Bea Potgieter
Clinical Psychologist
Holding a Safe Space for Integrative Restoration
Registered Clinical Psychologist in Independent Practice
Children’s Book Author, Professional Speaker, Poet, Ecotherapist & Retreat Facilitator
B.Soc.Sc.; B.Soc.Sc.Hon.Psych.; M.Soc.Sc.Clin.Psych.(UFS) 2002
PS 0080128; PR. No.: 0108375
Through Love, Hope & Courage in Harmony with Nature we travel a Lionhearted Journey towards Authenticity and Earth-embodied Consciousness
© Bea Potgieter
“By seeing the beauty in every face, we lift others into their wisest self, and increase the chances of hearing a synchronistic message”
James Redfield
About Therapy
Learn About My Methods
I consider my role as a psychotherapist merely as a compassionate witness to my client’s suffering, pain, vulnerability and growth. I am a facilitator of healing, through the provision of a safe space that is characterized by unconditional acceptance, validation and empathy. It is merely my job to facilitate their journey towards connection, integration, restoration, and wholeness. I am not a healer. I do not have all the answers. I am not the expert on what they need. They are. I just need to reflect back to them the infinite wisdom and preciousness that lies in their true spirit. The more they experientially gain wisdom through my care and witnessing, the more they embrace and own it. I view myself first and foremost as an Earthling among the many roles I embody. I practice as a registered Clinical Psychologist in private practice, George, Western Cape, South Africa. My formal qualifications include: a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Sciences; Honours Degree in Psychology and a Masters Degree in Clinical Psychology from the University of the Free State. I completed my internship at the Free State Psychiatric Facility, Bloemfontein in 1999. After completion of my internship I relocated to Johannesburg where I started consulting in Diversity and Change Management for a broad spectrum of commercial and corporate environments. In 2002 I established my own private practice and has remained an independent practitioner since. Here, I strive towards guiding individuals towards psychological well-being and embodied wholeness.
Services I Offer
With You Every Step of the Way
Individual Psychotherapy
Connected, Integrated, Restored, Authentic & Whole
I specialize in psychotherapy with adolescents and adults. My frame of reference and orientation is Eco-Psyche-Soma Restorative Integration (Eco-psycho-bio-dynamic re-connective and integrative therapy). Psychotherapy really means the restoration of one’s soul to wholeness. It is a process wherein the client slowly works with the embodied soul, through ‘blockages’ (complex & multifaceted) to wholeness, utilizing the innate capacity for organic healing towards sustainable change and growth. I handle a variety of psychological and health-related concerns in my practice and primarily view my role as a therapist as that of a facilitator - facilitating a process of self-initiated and –directed healing, change and growth. I believe that presenting problems are most often not the core concern or problem, only the manifestation and symptomatic of what lies unresolved in the psyche. I truly believes that each person has the resources within and the innate ability to heal and grow into all that they can be. I furthermore believe that humans are far too complex to be compartmentalized or labeled and that without addressing the core wounds and origins of the client’s distress in an integrative and experiential process which incorporates the WHOLE SYSTEM (ecological, spiritual, psychological, physiological and interpersonal), sustainable growth will not be achieved and is merely symptom relief. I believe the benefits of psychotherapy can be enjoyed by all, but it requires commitment, responsibility and patience as the process can be uncomfortable and challenging. Psychotherapy is not a quick fix, but a unique process which is different for every client.
Retreat Facilitation
Ecopsychosomatic Integration & Restoration
Discover Your Own Beingness and Experience How
Nature can Positively Affect Your Health and Wellbeing
In recognition of that which is sacred and divine within you, you are hereby graciously invited to an embodied, ensouled and sensuously attuned journey towards an authentic earth-embodied consciousness through the heART of Nature created and facilitated by Bea Potgieter (Clinical Psychologist and Ecotherapist).
EarthSense© is an intuitive intelligence, an integrated (Eco-Psyche-Soma) awareness, understanding and appreciation of our interconnectedness with all of life; with nature, animals, earth and the cosmos. It is a deep reverence for the divine dance between the spiritual and the material realms. © 2015; Bea Potgieter
EarthSense© is the experiential journey of recovering, integrating and restoring our natural ecological, psychological and somatic intelligence and wisdom. The EarthSense© journey is the process of cultivating a unified Eco-Psyche-Soma relationship for an earth-embodied consciousness through re-activating the multi-sensory awareness, intuitive resourcefulness and resilience of our energetic bodies.
Draw from the ancient wisdom and restorative energies contained within yourself and the heart of the earth
Our Journey will unfold in the wondrous natural landscape of the Magical Indigenous Platbos Forest in the Overberg region.
I have a deep connection, respect, reverence and love for nature and animals, thus my interest in Ecopsychology [“study of the psychological processes that tie us to the world or separated us from it” (Ecotherapy: Healing with Nature in Mind by Craig Chalquist)]. This field resonates with my soul and I am absolutely passionate about it. I deem it so necessary given our global environmental crisis that seems to be mirrored in the psycho-spiritual and health crisis’s humans are experiencing.
Since my self-study in the field of Ecopsychology commenced in 2009, I have been working on combining these practices into a process others can integrate as a way of life. I developed the EarthSense® Journey to facilitate ecopsychosomatic integration and restoration. It is a synthesis of experiential practices drawn from different branches (ancient and modern): neuroscience, ecopsychology, ecotherapy, eastern spiritual teachings, the
principles of yoga, mindfulness, somatic psychology, trauma-research and many others.
For bookings and more information contact Bea at bea@beapotgieter.co.za
© All copyrights Bea Potgieter
Published Author
BLUE STAR AND LIONHEART
A captivating children’s story, and a journey of hope.
Born under the African Skies, Psychologist and Author Bea Potgieter was raised in the Bushveld and notes Africa as being integral to her very being. It is with this inspiration and connectedness that “Blue Star and Lionheart” was conceptualised and born. The first of a series of books, Blue Star and Lionheart aims to talk to children on a deeper level of consciousness through a beautifully illustrated meaningful story. The book sees release in October 2012, coinciding with Animal Awareness Month.
With a large part of her childhood being spent on a nature conservancy, Bea was strongly influenced. Whilst choosing psychology as her career, wildlife conservation and writing continued to be lifetime pursuits. Connecting Ecopsychology and the aforementioned passions the children’s story was the natural outcome.
“Reflecting on my childhood today, I now know that as a little girl, nature and animals protected and preserved my essence, and kept the ember inside of me burning.” Notes Bea. “Although I was not consciously aware of the incredible wisdom that lies within the connection between me and the natural world, I somehow knew it on a deep level as I never felt alone under a tree or with an animal. It is this knowing that I wish to stir within every child and adult who reads this book”.
The book features two characters: Blue Star and Lionheart. Blue star is human, and Lionheart animal, with each possessing the qualities that are representative of living a life of harmony with one’s inner soul and the outer natural world. The two characters bridge the gap between the human and animal worlds and together combine their gifts of love and hope as they embark on a courageous journey together.
For the characters it’s a journey of loss, and one of light, demonstrating the need to return to one’s inner self in order to reclaim and re connect with a soul purpose and universal truth. A message that aptly shows no one is ever alone, and that there indeed is a common connectedness.
The book on a higher level also symbolises the greater loss experienced in all people in modern day to day living, a collective disconnection from animals and nature and the cry for a return to balance, harmony and equilibrium. A remarkable journey of love and hope, the book brings awareness to a greater need for balance and synchronization.
With Ecopsychology [the study of the psychological processes that tie us to the world or separated us from it] being a strong motivator for the story, and with the Authors inspiration stemming from her work at Timbavati with the white lions, Bea saw the need to share the message with those willing to listen. The book took 22 months to reach completion, and the end product clearly conveys the message for a better world.
Targeted at children, the book aims, through a beautiful simple story, to stir awareness that it is us as humans that need to preserve, and re connect with nature in a sustainable way. The story holds a very relevant message in the current South African landscape as we watch our wildlife be slowly depleted through poaching, illegal hunting and development. Children are the future and if we cultivate our younger generation’s love and respect for nature, we can build a society which is able to live in harmony with the-other-than-human world.
Blue Star and Lionheart is beautifully illustrated by artist Stephanie Gillett, with the pictures accentuating the very soul of the story.
This book is the first in the series, where the two characters are introduced. The journey will further unfold over the remaining series of books as Blue Star and Lioinheart travel, meeting other wonderful creatures and learning valuable lessons. Important ecopsychological themes will be highlighted throughout the series. Work on the second book is currently underway.
The book is available through www.publisher.co.za online bookstore. Book costs: R125.00 excl. postage and shipping
For more information email bluestar-lionheart@beapotgieter.co.za and go to www.publisher.co.za
Professional Speaking & Writing
Psycho-education to promote mental health and well-being
To promote mental health and prevention, I deem the creation of awareness through psycho-education as necessary and continually contribute to several popular magazines and appears on radio talk-shows, television programmes and wellness events as guest speaker such as: SHAPE; Cosmopolitan; Marie-Claire; Sarie; Finesse; Beeld; Oprah Magazine; Women's Health; Radio 702; RSG; SABC 3; Hello Doctor; E-TV: Great Expectations; SAfm; Aneis De Vida (& many others).
Creative Writing
A Lionhearted Journey Towards Authenticity and Consciousness
Apart from my psychotherapy work, I like to combine my loves and passions for writing, poetry, wildlife, conservation, nature, animals, ecopsychology, ecomysticism, photography and soulwork into creative forms of writing on my blog: www.beapotgieter.wordpress.com
