowing there is some funding there’.”

As she looks to the future, Rosalind hopes to continue making an impact in families’ lives while advocating for wider change in the field, which in her view is vastly under-resourced and lacks accessible, widespread and funded specialist knowledge.

“I would like to still be doing my day-to-day role, but be adding to that by sitting on working groups, particularly in the paediatric palliative care space, driving change. It would be amazing to have paediatric palliative care set up in a holistic way throughout New Zealand, where it doesn’t matter which region you live in, you can access equitable care – because we don’t have that at the moment.”