Justine Hunt

Clinical Psychologist - Parkhurst, Johannesburg

BA(DA) Wits, BA (Psych, Hons), UNISA, MA (Clin Psych) Wits

I am a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Parkhurst. I work with individuals and couples, and on occasion with families.

Making the decision to come and speak to someone is not easy. You may feel it is a sign of weakness or inadequacy to seek assistance. The truth is very different; it takes courage to face up to your problems and find better ways of being.

I believe that therapy is a safe, confidential, private space to express yourself; to be heard; to explore new ways of being; to grow; to find answers to things that are distressing you; to gain insight into yourself and your behaviours, and to implement changes that enable you to be happier both within yourself and in your relationships.

Why seek help?...Why talk to someone?...

Therapy offers people support when they are going through difficult times.

Deciding to seek help for something you're going through can be really hard. It may be your idea to go to therapy or it might not. Sometimes spouse/partner, friends or family may bring up the idea first because they notice a person they care about is in a difficult situation, is losing weight, struggling with alcohol or other substances, or seems unusually sad, worried, angry or upset.

Some people welcome the idea or even feel relieved. Others might feel criticized or embarrassed and unsure if they'll benefit from talking to someone.

Here are a few reasons people may start therapy:

• needing to make a decision about a specific thing
• feeling sad, depressed, worried, shy, anxious or just stressed out
• relationship problems
• excessive dieting or overeating
• chronic illness (such as diabetes or asthma, HIV, cancer)
• separation and divorce
• problems with alcohol or addiction
• a traumatic event, hijacking, death of a loved one, rape, miscarriage
• problems controlling anger
• wanting more self-confidence or better social skills
• work related problems
• feeling dead, numb, stuck or disconnected from life and people
  
  

A bit about me

After finishing my MA Clinical Psychology at Wits, I completed an internship at CH Baragwanath Hospital working in both the male and female, in- and out-patient wards, and then at TMI (Child Psychiatry Unit - Johannesburg General Hospital).

After this, I spent a year as a psychologist at Leeuwkop Mens' Maximum Correctional Centre and Leeuwkop Juvenile Centre before opening my private practice.

I believe that I am privileged to be in this profession, to be allowed into people’s lives, to be challenged by and to grow from my patients and to help people gain insight into their behaviours, solutions to their problems and feel more content in their lives.

I prefer to work in a longer term therapy model. Sometimes people come for help with making a specific decision and this may only require a few sessions, however, I believe for real, long term, deeper change and understanding to occur, a longer investment in this process is needed.

What therapy can do for you

Through therapy, people learn about themselves. They discover ways to overcome difficulties, develop inner strengths or skills, or make changes in themselves or their situations.

Often it feels good just to have a person to vent your feelings to and sometimes it's useful to learn different techniques to help deal with stress.

Therapy can help you feel better, stronger and make good choices as well as discover more about yourself. You might learn about motivations that lead you to behave in certain ways or about inner strengths which you have. Maybe you will learn new coping skills, develop more patience or learn to like yourself better. Maybe you will find new ways to handle problems or new ways to handle yourself in tough situations.

How I work

The initial consultation is an opportunity for you to tell me how you see the problem and for me to get an understanding of who you are and how I might be able to help. At the end of the session we will discuss options and I will give you some recommendations. It is also an opportunity for you to see if this feels like a helpful space and if I am the right person for you to talk to.

It is not possible to tell you how long the process will be. If there is a specific decision to be made in your life, this may take only a few sessions. To work at a deeper level, however, and to uncover what might be causing repetitive or undesirable patterns or situations in your life, may require a longer commitment to the therapeutic process.

I am contracted into most medical aids which means that you do not need to pay upfront as I will claim directly from your medical aid.

Practice No: 086 000 0270415