Online counselling across South Africa - and for South Africans wherever they are in the world
Online counselling has made consistent, quality mental health support possible for people who face real barriers to getting it – whether that barrier is distance, a demanding schedule, or living thousands of kilometres from home.
I offer online counselling to clients across all South African provinces and to South Africans living abroad. Sessions are conducted over a secure video connection. My preferred platform is Zoom – it’s stable, widely used, and easy to set up in minutes. If you have a reason to use a different secure video conferencing platform, please raise this before your first session and we’ll find a solution that works for both of us.
Why online counselling works
Being in your own space can make it easier to speak honestly. Some clients find that the slight distance of a screen - rather than sitting across from someone in a room - makes it easier to say difficult things out loud. That's a real benefit, particularly early in a therapeutic relationship.
Time
For most people, the biggest barrier to consistent therapy is not the cost or the willingness – it’s the time. A weekly in-person session can easily become a two-hour commitment once travel is included. Online removes that entirely. A session can happen from your office, your home, or your car in a quiet car park – anywhere you have reliable connectivity and privacy. Many clients find that fitting a session into a lunch break or an evening becomes genuinely possible for the first time.
Distance
Geography should not determine whether someone gets support. For clients in rural areas, smaller towns, or provinces where local counsellors are limited, online makes access real rather than theoretical. For clients in larger cities, it removes the practical friction of getting to an office and back. For South Africans living abroad, it means not having to start over with a counsellor who doesn’t share your cultural context.
No Fixed Location
For people whose lives don’t involve a fixed location at all – digital nomads, remote workers, those whose work takes them across borders regularly – online counselling isn’t an alternative to in-person therapy. It’s the only form of consistent therapy that’s realistically available. See my page for digital nomads and remote workers for more on this.
What online counselling can address
Online counselling is well suited to the same situations as in-person work. My focus is on trauma, anxiety, depression and life challenges, grief and loss, relationship difficulties and life transitions. These don’t require a physical room to work through effectively – they require honesty, consistency and a good therapeutic relationship.
I work integratively, drawing on narrative therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) depending on what’s most useful for each person – narrative therapy helps examine and reframe the stories people hold about themselves and their experiences, while CBT works with specific thoughts and patterns more directly. Neither is the “default” – the approach is adapted to the person, not the other way around. See the About page for more on how this works in practice.
How online sessions work
Sessions are 60 minutes. My preferred platform is Zoom – stable, widely used, and easy to set up. If you have a preference for a different secure video conferencing tool, please mention this when booking and we’ll agree on something that works for both of us before the first session.
For current session fees, see the pricing page. Payment is made before each session, and you’ll receive an invoice suitable for medical aid claims.
What you’ll need:
Privacy
A private space where you will not be interrupted for the duration of the session
A Device
A device with a working camera and microphone - a smartphone, tablet or laptop all work
Good Connectivity
A stable internet connection that can carry a video call
Willingness
A willingness to engage - which is the part that matters most
If load-shedding or connectivity issues affect a scheduled session, please get in touch as soon as possible and we’ll reschedule. This applies particularly to clients in rural areas where signal can be variable.
When online counselling is not the right fit
Online counselling is effective for a wide range of situations, but it’s not appropriate for everyone. It’s not a suitable medium if you are:
- Currently experiencing suicidal thoughts or in active crisis
- Dealing with homicidal ideation
- Living with severe mental illness that requires clinical-level or inpatient care
- In a situation of serious active substance dependency
- Someone who knows, from past experience, that you need the physical presence of another person to engage effectively in therapy
If any of these apply, please seek in-person support from a suitable professional in your area. If you’re in crisis, contact SADAG on 0800 567 567 (free, 24 hours) or Lifeline on 0861 322 322. If you’re unsure whether online is right for your situation, please reach out before booking – an honest conversation is always the right starting point.
Counselling for South Africans living abroad
A significant part of my practice is working with people whose lives don’t fit neatly into one place – South Africans who have emigrated, expats working in the Gulf, people living and working remotely across borders, and digital nomads who move constantly. I have dedicated pages for each of these situations. Find yours below.
What brings South African expats and immigrants to counselling
The reasons vary, but some themes come up consistently:
- The grief of leaving – which is real even when the decision was the right one
- The difficulty of building a new life in a culture that doesn’t quite fit yet
- Relationship strain – between partners adjusting differently, or with family left behind
- Anxiety about identity, belonging and the future, including the anxiety of returning
- Trauma that wasn’t properly dealt with before leaving, and which has surfaced in the quieter environment of a new country
- Loneliness and isolation – the guilt of having left, and the difficulty of explaining it to people who haven’t
A note on time zones and scheduling
I am based in South Africa (SAST – UTC+2). For clients in the UK, Australia or the UAE, I’m happy to discuss scheduling options that work across time zones. Please mention where you’re based when you get in touch and we’ll find a time that works.
Pricing for international clients
All sessions are priced and invoiced in South African Rand (ZAR). International clients can pay by credit or debit card online before the scheduled session. See the pricing page for current rates. International clients do not typically have access to South African medical aid benefits.
A note on legal jurisdiction
My practice is based in South Africa and I operate under South African law and the guidelines of the HPCSA. If you’re resident in a country with specific legislation restricting the use of foreign-based mental health services, please ensure that making use of my services complies with the laws of your country of residence before booking.
Ready to start?
If you’d like to book an online session, you can do so directly through the website. If you’d like to ask something first – about the process, about whether this is right for your situation, or about scheduling across time zones – please WhatsApp me.
There’s no pressure in reaching out. The right first step is the one that feels manageable.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Sessions are invoiced with the necessary ICD-10 codes for medical aid submission. Most major South African medical aids recognise sessions with an HPCSA-registered counsellor. Cover depends on your specific plan and benefit options – check directly with your fund. International clients do not typically have access to South African medical aid benefits.
Yes. A significant part of my practice is working with South Africans overseas. You don’t need to explain the background of your South African life from scratch – I already understand the context. Please mention where you’re based when you get in touch so we can discuss scheduling across time zones.
If either of us loses connection during a session, we’ll attempt to reconnect. If a session is significantly disrupted, we’ll reschedule. For clients in areas with unreliable power, it’s worth mentioning at the start of a session if outages are expected so we can plan around it.
My preferred platform is Zoom, used in a private, password-protected session space. If you have a preference for a different secure video conferencing tool, please raise this before your first session and we’ll agree on something suitable. Please ensure that whatever device and network you use is password-protected and that your environment is private for the duration of the session.
For most situations, yes. Research consistently shows that outcomes for online counselling are comparable to in-person work. The exception is situations requiring physical presence or clinical-level intervention – which is why the “when online counselling is not the right fit” section above is worth reading before booking. For the vast majority of clients, the medium doesn’t meaningfully reduce the quality of the work.
Online counselling makes therapy available across vast distances, so there’s no restriction unless your particular country doesn’t legally allow for it. Here are some areas I see clients from:
Yes – many people travel and work all over the world, and digital nomads in particular need a consistent therapist who stays put while they move. See Online Counselling for Digital Nomads for more. I also work with clients in Ireland looking for affordable counselling.
Yes – and this is one of the situations where online counselling has a clear advantage over in-person therapy. Because sessions happen via Zoom and I’m always based in the same place, your location is irrelevant to the continuity of our work. Whether you’re in Bali one month and Lisbon the next, the session is the same, the relationship is the same, and the work continues without interruption. Time zones vary, but we sort that out via WhatsApp before each session. See Online Counselling for Digital Nomads for more details.
A combination of narrative therapy and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), integrated and adapted to what each person needs. See the “What online counselling can address” section above, or the About page for more detail.