Reflecting on my own life story, I for one never would’ve imagined that I would end up becoming a clinical psychologist. In fact, the idea of becoming one had barely been given a moment’s thought until late into my 20s. In an epiphanic moment that I can recall as if it were yesterday, out of the blue, and with the greatest sense of urgency, it suddenly felt like it was the only thing I should be doing! With this conviction at heart, I eagerly embarked on my journey towards satisfying this newfound vocational itch. I consider myself fortunate today to be in the position to intervene meaningfully in people’s lives as a clinical psychologist, something that I hope to continue until my last days.

I obtained my Masters in Psychology from The University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa, in 2014, and completed my clinical training at Tara’s Ward 4 & 5 (Personality Disorder Unit) and Charlotte Maxeke’s acute adult psychiatric unit for six months respectively. For my Community Service, I was placed at Chris Hani Baragwanath Academic Hospital (Soweto, Johannesburg) for one year. Collectively, these placements provided me with a thorough grounding of adult-specific psychopathology, ranging from the mild to severe.

Outside of my vocational interests, I value time with my family, thinking, reading related topics in the sciences, informal study of things that spark my curiosities, writing, exercising, and socialising.

I would define my personal therapeutic style as one of genuineness and straightforwardness. It is this therapeutic ‘stance’ that I seek to embody in my work with my patients. I have also found that to do so seems to cultivate a sense that I am being authentically me, thus affording me the opportunity to feel connected and attuned to the person I am sitting with.

For those of you who like therapy terms, I work primarily from a psychodynamic perspective, meaning that I am inclined to emphasize the influence of one’s childhood – as well as their on-going relational experiences – as being central to how a person functions in the present day. In other words, I see a person’s psychology moulded out of the saliency of their formative environments and experiences and the therapy is intended to help a person understand how any links to their distal, forgotten or wished away ‘parts’ of themselves might still, in fact, be lingering, and which might be acting as potential stumbling blocks towards them leading a more satisfactory, fulfilling life on their own terms.

In order to facilitate this process of self-discovery, I aim to build a secure and trusting connection with each and every patient I see. As a non-directive therapist, I generally follow the patient’s lead in terms of what is discussed, and I won’t necessarily control or direct you to areas of your life that I feel you need to be talking about. That being said, if I feel that a particular point you’re bringing warrants further discussion, I might invite you to be curious with me about what it is you’re saying and, perhaps even more importantly, how it’s being said (i.e., how you’re emoting as you’re saying it).