by PsySSA-Web Support | Aug 31, 2026
Pauli is one of the Psychologists at Paardevlei Therapy Centre. Her exposure to the effect of Trauma and PTSD came early in her career when she worked in the SAP and Military. She has dedicated her career to working with Trauma as part of a Multi-Disciplinary team in Private Practice. She has extensive training in the field of body-mind based Psychotherapy and received her Body-Mind based Trauma training internationally through institutes in both the USA as well as Europe. Her daily task as Psychotherapist is to apply the tools in her toolkit in dealing with the psychological challenges that her clients bring to therapy. Her expert toolkit includes the highest level in Hypnotherapy, Somatic Experiencing (SE), Eye-Movement-Integration (EMI), Trauma and Tension Release Exercises (TRE), Solution Focused Therapy (SFT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Brain Working Recursive Therapy (BWRT) as well as Ketamine Assisted Psychotherapy (KAP). She has a deep interest and understanding of the body and mind in therapy.
by PsySSA-Web Support | Oct 25, 2025
Lynne Richards is a South African clinical psychologist. She earned her Master of Social Science in Clinical Psychology from the University of Kwazulu-Natal in 2024. Her clinical experience includes an internship at King Edward VIII Hospital and King Dinuzulu Hospital Complex in Durban. Lynne completed her community service year in the Umgungundlovu District, working at Fort Napier Hospital, a specialist psychiatric facility, and Harry Gwala Regional Hospital, serving a diverse community. She also provided community-level services at East Boom Community Health Centre. This experience deepened her interest in helping trauma survivors, especially children and adolescents dealing with difficult circumstances. Her postgraduate research examined how neglect is represented in psychological literature, reflecting her focus on often-overlooked trauma types. Currently, Lynne is the Chairperson of the Trauma and Violence Division (TVD) of the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA), serving her second term. She is also a Project Manager at the KwaZulu-Natal Mental Health Advocacy Group, contributing to advocacy efforts.
by PsySSA-Web Support | Oct 24, 2025
Bianca Barnard is a Clinical Psychologist in private practice in Durban North, KwaZulu-Natal. She holds a Master of Social Science in Clinical Psychology and has clinical experience across a range of settings, including tertiary psychiatric, provincial, and district-level hospitals in KwaZulu-Natal.
Her lived experience and extensive work with trauma survivors informed her Master’s research, which explored interventions for affect dysregulation in complex trauma. She considered clinically relevant and contextually appropriate approaches for use in the South African context; where trauma exposure is prevalent and resources for intervention are scarce . Bianca’s clinical interests include nervous system regulation, trauma recovery, and the psychological impact of chronic stress and violence.
As Vice Chairperson of the PsySSA Trauma and Violence Division, Bianca is committed to ethical, socially responsive psychological practice and hopes, through her clinical work and involvement with PsySSA, to contribute to ongoing dialogue and advocacy efforts related to trauma and violence.
by PsySSA-Web Support | Oct 23, 2025
Maryam Gangat holds a BPsych Equivalent in Psychometry from the University of Stellenbosch and is a registered psychometrist with a strong commitment to promoting mental health awareness and accessibility.
She is the founder of Maryam Gangat Psychometrics, an independent practice providing psychoeducational, school readiness, and career guidance assessments. Her professional interests include trauma, neurodiversity, learning difficulties, and community mental health.
Maryam’s involvement with PsySSA’s Trauma and Violence Division stems from her experience volunteering as a lay counselor at the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG), where she often supports callers who have experienced trauma as a result of domestic violence, abuse, or other adverse life events. This work has strengthened her passion for trauma-informed care and inspired her aspiration to become a psychologist, where she hopes to further contribute to accessible, empathetic, and evidence-based mental health support within South Africa.
by PsySSA-Web Support | Oct 21, 2025
Dr Shahieda Jansen is a clinical psychologist who serves as the Deputy Director: Academic & Technology Support at the Parow campus in the Western Cape region since 2016. Previously she headed the HPCSA accredited student counselling centre of the University of the Western Cape with oversight of counselling services and clinical supervision of master’s level national and international psychology interns. Shahieda’ s scholarly interest in relational humanity, and male-focused development was initiated by an accidental men’s group that she facilitated in 2009. Inserting the African multidimensional personhood (AMP) model between the personhood of the mental health practitioner and psychological practice is her recently published article by Taylor & Francis. Homo moyanus, not Homo neoliberalus: Socio-moral subjectivity for a transformed Higher Education is a book chapter that has been finalised for publication. Shahieda is the principal researcher of Unisa’s Community Engagement project: School Belonging for boys which adds another critical layer of research by highlighting the systemic influences on the academic performance of boys. Her longstanding commitment to prioritising humanity over gender is the subject of her book published by Unisa Press, Masculinity Meets Humanity: An Adapted Model of Masculinised Psychotherapy.
