Treatment Areas: 

Psycho-Educational Assessment (Preschool to Grade 12) | Concessions and Accommodations (IEB and CAPS) | Learning Difficulties and Barriers to Learning | Subject Choice and Career Guidance | Social Emotional Development | Anxiety and School-Related Stress | Trauma (Children, Adolescents and Adults) | Neurodiversity-Affirming Support | Parent Guidance and Parenting Plans | Family Transitions and Divorce Support | Academic Optimisation | Adult Self-Reflection and Personal Growth

Tools in her toolkit include:

• Sandplay Therapy (Jungian, depth-oriented)
• Sandtray Therapy
• Solution-Focused Sandtray
• Expressive and Projective Therapeutic Techniques
• Psycho-Educational and Psychometric Assessment
• Play-Based Assessment and Intervention

Lynne has dedicated twenty years to the intersection of psychology and education, focusing on supporting learning, development, and psychosocial wellbeing across the environments where children grow: home, school, peer groups, and the community. After earning her PhD in Educational Psychology from Stellenbosch University in 2014, she became a faculty member there, teaching Educational Psychology, mentoring future learning support specialists, and supervising postgraduate research. In addition to her academic roles, she has fostered long-term collaborations with schools and under-resourced communities, including community-based mental health programs in the Helderberg area. Her private practice applies this extensive experience directly to children, adolescents, students, women, and families.

Hi, I’m Lynne. When I’m not in the sandplay room or lecture hall, I usually spend my time at my worktable, creating miniatures for my sandplay collection, or relaxing with my family, especially my nephew, who reminds me of what’s truly important to young people. I am attracted to spaces and objects that tell a story and have soul, enjoy good coffee, and value conversations that feel meaningful.

I consult from Paardevlei Therapy Centre on Saturdays, in English and Afrikaans, with online sessions available via trusted Telehealth platforms where appropriate. As an educational psychologist and sandplay practitioner trained through the Association for Sandplay Therapy (AST) in South Africa, I work primarily with children, adolescents, students and families, and I also offer sandplay and solution-focused sandtray therapy for adults as a gentle, non-verbal complement to the approaches of my colleagues at the Centre.

My approach to therapy:
My approach is grounded in the Ubuntu philosophy that a person is a person through others. We shape our identity through relationships, and healing takes place within these connections. I focus on enhancing social-emotional intelligence: the capacity to recognise, understand, and regulate our own emotions, as well as to interpret and respond to others’ feelings. Whether I’m assessing a child’s learning difficulties, guiding a teenager in career exploration, supporting a family during divorce, or assisting an adult with self-reflection, my goal remains the same: to create a safe, welcoming environment where authentic meaning can emerge naturally, enabling individuals to develop self-awareness, emotional regulation, empathy, and relational skills to learn, connect, and succeed.

Services offered:

• Neurodiversity-affirming support across all ages
• Individual therapy for children, adolescents and students, including sandplay therapy, sandtray therapy and academic optimisation
• Psycho-educational assessments from preschool to Grade 12, including concessions and accommodations within IEB and CAPS curricula, with IEP support through collaboration with schools
• Subject choice and career guidance assessments
• Parent guidance, parenting plans and support during family transitions
• Sandplay and solution-focused sandtray therapy for adults

Qualifications and Registration:
PhD in Educational Psychology, Stellenbosch University | HPCSA Registration: PS 0096954 | Practice No.: 0242667 | Trained in Sandplay Therapy with the Association for Sandplay Therapy (AST), South Africa