How it works: from booking to your first session

The three steps

1. Book online. Choose a time that works for you through our simple online booking system. It's available 24/7 and no referral is needed. You can pick a specific psychologist or take the first available appointment. Payment is taken securely at booking via Stripe.
2. Complete your intake. You'll receive a confirmation email with your video link and a calendar invite, plus a separate email with a short intake form, a consent form and brief questionnaire that takes around 5 minutes, so your psychologist can prepare.
3. Start your session. Join your psychologist via secure video at the scheduled time. No downloads, no waiting rooms, just support from wherever you are in New Zealand.

First sessions are typically available within 7 days. The booking system shows live availability, so what you see is what's open.

Choosing a psychologist, or being matched

You can do either. By default you'll be matched with the first available psychologist, which keeps things simple and gets you support faster. If you'd like to work with a specific psychologist, you can select them when booking via the Book a session button.

If you want to choose, our team page sets out each psychologist's focus areas and the approaches they use, and each has a profile page. Someone whose main concern is OCD might look for a psychologist who works with ERP; someone wanting to process a specific traumatic event might look for EMDR. If you don't have a strong preference, or you're not sure what you need yet, the first available appointment is a perfectly good way to start. If you're booking for something specific, such as OCD or trauma, each psychologist's profile shows the areas they work in.

The intake form

After you book, a second email arrives with a link to a short intake form. It has two parts. The consent form explains how sessions work, how your information is handled and the limits of confidentiality, and asks you to agree. The brief questionnaire asks what's brought you to therapy, a little about your situation, and anything your psychologist should know before you meet.

It takes around five minutes, and it means your first session can start with the conversation rather than paperwork. You don't have to write a lot. A few honest sentences are more useful than a polished account, and your psychologist will ask about the rest.

Book a session How booking works →

What to expect from therapy

The first few sessions involve gathering information and understanding your needs. Your psychologist will discuss their initial impressions and treatment recommendations with you, and together you'll establish mutually agreed goals and a plan. Sessions are 50 minutes and typically weekly or fortnightly, depending on your goals.

What a plan looks like varies. Someone with panic attacks might agree on a short, structured course of CBT with practice between sessions. Someone working through grief might want fewer, more spaced-out sessions with room to talk. Your psychologist will tell you what they think will help and roughly how long it might take, and will review that with you as you go rather than leaving it open-ended. There's no pressure to share more than you're ready to in any session.

Every Mindwell psychologist is registered with the New Zealand Psychologists Board, and between them they work with evidence-based approaches including CBT, ACT, DBT, EMDR and ERP. Meet the team, or read what to expect in a first session.

What you need: tech requirements

A private space, a reliable internet connection, and a device with a camera and microphone: laptop, tablet or phone. Sessions run in your browser via Carepatron's secure video; there's nothing to download and no account to set up.

• Space: somewhere you won't be overheard or interrupted for 50 minutes. Headphones help in a shared house.
• Device: a laptop or desktop gives you the biggest picture, but a phone propped against something works. Charge it or plug it in.
• Connection: home broadband or a solid mobile signal. If video stutters, moving closer to your router or switching to mobile data usually sorts it.

Open the link a few minutes early the first time, so your browser can ask for camera and microphone permission before the session starts. Our guide to online therapy in New Zealand has more on getting set up.

Rescheduling and cancellations

Plans change. We ask for at least 48 hours' notice to cancel or reschedule. With less than 48 hours' notice, the full session fee applies. To change a booking, email team@mindwell.co.nz with your appointment time and the change you need. The full cancellation policy has the detail.

Sessions are $199 + GST ($228.85 incl. GST), paid at booking. Many health insurers cover psychology sessions, and we provide receipts for reimbursement. See fees and payment for the details.

If you miss a session

If you don't attend a session and haven't given 48 hours' notice, the full fee applies, as it would for a late cancellation. Your psychologist's time was held for you, and it can't be offered to someone else at short notice.

Missing a session doesn't end anything. You can book your next appointment straight away, and it's worth mentioning what got in the way at your next session, because sometimes that's useful information in itself. If you're running late, join when you can; the session still finishes at the scheduled time.

Privacy and confidentiality

What you tell your psychologist is confidential, protected under the Health Information Privacy Code 2020. Information is shared only with your consent, or where the law requires or allows it, for example if there is a serious risk to your safety or someone else's. Your psychologist will go through these limits with you in the first session, and they're set out in the consent form.

Carepatron, which hosts the video, encrypts client data. At your end, headphones and a closed door do most of the work. Our privacy policy explains what information we hold and why, and our guide to privacy in online therapy covers the practical side.

Related support: Fees · Our team · Online therapy in New Zealand · Your first session

Updated October 2026 · How we write our information