My Approach
As a Counselling Psychologist and psychotherapist, I create a secure and nurturing space for my clients/patients to explore their inner selves, their perceptions of others, and the world around them. This collaborative approach forms the foundation of the therapeutic alliance, enabling a deeper understanding of intrapsychic and interpersonal processes.
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LGBTQIA+, Neurodiversity, and CNM Affirming Therapist
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I am a strong advocate for affirmative care that celebrates the diversity of human nature. In addition to supporting individuals within the LGBTQIA+ community, I also proudly affirm neurodiversity and diverse lifestyle choices, including consensual non-monogamy and kink practices.
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Nature of Treatment
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Psychotherapy is a flexible journey that can vary from a few weeks to several years, dependent on the unique needs of the therapeutic process. Short-term therapy, lasting a few weeks, can address specific concerns, while chronic or complex issues often require mid-to-long-term treatment.
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I typically work with clients interested in mid-to-long-term weekly therapy, ranging from 6 months to several years. The duration of treatment is personalized, based on progress and session-defined goals.
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Treatment Phases
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The therapeutic process comprises several key phases:
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Assessment Phase: Typically spanning 1-4 sessions, this phase includes evaluation and treatment planning, sometimes focusing on symptom relief.
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Intervention Phase: The number of sessions in this phase is tailored to your specific needs and therapeutic goals. We do not recommend a predetermined number of sessions, as each therapeutic journey is unique. The number of sessions should be mutually discussed between you and the consulting psychologist, and you have the flexibility to discontinue therapy at any time.
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Termination Phase: Approximately 1-4 sessions, dedicated to developing strategies to maintain treatment progress and reduce the likelihood of relapse or recurrence.
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What to Expect from Therapy with Me
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My therapeutic approach is grounded in the relational psychoanalytic perspective. We embark on an exploratory journey into the complex network of relationships each client/patient was born into. These intricate networks significantly influence our internal psychology, and my professional commitment is to guide individuals in comprehending and navigating this intricate interplay.
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I am dedicated to providing evidence-based psychological support, ensuring the highest standards of care and ethics for my clients.
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Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
Psychodynamic psychotherapy offers clients the opportunity to explore why they may be vulnerable to certain kind of suffering through understanding unconscious psychological processes. These processes are uncovered through an explorative curiosity on aspects of the self, including early childhood development, attachment style, intrapsychic fantasies, conflicts, anxieties, psychological defenses, etc. Developing insight around these dynamics may allow client's to become active participants of their own lives with deep awareness of their internal world.
Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
This strength-based approach emphasises the tenacity of the human spirit. The client is centered as the expert of their own lives with an emphasis on their best hopes, resources and preferred future. The approach understands that problem-thinking and problem-talk often undermines a person's ability to recognise their resilience and inhibits their capacity to move towards their . The therapeutic engagement does not deny problems, instead it creates a space that a person's prioritises strengths in the face of distress.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
A therapeutic engagement organised around the understanding that a person's thoughts and underlying belief systems impact their experience of themselves, others and the world around them. People's thoughts and beliefs are often distorted or unhelpful and tend to be distress-inducing. Therapy challenges these thoughts and beliefs in order to think more realistically and make new meaning through adapting thoughts and making behavioural changes.
Dialectical Behavioural Therapy
DBT is a skills-based approach that focusses on behavioural change as a vehicle to improve a person’s ability to regulate impulsions and urges. The focus of therapy is to work with those thoughts, emotions and behaviours that lead to negative consequences. Change is often encouraged through the development of new skills, including mindfulness, emotional regulation, distress tolerance and interpersonal effectiveness. These skills provide clients the opportunity to interrupt the dysregulation process.
My Philosophy
I pride myself in creating an affirmative environment within my practice that honors equitable access to mental healthcare. My experience with disenfranchised communities have provided me with a deep awareness of the debilitating contexts that many in South Africa face and the need for appropriate mental healthcare that holds these contexts in mind.
