Rachel Barbour – Clinical Psychologist
Health Professions Council of South Africa registration: PS 0089451
Board of Healthcare Funders practice number: PR 0205494
B. Journ., B.A. Hons. (Eng. Psych.), M.A. (Clin. Psych.), (Rhodes)
Practice address:
Ist Floor, Anglo African building, Office 101, 4 Plein Street, central Stellenbosch
About me and my practice
I am a clinical psychologist and psychotherapist with over 20 years of experience. I earned a Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology from Rhodes University and qualified summa cum laude.
I am registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA), the Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF), and the Medical Protection Society (MPS).
My fees are medical aid rates and I am contracted in: for the vast majority of South African health insurance plans, you don’t need to pay me first and then claim back from your medical aid as my billing company submits your invoice on your behalf. The only exceptions to this are GEMS, Bestmed, and Medscheme – in these three instances, clients need to pay the practice directly and then claim reimbursement from their plans. I also accept private clients who pay cash via EFT for their sessions.
In the more than two decades of my independent practice, I have worked in state and private hospitals as well as in private practice. My area of specialisation is individual adults; my clients come from all ages and stages of adult life, from those entering their early 20s to those in their 70s.
Our therapeutic process
Our work together is made possible by mutually creating an authentic and collaborative therapeutic relationship. This serves as a container – a safe, empathic space – in which we can be allies in developing understanding and working through the troubling concerns that bring you to therapy. Years of evidence-based clinical research has confirmed that the quality of a therapeutic relationship offers the best prognosis for successful psychotherapy.
I think and practice within a psychodynamic framework and integrate other styles of treatment when these are called for and are a good fit with you. These can include existential psychotherapy, dialectical behaviour therapy, aspects of schema work, and expressive therapies such as writing, journaling, and art.
Psychodynamic therapy is respectful of the ways in which our personal history and our unconscious life are expressed in our everyday life. Unconscious material is what is not immediately available to our intellectual, logical, explicit understanding of ourselves. It can be expressed through ingrained coping mechanisms that have become self-defeating or cause distress, psychological or somatic symptoms, dreams, behaviours that are bewildering, and recurrent relationship difficulties.
Another term for psychodynamic work is insight-orientated therapy. This is the understanding that developing insight can offer us a chance to choose: to be able to choose a new way of doing things differently than before. And a chance to choose offers us a chance to change: to be able to enact and experience a more fulfilling and authentic way of being in the world.
Services
I offer psychotherapy and diagnostic assessments in particular fields. I work in person and online via WhatsApp video/voice call with end-to-end encryption.
My areas of interest in psychotherapy
Depression
Bipolar
Anxiety
Neurodiversity
The impact of childhood trauma on adulthood
Attachment difficulties
Co-dependency
Burnout
Self-esteem
Self-development
Phase of life transitions:
for example, the ending of a significant relationship, separation, or divorce; entering the job market, retrenchment, or retirement; immigration or emigration; mid-life; empty nest; a new job or career; moving to a new city; adjusting to a shift in circumstances.
My areas of interest in diagnostic assessments
Depression
Bipolar
Neurodiversity
Anxiety
Diagnostic assessments are undertaken for therapeutic purposes only and verbal feedback is provided. They are not made available for – and do not constitute – legal processes and action.
What to expect when we first meet for psychotherapy
Our first session is a chance for you to experience relating to and with me: whether you feel you can, whether you feel comfortable doing so, and if you’re willing to continue the process. If you don’t, for any reason, I’ll gladly provide alternative options for colleagues in the area.
Our first session also allows me to undertake an initial assessment based on what’s brought you to therapy and what your goals for a successful process would be. In the subsequent sessions, we’ll collaboratively establish a treatment plan based on both of these.
The scope of therapy is wide ranging.
A short-term process of between 2 to 12 sessions is useful in working through an immediate stressor or difficult situation. An example might be experiencing acute anxiety when being faced with a life change such as moving to an unfamiliar city or a specific setback such as retrenchment.
Medium-term therapy of between 4 to 10 months also addresses immediate stressors or situations with an additional focus on recurring echoes that serve as a backdrop to current difficulties. For example, an episode of depression related to children leaving home that evokes previous experiences of loss.
Long-term therapy of 12 months or more is indicated when difficulties have proved to be entrenched, are longstanding or of historical origin, and the desire for treatment is not only the alleviation of troubling symptoms but addressing foundational vulnerabilities. Self-development also requires a longer term commitment.