Our story.

Over the last few years, we have been on a journey to understand how we might best help our community through the mental health crisis that is being felt right throughout Aotearoa. We have been heartbroken at the detrimental effects of poor mental and emotional health for many Kiwis and are convinced that we must be part of the solution. We see two clear areas to focus our efforts on, preventative and responsive.
 
Preventatively, we believe the key is education and so the Feed Your Mind programme and resources were created. They focus on equipping whānau with key skills in emotional vocabulary, describing feelings and needs of real-life events, and debriefing the day. Which are all proven skills to help improve mental and emotional wellness in young people and adults.
 
Our second focus is to be responsive to the needs of our community in accessing professional help, primarily counselling. Ana Baird, our primary facilitator and Counsellor, is employed as our NZAC accredited counsellor to serve our local community.
 
We truly see the Feed Your Mind initiative as a practical and accessible solution to the mental health crisis being felt in our community.
 
Feed Your Mind is brought to you by LifeSwitch - for more info about us, check out www.lifeswitch.org.nz

Counselling Staff

Ana Baird

Primary Counsellor

PGDipEd, MCouns, Provisional Member of NZAC

Ana brings a warm, friendly and genuine approach to counselling. She’s passionate about people gaining the tools to thrive in all areas of life and utilises a ‘person-centred’ approach to counselling. Which simply means she understands that each person is unique, and as such tailors counselling to fit the individual she is working with.

Ana enjoys working with a wide age range including teens, adults and parents.
With many years experience working with young people and their whānau across complex issues Ana is not easily shaken - offering a calm space for the season you might find yourself in.
Ana has been on staff with LifeSwitch since 2018 as a Youth Pastor. Currently she holds a Teaching Pastor role as well as Counselling, whilst faith is a core part of Ana’s life she is happy to see clients from all walks of life, religious and cultural backgrounds.

If you have any further questions or would simply like to know more about LifeSwitch’s heart to equip others to thrive in life, we’d love to hear from you. (Email: ana@lifeswitch.org.nz).

School Facilitators

Ana Baird

Primary Facilitator &
Counsellor

Clint Craig

Co-Facilitator

Cherene van der Lith

Kids and Families Worker
& Co-Facilitator 

Jono Chaplow

Youth Worker
& Co-Facilitator 

Meet our team.

Ana van Elswijk

Primary Facilitator &
Mind Health Educator 

Cherene van der Lith

Kids and Families Worker
& Co-Facilitator 

Clint Craig

Co-Facilitator

Jono Chaplow

Youth Worker
& Co-Facilitator