Background

Academic qualifications

• Masters in Clinical Psychology and Community Counselling (cum laude) (Stellenbosch University)
• Masters in Psychological Research with Coursework (with distinction) (University of Cape Town)
• Honours in Social Science in Psychology (University of Cape Town)
• Bachelor of Social Science in Psychology and Italian (University of Cape Town)

Internship placement

My clinical internship placement was the Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital circuit in Cape Town. Here I spent time at:

• Valkenberg Outpatient Department, Groote Schuur Hospital Outpatient Department and Hanover Park Day Hospital, primarily treating common mental illnesses (e.g. depression, anxiety, emotional regulation problems);
• Valkenberg Male Acute Inpatient wards, working as part of a multi-disciplinary team treating serious mental illness (e.g. schizophrenia, bipolar mood disorder), including providing individual and group therapy, family psychoeducation, and neuropsychological assessments; and
• Alexandra Hospital, providing therapy as well as psychological and psychometric assessments for both inpatients and outpatients with intellectual disabilities.

Community service placement

My community service placement was in Ekurhuleni Municipality, Gauteng, in four primary health care clinics. I worked largely independently, seeing outpatients and treating a range of mental health problems. This included depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, obsessive-compulsive disorder,  ADHD and behavioural problems in children, bipolar mood disorder, and relational problems (including couples work).

A large portion of patients presented with post-traumatic stress-disorder (PTSD), acute trauma (e.g. car accidents, sexual assault, crime victimisation), and emotional difficulties linked to childhood histories of abuse and/or neglect.

I additionally worked with individuals experiencing bereavement and other significant life events, stress, losses and financial problems.

EMDR certification

Given the challenges we face in South Africa, it became clear to me that being able to treat trauma effectively would be essential when working in this context. I became a certified Eye-Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) practitioner in order to improve my effectiveness in this area. EMDR is a scientifically validated treatment for trauma and can also be used to treat a range other of psychological problems. I was trained by Reyhana Seedat of the EMDR Institute.

Professional registration

I am registered as a clinical psychologist with the Health Professions Council South Africa.