This paper is an account of the rationale behind the authors’ efforts to create a Masters in Counselling programme, centred on a poststructuralist approach known as narrative therapy, that might be deserving of the designation “bicultural”. In developing the new degree, the goal was to bring the knowledge, language and values of the indigenous Māori people of Aotearoa New Zealand alongside and into a dialogue with international, Eurocentric, non‐Māori counselling theories and practices. Our hypothesis was that this dialogue might result in an innovative and transformational learning experience that could prepare counselling practitioners to work for more equitable outcomes with diverse client groups. We share this account of our narrative and the reflections stemming from our programme development work believing they offer a contribution to thinking about how counsellor education can engage well with cultural diversity. Beyond the question of how counselling practitioners are to engage with culturally diverse clients, which risks falling into essentialising models of diversity, we argue that the engagement with biculturalism, as suggested by the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti o Waitangi), provides a powerful lens for thinking about creating a socially just and inclusive counselling practice.

This paper describes a practice developed at a large secondary school in Auckland whereby students’ experiences of overcoming problems are made available to others in the form of insider brochures. These students are thus able to share their insights and strategies in support of peers who may be experiencing similar problems. Drawing on narrative counseling conversations as well as narrative community work, a school counselor facilitates the process. This paper describes how insider voices contribute to the brochures and provides detail from one case example. In keeping with narrative approaches to problems, the goals are to de-privatise and de-individualise young people’s experiences of difficulties, and to reposition these students from ‘sufferers’ of problems to ‘experts’ on how to overcome them. In the process not only are students’ preferred identities developed but also collective knowledge is created and students are empowered to support one another.

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This article reports on a statistical investigation into the engagement rates of male secondary-school students with school counsellors in co-educational state secondary schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. The data analysis evidences a discrepancy between the engagement rates of male and female students, substantiating what has been known anecdotally: that male students are less likely than their female peers to meet with school counsellors. Data from 2615 counselling records across eight schools nationwide indicate that male students engage between 3% and 11% less than their female peers. Further research in 2022 is planned to investigate any barriers or constraints that could account for this discrepancy and expose possible facilitative factors that may increase male student engagement rates with school counsellors.

In clinical social work, practitioners can find themselves recruited into stuck or ‘problem-saturated’ positions alongside their clients. Likening a clinical conversation to exploring the majestic scenery of New Zealand, this article opens the possibility of playful explorations that excavate otherwise overlooked or off-hand comments that turn into inspired new directions.