Leraska Steenkamp (founder and owner of Growth Psychological Practice CC) is a registered Psychological Counsellor in Windhoek. She moved to the United States of America after completing her degree to pursue her travel and academic dreams. Most of her work included working with children from the ages of 2 to 18 learning more about the emotional, social and cognitive development of children in a first world country.

Upon returning in 2018, she worked as an Intern Psychological Counsellor at a practice specialising in Educational Psychology even though it still provided experience in the other domains of the field. She was evaluated by Health Professions Council of Namibia and received her registration in 2019. One of her evaluators, Owner and CEO of Bel Esprit Psychiatric Private Hospital at the time, offered her a position at the hospital immediately after where she worked as registered psychological counsellor for 18 months in hospital as well as in the out-patient department. The hospital’s focus in experience has been on Clinical Psychology. She is contracted with Rhino park hospitals as one of their referring counselors and USAID-US embassy as their psycho-social support counsellor.

She believes the profession to be her calling, purpose and passion in life. She enjoys working mostly with children as they bring to light her qualities of playfulness, honesty, kindness, patience, creativity and empathy. She has started this private practice to enhance her qualities of courage, innovation, problem-solving and ambition. She envisions the business is to create a safe, comforting and supportive environment to assist people with optimal emotional and mental health. Her plans for the future is to be impactful and professionalise the Growth Psych brand in Namibia and eventually internationally. Lastly, and most importantly, to have fun in adding an extra string of knowledge to the guitar of her personal and academic journey.

Qualification:

• Bachelor of Psychology Honours Degree (2015)
• Performance Psychology Certifications
• Marketing Psychology Certifications
• Cross-Cultural Psychology Certifications

My Personality:

I super love travelling, I call myself a professional hippy! I'm queen DIY so I love doing creative projects and making things for my practice/home/friends/family. These include painting, colouring, candle making etc. I love practicing mindfulness with meditation, crystals, incense sticks, candles, sound bath, journaling, vision boarding etc.

My friends describe me as brave, kind, playful, empathetic, helpful, sensitive and ambitious. I'm obsessed with plants and butterflies (hence the name Growth). Its all about nurturing and being a witness of evolvement (plants and clients). Butterflies are a symbol of transformation through a process which is what we do all day but especially in therapy! I'm really a girly girl, loving flowers, pink, art, dresses and different hairstyles every other day. Some things Id like to improve about myself is being more physically active, mastering balance of work and play (I can be a workaholic) and I am still learning everyday how to maintain boundaries as a helper of the world.