About
I am a clinical psychologist based in Saxonwold, Johannesburg, working in private practice and as a member of the treating team at the Day Clinic. I completed my MA in Clinical Psychology at the University of Johannesburg and have worked in a range of specialist settings, including Valkenburg Psychiatric Hospital and the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (DCAP) at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital, as part of my training. I work with a range of concerns, including anxiety, trauma, mood disorders, neurodivergence, and personality difficulties. I have a particular interest in identity development and belonging, including gender and sexual identity, and welcome working with LGBTQIA+ individuals in an affirming, inclusive therapeutic space.
Approach to Therapy
I work from a relational psychodynamic perspective. This means I’m interested in how your past experiences and relationships continue to shape how you feel, think, cope, and relate to others in the present. Many of the ways we manage life make sense in context. These ways of being in the world often develop for good reasons, particularly in response to stress, loss, trauma, or difficult relationships. But over time, some of those patterns can begin to feel limiting. Therapy creates a space where we can think together about what has happened in the past and what is happening now. That includes paying attention to your internal experiences, your relationships, your history, and the ways you have learnt to protect yourself. My approach is heavily influenced by interpersonal neurobiology and trauma-informed thinking, and I continue to deepen my practice through ongoing training. Depending on the person and the context, I may draw on other approaches where useful, including Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) and BrainWorking ® Recursive Therapy (BWRT).
Public Speaking
Alongside my clinical work, I offer consulting and training to schools and organisations on topics related to inclusion, mental health, neurodiversity, and emotional wellbeing. Before training as a psychologist, I worked in education and school leadership in both mainstream and remedial settings in South Africa and the UK. That experience continues to shape the way I work with schools: I understand both the emotional and systemic demands involved in supporting children, adolescents, families, and staff within complex educational environments. I have a particular interest in inclusive education and in helping schools think carefully and practically about how to support learners with neurodivergence, emotional and behavioural difficulties, learning needs, and diverse identities and backgrounds. My aim is to offer support that is clinically informed, thoughtful, and realistic to implement in the life of a school.
Assessment
I offer psychological assessment where it is clinically useful in clarifying a diagnosis, understanding a person’s emotional or cognitive functioning, or guiding treatment and support planning. Assessment may be helpful when there are questions around neurodevelopment, personality functioning, emotional difficulties, learning needs, or diagnostic clarity more broadly. I use a range of assessment tools depending on the need, including the DISCO assessment in the assessment of autism and other neurodevelopmental presentations.