ABOUT NEW ZEALAND

Aotearoa/New Zealand is a country of four million people situated in the southwest Pacific. It is a part of Polynesia, a cultural area of Pacific inhabitants which extends in a triangle whose apex is Hawaii in the north and whose base is formed from Rapanui (Easter Island) in the east and Aotearoa (New Zealand) in the west. New Zealand was settled within the last thousand years by Polynesian people (Maori) and colonised by Europeans, mainly from Great Britain, from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. A treaty (The Treaty of Waitangi) was signed by the British Crown and many of the Maori tribes that guaranteed sovereignty (Rangatiratanga) to the Maori and governance (Kawanatanga) by the British Crown. New Zealand became independent from Great Britain in 1907. About fifteen percent of New Zealand’s population is Maori. The main spoken language is English and Maori is also an official language.

New Zealand has a maritime climate which means it is kept relatively stable by the mass of ocean surrounding it (winters and summers are more similar in temperature to each other than they are with a continental climate) but is also exposed to the rapid changes in weather that occur at sea.

Geographically it is formed from the collision of the Pacific and the Australian tectonic plates and as a result has rugged mountains, particularly in the south and volcanic activity, particularly in the north.

European settlers cleared much of the rainforest which covered the country and replaced it with pastoral land.. Rainforest and higher up beech forest still covers large areas of land protected as national parks or forest parks.

Most of New Zealand’s population lives in the urban areas and follows a lifestyle similar to that in Europe or the United States.

Psychotherapists do not at present need to be registered to practice, although that is likely to change in the next couple of years. A qualified psychotherapist may charge from NZ$70 – 110 per hour (30 –50 Euros, US$50-70).