A healer does not heal you.  A healer is someone who holds space for you while you awaken your inner healer, so that you may heal yourself.
-    Maryam Hasnaa

I think most psychologists in Port Elizabeth try to follow this teaching and it is something that I cherish in my therapy with even the most broken people.  Creating a space in which you can feel safe and protected and, above all, never judged, is always the starting point for our interaction.  

To feel safe and not judged opens the way for the person in the room with me to start exploring painful parts of themselves that have long been pushed out of awareness and which often has a great deal of shame attached to it.

Taking the first step to decide to come for therapy is often the hardest part of the healing journey as this is the tipping point when blocking out or denying that there is a problem no longer works.  

This can lead to overwhelming feelings of fear and therapists are acutely aware of the courage it takes someone to finally take a seat in the room with a psychologist.  

Psychotherapy happens in the relationship between two people, and the sense of relief that comes with the feeling that it is safe to open up in an accepting environment. This gives you the courage to explore areas of pain in ways you’ve never experienced before.  

I believe that we all have within ourselves wisdom and strength, or an inner healer, that we can be helped to access and draw from and so find answers to our problems and a healthy way forward.

The role of the psychologist  

I further believe that we as therapists can’t presume to have all the answers and for me therapy with the person in my room is like going on a journey along an unfamiliar road, with me walking next to you and helping you to read the map, and also to support you and encourage you when the going gets tough.

Contact me when you want to take that first step.