Jodie Mackay

Specialities
Psychology
Languages
English, Afrikaans

Core competencies

  • Depression
  • Anxiety related disorders such as OCD, PTSD, phobia, panic attack
  • Trauma
  • Stress
  • Dealing with loss and grief through divorce, separation, death of a loved one
  • Adjustment to major life changes such as relocation
  • Relationship issues
  • Health related difficulties and chronic illness
  • Attachment difficulties and self-esteem
  • Sleep related disorders
  • Sexual-related struggles

Profile

Nationality
South African
Summary
Jodie is a clinical psychologist trained at the University of Cape Town, South Africa with 23 years of clinical and therapeutic experience. Her style of psychotherapy is based on psychodynamic principles and is built on a dialogue and developing a meaningful therapeutic relationship between herself and the patient. She often works with a therapeutic technique called EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) which assists in processing deep-seated depression, anxiety and trauma-related issues.

Apart from working in Cape Town, her home town, and Dubai, Jodie lived and worked in Japan for five years, and finds the experience of working with expatriate communities extremely rewarding. She enjoys working with and developing an understanding of the unique stresses experienced outside of one's passport country, and how this impacts on individual personalities. Living abroad can raise past issues that are unexamined and unprocessed, as well as emotional loss, which is part of relocating. By overcoming these difficulties, individuals are better able to build emotional resilience through a willingness to engage with the process of living in a new place. She believes that personal growth needs to happen alongside professional growth for success to be truly authentic and meaningful.

Jodie's patient base consists of adolescents and adults of all ages. She views her patients as individuals expressing the need to be heard, held and accompanied for a way on their journey. Her approach has been influenced by Existential-Humanistic philosophy, which believes that everyone has an inherent capacity for making rational decisions, achieving self-acceptance and reaching their maximum potential. Questions of meaning and purpose and the quest to answer these questions lead many to psychotherapy, and she is always honoured to be a part of someone’s journey.

Qualification

Masters in clinical psychology - MA

Practices at

Publications & videos

Events & lectures