The first session will always be an assessment session to clarify:

1. Is the criteria being met for a psychiatric diagnosis?
2. Identifying the different challenges being experienced
3. Suggest a treatment plan:
   1. including what therapy can offer
   2. And appropriate referrals

Everything shared during a session, is confidential. I will only communicate with third parties at your request and with your written consent. In case of a life-threatening situation, a psychologist is required to make sure that you are safe. This may include reaching out to an emergency contact provided by you.

Whether you can apply for prescribed minimum benefits (PMBs) will depend on your diagnosis and the discretion of your medical aid. Certain diagnosis like depression and bipolar mood disorder are usually eligible for PMBs, while other diagnoses may not be. Please contact your medical aid to enquire about their criteria for PMBs. I will only be able to provide feedback on diagnosis after our first session.

At the first session, we will assess your needs and therapy goals and decide together on the frequency of sessions – it may be weekly, bi-weekly or as often as required.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing your thought patterns and behaviours. CBT is based on the concept that your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions are interconnected, and that negative thoughts and feelings can trap you in a vicious cycle. CBT aims to help you deal with overwhelming problems in a more positive way by breaking them down into smaller parts.

Psychodynamic therapy is an approach that involves facilitating a deeper understanding of one’s emotions and other mental processes. Sometimes people act in certain ways or respond to others for reasons that they don’t really understand and psychodynamic therapy works to help people develop more insight into their unconscious influences and emotions.

By improving this understanding, people can then make better choices about their lives. Psychodynamic therapy helps people learn to acknowledge, bear, and put into perspective their emotional lives. It also helps people improve their self-acceptance, their relationships with other people, and they learn how to express their emotions in more adaptive and healthier ways.