Hello again, Wellington

Perhaps it’s been a while since you heard from us, or perhaps we’re completely new to you. Either way, after 40 years in Wellington, we thought it was time to introduce (or reintroduce) ourselves.

Forty years of women supporting women

The Wellington Women’s Health Collective was established in 1986, at a time when women struggled to access reliable health information, be heard within health services, or find support designed with women in mind.

Today, we provide counselling, workshops, health and wellbeing information, free health products, practical support, referrals and opportunities to connect.

One thing has never changed: women supporting women.

Today at WWHC

Forty years later, we're still here.

Women can access up to eight counselling sessions through our contribution-based model (free if needed) because cost should never be the barrier to getting support.

196

women directly supported

793

hours of counselling

$150,000

operating budget

(in the 2025-26 financial year)

Help BEFORE the crisis

There’s an unrecognised gap in our health system. It’s the space between “I need some help” and “I’m in crisis”. Women who know they need support, but aren’t at full breaking point. Women who don’t qualify for specialist or acute mental health services. Women who can’t afford private counselling.

Crisis services are vital. But sometimes we have an opportunity to help before a crisis starts, and the benefits of doing that are huge.

That’s the gap WWHC fills for women across Wellington.

We’re an early intervention and prevention service. A place and people to call before things get desperate, when women need some support to get through.

The ambulance at the TOP if the hill, not the bottom.

Meet Rose

If you call, email or pop into WWHC, there’s a good chance Rose will be at the other end.

As our Office Manager, Rose helps keep the Collective humming: welcoming women, connecting people with our services, supporting our counsellors and committee, and keeping everything behind the scenes moving.

OUR DOORS ARE OPEN

Tuesday - Wednesday - Friday

9am - 3pm

We'd love those hours to be longer. One of our ambitions for WWHC's next chapter is to grow our capacity so we're here more often when women need us.

Behind our small staff and counselling team is a volunteer Committee of Wellington women who give their time, skills and experience to govern and champion WWHC.

Meet the women behind the Collective → Our Committee and Staff

MADE POSSIBLE BY

Thank you to those who back our work.

For a small organisation like ours, every partnership matters. We’re incredibly grateful to the trusts, foundations and funders who invest in WWHC and help make accessible counselling, support and connection available to women across Wellington.

Quite simply, we couldn’t do this work without you.

AND NOW, WE CELEBRATE!

For four decades, women have walked through our doors.

They’ve come looking for information, connection, reassurance, counselling, practical support, sometimes simply somewhere safe to turn.

And that support travels further than one woman.

When a woman is supported through a difficult time, the difference can ripple out to her children, her whānau, her relationships, her workplace and her community. Across 40 years, WWHC has stood alongside generations of Wellington women through changing lives, changing communities and some incredibly challenging times.

Lives have changed. Families and whānau have been supported. Women have found their feet, their voices, their connections and their way forward.

And around them has been a community of counsellors, staff, volunteers, Committee members, funders, partners and supporters who have kept showing up too.

That is what we’re celebrating.

Not simply that Wellington Women’s Health Collective has been here for 40 years. But the difference those 40 years have made - one woman, one whānau and one community at a time.

This November, we’re bringing that community together to celebrate.

“Being able to talk to someone confidentially about all the complicated aspects that led to the situation of emotional distress was very helpful. Over the weeks, I learned to wade through the fog of overwhelming emotions and focus more on articulating the impact of external stressors and my emotional response to them. She taught me some techniques for calming distressful emotions..”
- WWHC Client

You’re invited

Wellington Women’s Health Collective
40th Anniversary Reception

Government House, Wellington
Thursday 26 November 2026
4.30pm–6.00pm

This November, we have the very special privilege of bringing the WWHC community together at Government House, Wellington, for a reception hosted by Her Excellency The Right Honourable Dame Cindy Kiro GNZM, QSO, Governor-General of New Zealand.

It will be a chance to reconnect with old friends, make new ones, share some of the stories that have shaped WWHC, and recognise the generations of women and supporters who have made these 40 years possible.

We’ll celebrate where we’ve come from and the difference this little Collective has made across Wellington. And we’ll look ahead to what the next 40 years could make possible.

Whether you’ve been part of WWHC for decades, found us somewhere along the way, supported our work, worked alongside us, or are only discovering the Collective now - we’d love you to be part of this moment.

Register your interest to come celebrate 40 years with us

Places at Government House are limited. Registration is an expression of interest rather than confirmation of attendance. If registrations exceed capacity, places will be allocated by ballot and we’ll be in touch to confirm attendance.

And Then: The Next 40

Our anniversary is a moment to celebrate. But it’s also a moment to imagine what comes next.

What could we do if our doors were open more often? If more women could access affordable counselling and support earlier? If we could reach more women across Wellington, build new partnerships and create more ways for women to connect?

So, as we celebrate 40 years, we’re asking one big question:

What does Wellington need from its Women’s Health Collective for the next 40 years?

We don’t have all the answers yet. And we don’t think we should find them on our own.

Over the coming months, we’ll dig into our archives and share more of the stories that brought us here. We’ll introduce you to more of our people, listen to our community, build new partnerships and start imagining The Next 40 together.

Because if the last 40 years have taught us anything, it’s that supported women can make a difference far beyond our doors.

We hope you’ll be part of what comes next.

SUPPORT WWHC

Help us be here for Wellington women for the next 40 years.