The healing power of Play Therapy
By "Tamarin Epstein, Educational Psychologist Children's games are hardly games. "Children are never more serious than when they play". Michel de Montaigne, statesman & philosopher, Essays. Play therapy is psychotherapy for children. It is often the treatment of...
Strategise your Life
By Joanna Kleovoulou, Clinical Psychologist & Director at PsychMatters Family Therapy Centre Happy Chinese New Year to all and welcome 2014 – may the year of the strong and graceful horse assist you in galloping towards your goals and desires. “Create your future...
Give PEACE a chance
By Joanna Kleovoulou, Clinical Psychologist and Founder of PsychMatters Whether you believe in and celebrate Christmas or not, this time of the year is usually synonymous with values of forgiveness, peace, love, restoration and cheer. Reflecting on the year and...
Toxic Love – The dysfunctional attraction
By Chael Nel, Clinical Psychologist Toxic relationships can be defined by a continuous psychological, emotional or physical abuse. When a person is subjected to this type of destructive behaviour in a relationship it may lead to psychological trauma, depression and...
7 ways on how to respond to challenging behaviour
By Sandra Roberts at PsychMatters Family Therapy Centre As anyone who has ever dealt with challenging behaviour will know, it can be extremely stressful. Have you as a parent or teacher been faced with children that display challenging behaviour and wandered how to...
Positive Psychology, For real?
By Esther van der Walt, Clinical Psychologist at PsychMatters Family Therapy Centre During my formal psychology training I had to sit through a module of Positive Psychology. At the time I preferred to see myself as an emo; a real humanities student struggling through...
Ready, steady, Grade 1 ready?
By Tamarin Epstein, Educational Psychologist at PsychMatters Starting “big school” is an important milestone in your child’s lifelong process of learning and development. Although many children attend nursery school and Grade R, Grade 1 marks the start of their formal...
How to stay motivated mid-year
By Sandra Roberts, Reg. Counsellor and Edu-(bio)-feedback Play Attention (ADD) Practitioner “Of course motivation is not permanent. But then, neither is bathing; but it is something you should do on a regular basis.” - Zig Ziglar Everyone from our boss, our spouse,...
Fighting fairly and how to fight right
Healthy conflict is part of any close relationship and happy couples are not couples that don’t fight. Rather they are couples that fight right. Couples are eager to display their fighting skills during couples counselling. After they start to blame, criticise and...
Raising a responsible child: Too young to decide?
By Joanna Kleovoulou, Clinical Psychologist and Director of PsychMatters Family Therapy Centre "I have walked that long road to freedom. I have tried not to falter; I have made missteps along the way. But I have discovered the secret that after climbing a great hill,...
The Healing Art of Art Therapy
By Esther Van Der Walt, Clinical Psychologist. There is an ancient Greek legend that tells the tale of Asclepius, a physician who identified his own wounds and then created a sanctuary to heal others. As clinical psychologist who often works in the art therapy...
Stop the Smacks
By Tammy Epstein, Educational Psychologist at PsychMatters Family Therapy Centre Have you ever wondered if smacking damages your child emotionally? The short answer is yes. But, if you’re anything like me, you’ll want to know why. You may be thinking that you were...