He Mana tō te Kupu

"He mana tō te kupu" 

"Words have great power"

Definitely a favourite phrase in Te Reo Māori! "He mana tō te kupu" - "Words have great power"

Sometimes we get so busy with life that we forget to be aware. 

Awareness of thoughts, mental state of our minds, physical body, surroundings and influencers in our lives. 

When is the last time you have checked yourself? As soon as we loose awareness, we can give power to the words that surround us and enter our minds. Are the words currently around you Positive or Negative?  

There is a Grounding Technique one can use to be more aware. This technique can also be used with individuals who struggle with Anxiety and Panic Attacks. This the technique is designed to calm a person and to ground them in the present. Forcing them to be Mindfull. 

5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique

5 - Acknowledge FIVE things that you can see in your immediate surroundings

4 - Acknowledge FOUR things you can touch

3 - Acknowledge THREE things you can hear (External not your thoughts)

2 - Acknowledge TWO things you can smell 

1 - Acknowledge ONE thing you can taste

Repeat this untill you feel that your awareness is re-entering your body. 

Deep Breathing Technique

When you are doing this technique because of Anxiety and Panic Attacks, start off with a Deep Breathing Technique. Breath in with your nose for 5 seconds, hold the breath for 5 seconds, and breath out with your mouth for 5 seconds. Continue this pattern until you find your thoughts slowing down or until necessary. While doing this exercise, try to breath with your diaphragm. Meaning, if you place your hand just above your tummy and your breath in, then this area will inflate with air. That indicates that you are breathing deep breaths instead of shallow breaths that serves no purpose for our bodies. 

This breathing technique is extremely helpfull during stressful situations as it forces the mind to calm down and to be in the present. Stopping the flow of anxious thoughts and the release of cortisol in the brain (See my blog "Your Brain & The Roller Coaster" for a deeper understanding of how your brain works during a stressful situation). If you are struggling to sleep at night and have running thoughts, do the Breathing Technique as it might help you to calm your thoughts. This is also a great technique to teach students and they can use it before writing a test or exam. 

Remember He mana tō te kupu!

What power does your words have on your life?

Written by:
Somari Louter
Registered Counsellor

How to Self-Describe

We are living in a world where adults expect you to know who you are by a very young age. When you apply for a job or admission to a program, one of the first questions are always, “Who are you?”.

As a young person, this is sometimes the most daunting question.  WHO AM I or TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF? How do you figure this out fresh out of school and even later in your twenties after UV or College? Sometimes wondering why one should know this as our parents in their fifties also don’t know who they are. Life is the path to self-discovery but how can you know who you are if you have not finished life yet?

What do people refer to when they ask, describe yourself. Are they referring to the personality test you took when you were forced by your parents, in order to see which course you should study? Or are they referring to the way you look? When you look in the mirror your judgment is clouded by the morals and standards which was enforced by your upbringing. So do you describe what you see or what the community sees? Our view and prejudgments alter who you are and what people think you are. Can you describe yourself in the most basic ways or do people expect you to describe yourself in more complex ways and strategies. Referring to the most intimate parts of your being.

Every race has its own culture and within the culture there are numerous different morals, standards, and expectancy. Different ways of doing, acting, and feeling all of which influences the answer to the question, Who am I? But what if you feel you do not fit into your community standards and can’t voice your concerns. So, are you forced to see yourself in a false image?

Let’s take a step back!

You might hear “Tell me about yourself” during an interview and you answer “Well, what do you want to know?” or “Well, I’m from Limpopo. I raise goats and I have a rash.” That might not really be what they want to hear, so what are they really asking! What do they want to know when they ask; “Who are you?”

The answer; “Tell me about yourself as a professional. What do YOU think is important for the job? How are you going to fit in with the company and provide value? Can you answer an “unstructured” question on the fly?” Because that is what it is, an unstructured question. You can answer it anyway you want, as long as you refer to yourself within the position you are applying for. The interviewer does not want to know who you are in general, but rather your professional self. Interviewers leave some questions vague on purpose. They are less interested in what you say but rather how you answer them. They want to know what do you find important to tell your future employer about yourself?

What to tell about your professional self?

There are two main things people want to know about your professional self. Firstly, you’ll need to identify your greatest professional achievements. Secondly, you’ll need to tailor your accomplishments to the needs of the company.

IDENTIFY YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS!

An interview technique that can help you keep your answers on the right track, is The STAR approach. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, Result: 

Situation - You start by explaining a situation which required you to solve a problem, use a skill, or come up with a new idea. 

Task - Next, you explain the action that your job requires in such a situation.

Action - After, you describe the action that you took. If it’s different than the required task, you should also explain why you chose a different path. 
Result - What happened in the end? How did the situation play out once you acted? It’s best here to illustrate successes with numbers and details if you can. Numbers help reinforce the impact that your action had.

Your response should only last a couple of minutes and you should give the interviewer a taste of the good stuff right away. Who are you as a professional and what are you doing right now?

What if you Self-enhance during an interview?

How accurately do you describe yourself without enhancement bias in the description of yourself? People tend to describe themselves more positively than normative criterion would predict. We as humans express our futures with more optimism and think we control or lives. We describe our personalities as highly favorable terms. Systematic and egocentric individuals with high self-esteem, would use desirable attributes to be more descriptive of themselves and undesirable attributes as less. People also compare themselves to the common person, but who is the common person?

When faced with all of the a fore mentioned, we are faced with the question “Who am I, without being biased?”

There are different theories and paradigms which can explain how a person creates a self-perception and how to measure it to reality. 

Most self-theories suggest that people are motivated to increase their feelings of self-worth. People achieve this by boosting their desirable traits and lowering the desirability of the traits they do not possess. A person can achieve cognitive balance by anchoring their desirable traits to that which they possess. However, an illusory precept is evidently inaccurate when measured against an objective standard.

What is this objective standard, or should we rather say who?

The common-target paradigm is used by personality psychologists to accurately evaluate the self-perception of an individual. This is when several diverse observers are aggregated to ensure the reliability and validity of your self-description. For example, during interviews, when there are diverse individuals evaluating what you tell them. The observer harshness ensures that the correct self-description is formulated.  When adding the outcome of the common-target paradigm with the common-rater (which is your perception in comparison to the average person) you will receive the best outcome.

What else influences your perception?

The situation you find yourself in, also forms the choices you use to self-describe. For example, when applying in a specific field whether for a job or university degree, one would be judged by the socio-normative paradigm. This criterion indicates that your self-description will be influenced by social norms. Here it is assumed that the persons’ description is influenced by the perception of trait desirability. In each field, there are some traits that are more desirable than others and to make you feel like you belong in that field, you would use these traits as your own. Because of this theory, we have a bias we use in different social situations, whether with friends, family or superiors.

How to prevent being biased about yourself?

One more criterion that explains self-enhancement is awareness hypothesis. This hypothesis indicates that people do take inconsideration their egocentric variance. People usually take this into consideration when they must refer to themselves in causal attribution, in-group favouritism and social projection. Thus, people know that they enhance their own traits in certain situations and expect other people to self-enhance too. People feel that a certain cognition such as being talkative might be a trait considered very valuable in some situations or jobs and because of this, they add it to their associated sentiment or personality trait.

Taking that into consideration, we know that all people can be taught to change their automatic perceptual experience to a more controlled cognitive response. Meaning, you can prevent automatic biases when referring to your traits if you wanted to. However, the new opposing question is “Do you want to be less biased when it comes to your self-enhancement?”

In the end, do we really know who we are or are we just pretending we do…

References:

http://files.clps.brown.edu/jkrueger/journal_articles/krueger-1998b-enhancement.pdf

Written by: Somari Louter
Registered Counsellor

Dealing with Grief and Loss

Dealing with Grief and Loss

When we lose someone very dear and close to us, we might find it very difficult to adjust to the changes happening in our life. Bereavement can change your beliefs, your personality, and even your sense of reality. Every person deals with it in a different manner and has different time frames. There is also no right or wrong way to feel during the bereavement period - everyone must learn to cope in their own way.

How does grief affect you?

Grief, although normal, can manifest in a huge range of unexpected ways. Some people get angry, some people withdraw further into themselves and some people become completely numb. Sometimes, grief can turn into something more serious - like depression.

There are 5 Stages of Bereavement:

1. Denial
2. Bargaining
3. Anger
4. Depression
5. Acceptance

Feelings like these are a natural part of the grieving process. Knowing that they are common may help them seem more normal. It's also important to know that they will pass. Some people take a lot longer than others to recover. Some need help from a counsellor or their GP. But you will eventually come to terms with your loss, and the intense feelings will subside.

How to cope with grief and loss?

There's no instant fix. You might feel affected every day for about a year to 18 months after a major loss. But after this time the grief is less likely to be at the forefront of your mind.

There are practical things you can do to get through a time of bereavement or loss:

* Express yourself. Talking is often a good way to soothe painful emotions. Talking to a  

   friend,family member, health professional or counsellor can begin the healing process. 

* Allow yourself to feel sad. It's a healthy part of the grieving process.
* Keep your routine up. Keeping up simple things like walking the dog can help.
* Sleep. Emotional strain can make you very tired. If you're having trouble sleeping, see your GP.
* Eat healthily. A healthy, well-balanced diet will help you cope.
* Avoid things that "numb" the pain, such as alcohol. It will make you feel worse once the  

   numbness wears off.
* Go to counselling if it feels right for you – but perhaps not straight away. Counselling may be

   more useful after a couple of weeks or months. Only you will know when you're ready.

When to get help?

Get help if any of the following apply to you:

* You don't feel able to cope with overwhelming emotions or daily life.

* The intense emotions aren't subsiding.
* You're not sleeping.
* You have symptoms of depression or anxiety.
* Your relationships are suffering.
* You're having sexual problems.
* You're becoming accident-prone.
* You're caring for someone who isn't coping well.

What is bereavement counselling?

Bereavement counselling may be able to provide support during these very difficult times and help you get to the point where you can function normally. Talking about the loss often allows a person to adjust to their new life with all its changes - good and bad. Keeping things bottled up or denying the sadness could prolong the pain. Any loss must be acknowledged for us to move forward.

Bereavement counselling can:

* Offer an understanding of the mourning process
* Explore areas that could potentially prevent you from moving on
* Help resolve areas of conflict remaining
* Help you to adjust to a new sense of self
* Address possible issues of depression or suicidal thoughts.

You will probably never stop missing the person you lost, but with enough time and the right support, a new life can be pieced together and purpose can be reclaimed. One day, you may be able to find happiness again. By creating a place to keep the person you lost, and finding ways to remember them (like anniversary celebrations, or leaving flowers at a memorial site), you should be able to preserve their memory and honour the impact they had on your life, without letting their absence obscure your own future.

If you feel that you could benefit by Bereavement Therapy, please contact me to make an appointment. I also present group therapy and support groups for bereavement clients. Please visit my website www.thementallyfit.co.za or email me for more information at somaricoetzee@yahoo.com.

Written by: Somari Coetzee
Registered Counsellor

The Anxiety Optimisation

The Anxiety Optimisation

As a regular Big Bang Theory viewer I always enjoy the geekiness and intellect of the four men which are contrasted with Penny's social skills and common sense. The specific scene which made me want to research a little more is the following;

Sheldon - The Big Bang Theory

Sheldon: "According to a classic psychological experiment by Yerkes and Dodson, in order to maximize performance, one must create a state of productive anxiety. So I’d like to ask you all to do something for me. Keep me on my toes. Just throw me off my game. Essentially, go out of your way to make my life miserable." - The Big Bang Theory, Series 08 Episode 13

Sheldon found himself in a life crises where he changed his career field (working on proton decay) and accomplished nothing. Now he wondered if he made a mistake deciding to study dark matter. Later Sheldon decides in order to maximize his performance he must create a state of productive anxiety. He wants the guys to go out of their way to make his life miserable which they are glad to do.

This might be a state where you find yourself in regularly, not being productive and accomplishing the minimum. This can either causes a person to become 'frustrated and motivated for change' or 'unproductive and lazy'.  As I want to be the former rather than the latter I decided to look into Yerkes-Dodson law.

The Yerkes–Dodson law referrers to an empirical relationship between arousal and performance.The law was first described in 1908 by psychologists R. Yerkes and J.D. Dodson. It dictates that one's performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases.

The Research Study

Yerkes-Dodson Law

They discovered that mild electrical shocks could be used to motivate rats to complete a maze, but when the electrical shocks became too strong, the rats would scurry around in random directions to escape. The experiment demonstrated that increasing stress and arousal levels could help focus motivation and attention on the task at hand, but only up to a certain point.

How do you determine what arousal levels are ideal?

The key thing to remember is that this can vary from one task to the next. Research has found, for example, that performance levels decrease earlier for complex tasks than for simple tasks even with the same levels of arousal. What does this mean exactly? If you are performing a relatively simple task, you are capable of dealing with a much larger range of arousal levels.

The anxiety you experience before an exam is one example of how the Yerkes-Dodson Law operates.  An optimal level of stress can help you focus on the test and remember the information that you studied; too much test anxiety can impair your ability to concentrate and make it more difficult to remember the correct answers.

So where does the "sweet spot" lie? The formula for optimal functioning includes a balance between the demands of the situation and a person's skills; very often this occurs when we are drived to use our abilities to their utmost. But just where that optimal point will be varies widely from person to person. - read more about this: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-brain-and-emotional-intelligence/201203/the-sweet-spot-achievement

What can you do to increase optimal functioning?

The Drive Theory (Zajonc, R.B.;1965) explained that we need an "excitatory state produced by a homeostatic disturbance" (eg. increased arousal or stress to accomplish a task), which causes an instinctual need which drives the behaviour of an individual. It also states that if there is a presence of an audience it will either facilitate better performance of a task, or inhibit the performance of a task. Furthermore, Zajonc's drive theory suggests that the variable determining direction of performance is whether the task is composed of a correct dominant response (that is, the task is perceived as being subjectively easy to the individual) or an incorrect dominant response (perceived as being subjectively difficult). N.B. Cottrell in 1972 suggested that the correctness of the dominant responses is also influenced by an expectation of social reward or punishment based on performance.

Here we can see that there are three important parts to increase optimal functioning to have a strong performance. These are:

1.) Optimal level of stress.  It can either be because you are frustrated and motivated for change and,or you decided to set a goal for yourself. The end result is what should drive you.

2.) Your dominant responses. These are determent by the skills you have developed in yourself over time, and continue to do so. The more you practice your skills, the more often the correct dominant response will occur during a stressful situation.

3.) Social expectation. Also, as seen by Sheldon in Big Bang Theory, he asks the guys to keep him on his toes. Therefor he added the the presence of an audience in order to have a social expectation. This is something you can also do in your own life. Involve friends, family, or even social media to build an expectation from them. Inform them that you are busy with a task and that you want to improve your performance in this task. It could be as simple as telling friends to support you during your weight loss process or during the building of a new company. Either way, the social expectation will push you to work harder.

By diligently practicing these three important parts of optimal functioning you can improve your performance outcome of your task and goals ahead.  

References:

1. Diamond, David M.; Adam M. Campbell; Collin R. Park; Joshua Halonen; Phillip R. Zoladz (2007-03-28). "The Temporal Dynamics Model of Emotional Memory Processing: A Synthesis on the Neurobiological Basis of Stress-Induced Amnesia, Flashbulb and Traumatic Memories, and the Yerkes-Dodson Law". Neural Plasticity. 2007: 60803. doi:10.1155/2007/60803.

2. Zajonc, R. B.; Heingartner, A.; Herman, E. M. (1969). "Social enhancement and impairment of performance in the cockroach". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 13 (2): 83. doi:10.1037/h0028063

Written by:

Somari Coetzee
Registered Counsellor

Your Brain & The Roller Coaster

 

What Happens in Your Brain While Being on a Roller Coaster?

Have you ever wondered why you get a sudden surge of overwhelming anxiety and fear before and during a ride on rollercoaster? I recently visited Ratanga Junction, which is a theme park in Cape Town, South Arica. My friends and I wanted to be kids again and have some fun.

Ratanga Junction - Cape Town, RSA

At arrival at the theme park, the first ride encountered was the Slingshot. The slingshot is a high adrenaline ride rated as one of the most thrilling extreme rides in the world. As explained by their website it is a ride that combine elements from skydiving and bungie-jumping. The Slingshot skycoaster enables “flyers” to enjoy the exhilarating sensations experienced in these two sports. As they say, "All you need are nerves of steel".

They air you to the top of the launch tower, by strapping flight suits to you and a partner. With nothing between them and the ground. The flight suits are connected to flight cables and on pulling their own rip cord, riders plunge in a 30m free fall at 80 to 90 km/h towards the ground before the swinging upwards in a 180-degree arc and then straight down again. Thereafter the ride settles into a slowing swing before being retrieved by the flight crew.

The Slingshhot, Ratanga Junction.

https://youtu.be/SKK4TVBIxso 

So why would people do this? Cause the Slingshot opens the skies to everyone, making humans’ dream of “flight” accessible to all. This would however sound a bit crazy for someone who is afraid of heights and death...

While I was looking at the people being shot through the air and considering doing it myself, my heart started pounding, it felt like I couldn’t breathe, started sweating, and felt nauseous. These are all symptoms that could lead to a panic attack.

What is a Panic Attack?

Panic attacks are sudden periods of intense fear that may include palpitations, sweating, shaking, shortness of breath, numbness, or a feeling that something bad is going to happen. The maximum degree of symptoms occurs within minutes. Typically, they last for about 30 minutes but the duration can vary from seconds to hours.

So, what happens in your brain in such a situation?

Paul Li, a lecturer of cog­nitive science at the University of California, Berke­ley, explains:

"When people feel stressed, their sympathetic nervous system typically revs up, releasing energy and preparing the body for action. Then the parasympathetic nervous system steps in, and the body stabilizes to a calmer state. If the parasympathetic nervous system is somehow unable to do its job, a person will remain fired up and may experience the heightened arousal characteristic of a panic attack". Dean Mobbs, wrote: “When our defense mechanisms malfunction, this may result in an over exaggeration of the threat, leading to increased anxiety and, in extreme cases, panic.” - https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-happens-in-the-brain-when-we-experience/

Researchers have identified certain regions of the brain that become hyperactive during a panic attack. These regions include the amygdala, which is the fear center of the brain, and parts of the midbrain that control a range of functions, including our experience of pain. Activity in an area of the midbrain called the periaqueductal gray, is a region that provokes the body’s defensive responses, such as freezing or running.

Adrenaline and Norepinephrine is released by the stress adrenal gland and is responsible for the fight or flight response. Adrenaline causes vasoconstriction and results in slightly less blood flowing to the head which causes dizziness and light-headedness. Norepinephrine causes you to become more aware, awake, and focused. These hormones can also cause blood sugar to be drawn away from the brain and toward the major muscles in your body. These hormones are released within seconds as a message is received from the brain that a stressful situation has presented itself.

The next hormone which is released is Cortisol.  It takes a little more time -- minutes, rather than seconds -- for you to feel the effects of cortisol in the face of stress.  When the amygdala recognizes a threat, it sends a message to the hypothalamus, which releases corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH). CRH then tells the pituitary gland to release adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), which tells the adrenal glands to produce cortisol.

A shot of Adrenaline and Norepinephrine last approximately 10-20 minutes in the body where cortisol can last hours if you stew on a problem. The body can continuously releases cortisol, and chronic elevated levels can lead to serious issues. Too much cortisol can suppress the immune system, increase blood pressure and sugar, decrease libido, produce acne, contribute to obesity and more (For more info about Epinephrine read - https://www.drugs.com/mtm/epinephrine-injection.html).

That is why you should stop yourself from thinking about that guy who cut you off in traffic!

The Cobra, Ratanga Junction.

While I was busy experiencing my symptoms of a possible panic attack. I knew that I must calm myself, in order to strap myself to a flight suit and I did this through applying emotional regulation techniques

What is Emotional Regulation?

Emotional self-regulation or regulation of emotion is the ability to respond to the ongoing demands of experience with the range of emotions in a manner, that is socially tolerable and sufficiently flexible. This permits spontaneous reactions as well as the ability to delay spontaneous reactions as needed. It can also be defined as extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating, and modifying emotional reactions.

The technique I used was counterconditioning. Counterconditioning is when a response to a particular stimulus is replaced by a new response. This new response is intended to distract you from the stimulus (being pulled up and shot through the air). Systematic desensitization is one technique that falls under the counterconditioning umbrella. To use this technique, you basically learn to use relaxation and other distress tolerance techniques when faced with uncomfortable emotional experiences (e.g., fear, anxiety, sadness, anger, guilt, shame). By practicing this actively and deliberately directly in the face of distressing emotions allows you to reduce the sense of urgency that often accompanies painful emotions (i.e., fight or flight).

I was mindful during the situation and focused my thoughts on my breathing rhythm and deliberately calmed my breathing down. I used 4 seconds in - 4 seconds out technique. By doing this I calmed my heart rate and experienced optimal and clear thinking. I then focused my thoughts on telling myself things such as "you are okay", "how save it is", "how beautiful the view will be" etc. I continued doing these techniques while standing in the queue, waiting for our turn and being pulled up into the air. In retrospect, I experienced the flood of adrenaline before I even queued for the "ride" and stopped the release of any further cortisol levels in my body. Also by being successful in this activity I stopped my body from producing any of these hormones during the day on all of the other rides. Which sucked a bit because then I didn't feel any adrenaline, while my friends were shouting like crazy.

So next time when you feel a panic attack about to happen, practice your counterconditioning techniques and take control of your mind and body. But don't be too good at it, otherwise you will spoil your fun at a theme park!

For more information on emotional regulation read - http://www.selfinjury.bctr.cornell.edu/perch/resources/what-is-emotion-regulationsinfo-brief.pdf

Written by:

Somari Coetzee
Registered Counsellor

What is a Registered Counsellor?

The Role of a Registered Counsellor

Many are unsure of what a registered counsellor is and how you can benefit from such an individual.

The HPCSA states it the following way:

"The  role of the Registered Counsellor is to make psychological services accessible to the diverse South African population and to provide psychological and preventative interventions that focus on support and promote the enhancement of wellbeing in community contexts. This includes individuals, families, groups, communities and excludes psychotherapeutic intervention."

Registered Counsellors differ from psychologist in the sense that that their primary focus is to prevent psychological problems in individuals and communities to occur, promote psychological well-being, intervene when individuals are experiencing high stressors, and appropriately refer if the individual has a psychological issue which is out of their scope of practice.

Counsellors can assist individuals to find immediate solutions to personal difficulties or strategies to how to deal with the difficulty. They can assist with skills training. Teaching the person to see the "Why is this happening? How do we live with this? and How do we change this?" It is not working on deep rooted issues but rather how to be aware of the consequences it has on your everyday life and how to respond to it in more effective ways.   

The Scope of Practice for Reg. Counsellors, according to the HPCSA is:

* Their primary role at a preventative and promotional level involves screening and engaging early  
   and appropriate levels of intervention
* Screening and identification of mental health challenges.
* Containment of presenting difficulties
* Provide preventative, developmental counselling services and interventions 
* Psycho-education and training
* Promotion of primary psychosocial well being
* Referral to appropriate professionals or other appropriate resources (know when to refer to a psychiatrist or psychologist
* Working in a context appropriate, multi professional team
* Assessments (intellectual assessment, BASIC functioning, kinetic figure drawing).

For more information regarding the Counsellors and the HPCSA view  the following file:

http://www.hpcsa.co.za/Uploads/editor/UserFiles/downloads/psych/psycho_policy/form_258_registered_counsellor_%2004oct_2013.pdf

What do you have to do, to become a Registered Counsellor?

"Becoming a Registered Counsellor. The minimum requirements for registration with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) as a Registered Counsellor are as follows: a 4-year Bachelor of Psychology professional degree approved by the HPCSA, including a 720 hour practicum." - http://www.sacap.edu.za/counselling/becoming-registered-counsellor/

Professional training includes but is not limited to the following: 

* Professional ethics and conduct
* Interviewing techniques
* Client observation skills
* Basic counselling skills
* Development of preventative and developmental programmes
* Report writing
* Conceptualization skills, bio-psychosocial and systems theory as appropriate for community interventions
* Structured trauma counselling  
* Community understanding and intervention  
* Psychometric competencies (within their scope of practice)
* Cultural beliefs and diversity
* Language sensitivity
* Entrepreneurial skills 
* Psycho-educational skills and
* A thorough grounding in the Ethical Code, the Bill of Rights and other relevant legislation.

For more articles regarding counsellors, follow the following link: http://therapistsonline.co.za/article/registered-counsellor/

and to understand the role of a counsellor read:
http://therapistsonline.co.za/article/understanding-the-role-of-registered-counsellor-in-the-profession-of-psychology-in-south-africa/

If you feel that you can benefit by seeing a counsellor, please go look at my website: www.thementallyfit.co.za. You can also follow me on Facebook @thementallyfit.

I hope that you found this article interesting and informative.

Written by:

Somari Coetzee
Registered Counsellor