JULIETTE RAMOTSEHOA – SPECIALIST WELLNESS COUNSELLOR

I graduated as a social worker from the University of Rotterdam in the Netherlands. During my third year of my studies I got the opportunity to do my internship in South Africa where I not only fell in love with this beautiful country but also fell in love with one of its citizens.
I therefor moved to Johannesburg after graduating in 2020 and had to go on a journey to build my career on the other side of the world.

In 2024 I completed my 220 hours counselling training with Humanitas and I am now a specialist wellness counsellor in private practice registered with the ASCHP.

It’s not a coincident I was drawn to social work and counselling. I myself needed this guidance when I was younger and it took a lot of work and support to become the woman I am today. I am absolutely honoured to now be there for and guide others through the ups and downs of life as a counsellor.

I have a special interest in grief counselling as grief is such a human experience while it’s often misunderstood and not well supported in today’s society. Grief is not just about losing a person we love. We can grief a childhood we never had, a version of ourselves we never became or the loss of a dream or friendships/ relationships. I sit with my clients through their loss and explore all the feelings and reactions that come up while normalising this process. As grief is complex and never linear. I then gently guide my clients around growing their life around this loss as we can build a beautiful life and future while honouring our losses.

I know from my own life experiences, education & training that we are handed defence mechanisms, an attachment style, trauma, beliefs and ways of coping, based on the family and circumstances we were born into and had to survive in. If our counselling process allows I love to journey with my clients into their childhood to get a better understanding how this has shaped the person they are today. We can gently look if there is room to let go of certain beliefs to allow a more authentic and fulfilling life to take place.

I also completed a short course in trauma counselling which gave me a beautiful trauma counselling model that allows me to guide my clients through the 4 different phases of safety, regulation, resourcing and eventually integration. My trauma counselling is nervous system informed which means our counselling process is about expanding one’s life after trauma. Often life after trauma can get reduced to avoiding places, events, people, feelings, thoughts and body sensations that feel too overwhelming. In our process we will work on regaining a sense of resilience in our ability to regulate so that you are no longer controlled by the past, but informed about the impact it had.

It is important for me to state that as a counsellor I am inclusive, anti-discriminatory, anti-racist and LGTBQIAP+ friendly. I am culturally knowledgeable and sensitive. You can expect unconditional positive regard no matter your past, your ethnicity, your disability status, your religion, your gender expression, your sexual orientation and/ or beliefs.

But most of all, I love to facilitate the discovery of your personal strengths, knowledge and resources that you have within to build the life you want to live. My counselling vision is as follows: I will not rescue you for you are not powerless. I will not fix you for you are not broken. I will not heal you for in you I see wholeness. I will walk with you through your darkness until you remember your light.

Meeting you where you’re at. Exploring together where you can go.