The reason and people behind the game within
Why I created The Game Within™ - a note from Rebecca
The Game Within is bigger for me than a programme or a private practice.
I created it because I believe we need to change the way we support our young people and we need to start earlier.
Too many teenagers and young adults are struggling with anxiety, pressure, comparison, identity, relationships, confidence and simply feeling okay about who they are. Too many families are trying to navigate it without knowing what to do.
I want to be part of changing that.
My vision is to give young people practical tools before they reach crisis point by helping them understand themselves, recognise their patterns, manage what's happening inside their heads and navigate the inevitable challenges of growing up.
I want more young people to feel hopeful about their future.
I want more of them to feel comfortable being who they are.
I want more families to have the tools to navigate the difficult periods together.
And, most importantly, I want more of our young people to stay with us and have the opportunity to discover just how much life can change.
My ambition is for The Game Within to reach far beyond my own 1:1 work into schools, universities, families and communities, initially across New Zealand and ultimately around the world.
Because I don't believe we can wait until a young person is in crisis before we teach them how to navigate what's happening within them.
If we can help a young person see the pattern, change the lens and choose a different response, we may change far more than that moment. We may change what happens next.
Meet our team
Jennifer Brown is a highly experienced Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) practitioner, with decades of clinical experience supporting young people and adults through anxiety, depression and significant life transitions. Jennifer's approach is grounded in evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, helping people understand the connection between their thoughts, emotions and behaviours, recognise unhelpful patterns and develop different ways of responding.
Rebecca Morris
Behaviour Expert | Author | Founder of The Game Within
For more than 20 years, I've worked with people to understand behaviour, the patterns we develop, what triggers them, how we respond and, importantly, what we can do differently. My professional background spans educational psychology, teaching, behavioural change and neuroscience-based change. But some of my greatest learning has come from navigating life and parenthood myself. I've lived through separation and rebuilding a family, co-parenting, financial pressure, grief and loss, major health challenges, and supporting young people through significant anxiety and an eating disorder.
Jennifer Brown
CBT Therapist
Those experiences taught me something that now sits at the heart of my work: when one person is struggling, the whole family can become caught in the pattern.
As parents, our instinct is often to protect, fix and control. I've had to confront my own patterns too, learning when to step in, when to step back, how to see a situation through a different lens and how changing my own response can change what happens next.
I've also had the privilege of seeing young people come through extremely difficult periods and go on to live full, happy, ordinary lives. It has reinforced my belief that a difficult chapter doesn't have to become the whole story.
That combination of professional expertise and lived experience is why I created The Game Within.
I want young people to have practical tools for understanding themselves earlier before everything has to become a crisis. I want them to recognise their patterns, navigate pressure and uncertainty, build confidence in who they are and know what to do when life gets messy.
And I want parents to have tools too.
My approach is practical, curious and individual. Sometimes I work with the young person. Sometimes the parent. Sometimes both separately.
Because different people need different tools and sometimes a different lens.
My work is behavioural rather than clinical. I don't diagnose or replace appropriate medical or psychological care, and I will recommend specialist support when it is needed.
I'm also the author of The Reset Code: Unleashing your deeper resilience into today's uncertain world, which brings together much of what I've learned professionally and personally about navigating uncertainty, disruption and the times in life when we have to find a way forward again.
Ultimately, my vision for The Game Within is much bigger than my own practice. I want these tools reaching young people, parents, schools and universities across New Zealand and eventually around the world.
Because I believe the earlier we help young people understand the game happening within them, the greater opportunity we have to help them build lives in which they feel capable, hopeful and comfortable being who they are.
See the pattern. Change the lens. Choose your response. Reset.
Our approach
There is no standard person, family or situation. So we don't use a standard pathway.
Sometimes we start with a parent. Sometimes we start with the teenager. Sometimes a university student comes directly to us.
And sometimes we work separately with several members of the same family.
We start where it makes sense to start.
We look at:
What's happening?
What keeps happening?
What triggers it?
How do you respond?
How do others respond?
What happens next?
Then we work on practical ways to interrupt the patterns that aren't helping. One person may need tools for emotional regulation. Another may need help with boundaries. Someone else may need to recognise their triggers, challenge overthinking or communicate differently.
Different person. Different pattern. Different tools.
How we can support you
Individual sessions for:
Teens (aged 14+)
University students
Parents
1:1 Practical consultations
We'll help you unpack it, identify the patterns and work out practical things you can start doing differently.
Individual and group sessions for:
Parents
Teen/young adults
Families
Family support
Sometimes the issue isn't one person. It's the pattern everyone has become caught in. We can work individually with different members of a family, helping each person develop the tools they need to change their part of the pattern.
Small-group programmes designed around the real challenges young people are navigating.
The Game Within ™
programmes
Group sessions for:
Teens
Young adults
Parents
START HERE
Not sure what you need?
That's okay. You don't need to choose a programme, diagnose the problem or know exactly who should come first. Tell us a little about what's happening. Our short Initial Check-In helps us understand what's going on and where the most useful starting point might be.
“The coaching helped me see past the surface and get to the root of problems.”
What clients are saying
“The coaching helped me see past the surface and get to the root of problems.”
Rebecca’s words resonate deeply because they come from a place of raw, trusted vulnerability.