ANRI VAN DEN BERG – VITA NOVA PRETORIA
Anri specialises in Marriage and Trauma Counselling. She also offers Individual, Relationship and Parenting Counseling as well as Training in Pretoria.
In 2005, I completed my Honours degree in Psychology at the University of Pretoria.
There after I had my own Nursery school in Pretoria East for two years, which I enjoyed very much, but closed down after the birth of my daughter in 2007. I successfully completed various training courses, including Trauma courses, Life Stress Reduction courses and CBT courses (to name but a few). I am regularly approached for insight or comments on various topics for magazines, radio shows or television and actively contribute articles to various South African magazines, such as Sarie, Kuier, Lig, Vrouekeur and many more. Please visit my Articles page for some of these and many more articles on various topics of interest.
I am currently registered with the ASCHP, a professional body for counsellors in South Africa and running my practice and training centers, both based in Elarduspark Pretoria.
Parenting. I’m a mother of two and honestly believe that being a parent is the hardest job ever! Well…one of the hardest jobs; as being married is a very close second in my book. Parenting in today’s world is not easy! Bookshelves buckle under the weight of all the parenting books written and everybody has an opinion; one that they so happily and gladly share with parents – whether asked for or not. Judgement and criticism of parenting styles or decisions flood social media. Being a “good parent” seems to be almost impossible. And don’t even get me started on all the self blame, self doubt and the guilt that we as parents so easily lay upon our own shoulders. I have a huge, soft spot for moms of all ages. One of my biggest rewards is working with parents; whether it is with an individual mom or dad on tackling that self doubt, or guilt or whether it is with couples who are struggling with parenting styles, discipline issues or difficult decisions surrounding their children. Being a part of their journey to self-acceptance, personal growth and inner peace is the most satisfying experience.
If you are a mom or a dad, struggling with parenting, please know that you are not alone and that there are many things that we can do, to make things better for you! For more information on Parenting counselling, please visit our Parental guidance page.
Marriage/Relationship counselling is another one of my fields of choice. I have now been married for 13 years and; as any other married couple, we’ve also experienced our ups and our downs. I can however testify of a wonderful relationship that could also be yours!! With the right tool set – you can turn your relationship into your biggest asset… In my experience; huge problems in relationships, more often than not, can be turned around when a couple knows exactly what their own individual needs are and how to communicate these needs to their partner healthily and effectively; also how to recognise old patterns of interaction and to actively work against them, implementing the tools they have learnt, cementing those new patterns of interaction and thus; changing their relationship for the better. As I mentioned earlier healthy and effective communication is key and it is often here that I find the biggest obstacles in relationships. By learning a fool-proof method of communicating with one another, half of most couples problems can be dealt with quite swiftly.
– Sounds like a lot of work? In some cases it is, but for most it is more than worth it! For more information on Marriage or Relationship counselling, please visit either the Marriage Counselling or the Relationship counselling page.
Trauma counselling. Trauma counselling is another one of my passions. No two people experience or internalize events exactly the same and trauma has the ability to impact our lives immensely. Unfortunately, everyone of us can agree that life is not perfect and that bad things do sometimes happen to good people. After a traumatic event, the natural progression of the process would be to move from that initial shock, or impact phase, to the reaction phase, from there to move into the avoidance phase. After working through the avoidance phase, we move to the integration phase where the event and all its consequences, both positives as well as negatives are integrated into our personal life stories. We can, somehow accept, make meaning and move on. We utilize the lessons learnt, but generally speaking; our functioning as human beings returns to normal.
It often happens though, that that “returning back to normal” doesn’t happen and that, after such a traumatic event; someone gets stuck in that avoidance phase of the process, and it is here that good trauma counselling is invaluable!
Through trauma counselling, I aim to help a person move from avoidance phase to integration phase. For more information on Trauma Counselling, please visit our Trauma counselling page.
I truly enjoy working with people and I wholeheartedly believe that I can, and do undoubtedly add value to every life through the work I do in my practice; Vita Nova Counselling Center, based in Elarduspark Pretoria