Wilna van der Walt Practice

Psychotherapy in Muizenberg, Southern Suburbs, Cape Town. I am a registered medical doctor practicing as psychotherapist. I offer individual psychotherapy to adults. Zoom consultations can be arranged. I am passionate about depth psychology, for it offers the opportunity to engage with the fundamental aspects of the psyche. From the work of Dr. Carl Jung we know that dreams and natural forces in the unconscious can guide us in the process of exploring our deeper selves. There is a tendency in the unconscious to want to restore inner equilibrium. This inner guidance from your own psyche is often very helpful.

Our inner wounds hold a key. If we undertake this quest, it activates a process of accelerated inner development, the process of individuation. For the wound is not only the source of one’s suffering but also the bringer of potential healing and transformation. The ‘original wound’ that we must address in the therapeutic relationship activates potential healing power, the archetype of the wounded healer, a function of the Self.

As part of our work together, I offer the possibility of bringing creative work in as an integrated part of the therapeutic process. This approach is particularly beneficial when dealing with trauma. Traumatic experiences from the past often continue to make their influence felt throughout life in unpleasant and disruptive ways. About trauma and psychotherapy Donald Kalsched said:

“If there has not been a good enough outer process [parenting], then the inner process is not successful. When trauma prevents the inner process, transitional relatedness must be reconstituted in psychotherapy. A crucial element in this reconstituted transitional relatedness is a playful imaginal space between therapist and patient. Expressive arts of all kinds must be used in therapy with victims of trauma – not just talk therapy oriented to recovering insight and memory. The work must be aligned with the psyche’s natural integrative linking of affect and image.”

What To Expect

If you choose to work with me, we will work with what you bring. Perhaps it is content from your everyday life or memories from the past. As I have already indicated, dreams and creative work can be very helpful. We will pay attention to what happens between us in the session and we will allow this process to unfold. We will also pay special attention to old outdated patterns which might be interfering with your life. Together we undertake this journey.

It would be ideal to meet once a week; my sessions are 50 minutes in duration. To contact me, please follow this link.

The Creative Aspect

Creative work can be a helpful supportive tool. The world of imagining, creativity and dreams speaks in its own unique language of images. This approach to the inner world is open to artists as well as non-artists. You need not be able to draw, or have any artistic background. It is also not art therapy. About this process Jung said:

“A patient needs only to have seen once or twice how much he is freed from a wretched state of mind by working at a symbolical picture, and he will always turn to this means of release whenever things go badly with him.”