Racheal Johnston – VITA NOVA PRETORIA

Racheal is a social worker who specialises in play therapy, which is also known as play-based intervention. She therefore works from a Gestalt play therapy perspective, which enables her to approach a child holistically by taking all aspects of a child’s life into account, since these factors all have an effect on a child’s wellbeing and functioning.

Racheal completed her Bachelor’s degree in Social work in 2017, where she commenced her career in school-based therapy and support to primary school children. Thereafter she enrolled for a Master’s degree in Play-based intervention at the University of Pretoria, while she continued to provide support to children and adolescents in primary as well as high school. She completed her masters in 2022 as well as her socio-emotional assessment course, to aid children with this needed assessment tool. She is registered with the South-African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP), the South African Association for Social Workers in Private Practice (SAASWIPP), as well as the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF).

Racheal is furthermore rendering therapeutic as well as social work services to children and their families at a primary school. Working with children and adolescents has equipped her to deal with trauma, loss and grief, relationship problems amongst peers, the socio-economic problems of children and adolescents, as well as the daily concerns faced by children and adolescents. She therefore believes that by best equipping parents with the knowledge and skills concerning the care of their child/adolescent, a foundation is laid to build on a child’s emotional well-being. She also believes that parents are an integral part of the therapeutic process and expects parents to become involved as much as possible.

Racheal’s vision is therefore to provide a child/adolescent with an environment in which they can freely express themselves, in order to grow and develop to become healthy adults within society.

“Imagination and creativity can change the world” – Anonymous