Mrs Pierce, who has stepped down for health reasons, looked back with fondness over the 14-year history of the organisation, which provides a mobile children’s counselling service in dozens of schools.
"It’s amazing looking back to the beginnings of ChatBus, which was just myself and one vehicle, to where we are now with counsellors in eight buses working in schools across the South," she said.
A former kindergarten teacher, Mrs Pierce founded ChatBus after two of her then-teenage children were rocked by the suicide of a fellow pupil and dear friend.
The experience of counselling her children and their friends through such a traumatic experience inspired a new approach to counselling.
"Taking our buses to schools and giving children the chance to come and talk to us about their problems in a safe place has been really positive for schools and children," Mrs Pierce said.
Over the years, the number of schools accessing the service had grown from a handful to dozens in Dunedin, Mosgiel, Milton, Balclutha and Invercargill.
In the past year, the 10 ChatBus counsellors have worked with about 1100 children, hearing everything from issues with friendship to bullying, family bereavement and divorce, and even cases of neglect and abuse.
"I think our counsellors can be proud of the difference they are making in children’s lives," Mrs Pierce said.
Over the 14 years ChatBus had been in existence, the pressures on children had changed and grown alongside the exponential growth of the online world.
"The internet provides so many stresses and opportunities — for bad things as well as good.
"It is important for parents to ensure they know what their children are looking at online, so they can talk to them and keep them safe."
The past two years had brought added challenges for the ChatBus team, the pandemic having raised anxiety levels among children.
"The Covid-19 pandemic has been hugely stressful for children, and they may not have the cognitive abilities to understand and process it all, which leads to high levels of anxiety and panic attacks.
"The best thing for them is for supportive adults to have conversations with them about it — security comes through knowledge."
Despite all the challenges facing families, it was important to remember there were many good parents and happy, well-adjusted children out there.
"It is heartening to know the vast majority of families are functioning well, despite all the stuff going on in the world," she said.
As a mother and grandmother, as well as an experienced counsellor, she had learned over the years the most important way to support children was communication.
"It is so important to encourage children to talk about things — even the hardest topics, such as death and bereavement," she said.
"Just having those conversations is empowering for children."
After recently moving to live beside the sea at Taieri Mouth, she was looking forward to spending time with family and enjoying a quiet life, Mrs Pierce said.
"The time has come to focus on staying well, enjoy life at the beach and give my time to my family."
Chatbus board chairwoman Jo Rowe said the board wished Mrs Pierce "all the best with her retirement after so many years impacting the lives of children in the Otago community”.
