I am a Counselling Psychologist with over 20 years experience in therapeutic work with individuals, couples and families. When working with individuals I have a particular focus on their inter-personal needs and challenges. With couples, families and work-place relationships, my work is focused at the interactional dynamics in the space between.
I have an MA in Counselling Psychology from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa. I am also HCPC (Health and Care Professions Council UK) accredited, a certified Imago Relationship Therapist, Workshop Presenter and Consultant. I have also had extensive training in EcCT (Encounter-centred Couples Therapy) and offer Supervision as well as training in Relational Ethics. I have served on the Board of Focus on the Family Africa, Imago Africa, and am currently on the Board of Imago Relationships Worldwide.
COUPLES INTENSIVES
Currently I am offering couples intensives. In this two day process of highly structured and effective couples therapy, you will be guided towards repairing your relationship and becoming reconnected to one another. The process will help you to make sense of the emotional turmoil and the difficulties in being ‘stuck in a rut’. With structured and researched processes, the therapist can assist in healing the pain that comes from being disconnected. Too often, couples tend to focus on the symptoms. By only changing these, the change will not be meaningful or last. The Imago Couples Intensive will take you to the root of the pain and conflict in your relationship. If you can heal and change that, then you will be able to make a meaningful difference to your lives.
My direction in life was clear when I nearly died as a baby. After 7 months in hospital fighting for my life I began to thrive and brought great joy to my family. My life’s mission – to thrive and bring joy!! As the oldest of three children, with parents in a struggling marriage, early on I assumed the role of negotiator and care-giver, which prepared me for a career in Psychology. I remember reading about psychotherapy when I was 16 and had my own personal “Eureka” moment – this convinced me of my career path.
My interest in relationship therapy developed from my attempts to solve my parent’s marital crisis, at which I did not succeed. “My” failure created a curiosity for healthy relationships which led me into research and the discovery of Imago Relationship Therapy.
It was in the 70’s while at university that I became aware of the appalling exclusion of, and discrimination against people on racial grounds during Apartheid. The patriarchal attitude towards woman also did not escape my attention. I then travelled overseas, met my husband and started a family. During this time I worked for a variety of NGO’s and offered my services in many crisis and trauma centres around South Africa, often taking a stand against unfair labour, gender and racial practices. For the past 20 years I have worked in private practice with couples and families, groups and organisations, honing my craft in the hope that I can facilitate healing, growth, thriving and connection in relationships. I specialise in Imago Relationship Therapy, without which I am not sure if my own marriage would have reached the place of satisfaction and joy we now experience. More recently I have broadened the scope of relationship therapy to include parents and teens or adult children as well as dyadic partnerships in the workplace.
My colleague Michele Naude and I have developed a therapeutic process specifically for Parent-Teen relationships. We conduct training in the Parent-Teen Encounter, as well as in Relational Ethics and offer Supervision for clinical professionals.