🇿🇦 Working with clients across continents since 2016
South African heart.
Global reach.
Online counselling with experienced, registered South African counsellors — via WhatsApp, Google Meet or Teams, from any country, any timezone.
🇿🇦 Meet your registered counsellor
Start your journey today
Experienced, qualified, registered counsellors across South Africa and Kenya. Every one hand-picked — for their qualifications, their empathy, and their lived experience. Every one here because they genuinely care.
Trusted by organisations internationally
🇿🇦 Pricing
Transparent, affordable, globally accessible
We believe counselling is a human right, not a luxury.
We understand it can still feel out of reach. That’s why we offer discounted bulk booking packages — so consistent support is more accessible for those who need it most.
Ask us about bulk session pricing →Individual session
R977.50
1 hour · Your counsellor, your pace · VAT incl.
Book a sessionOnline. Flexible. Yours.
Private residential rehab starts at R80,000. A fraction of the cost — with none of the compromise. VAT included.
Everything included
- 3 x 1-hour sessions per week — individual, couples or family, however you need them
- 1 facilitated group session per week — with others who truly understand the road you’re on
- One dedicated counsellor — the same person, every session. Continuity is everything.
- TherapyNow Addiction/HR Community Free — private, moderated WhatsApp group. Real connection. No judgment.
First time, tried before, or ongoing aftercare — this programme meets you exactly where you are.
Start the programme → See full programme details ↓For expat and international clients, our ZAR pricing represents significant savings compared to counselling rates in the UK, US or Australia — without any compromise on quality or qualifications.
“The dedication our counsellors bring to this work is extraordinary. Fair compensation is how we honour that — and how we ensure our clients always receive the best.”
— Elza Berk, Founder
🇿🇦 Simple. Private. Effective.
Starting counselling from anywhere in the world takes under five minutes
Choose your counsellor
Browse the profiles above and select the person you feel drawn to.
Pick a time in your timezone
Morning, afternoon and evening slots — covering SAST (UTC+2) and EAT (UTC+3).
Pay securely online
International cards accepted. Pricing shown in ZAR, USD and EUR.
Connect via WhatsApp, Google Meet or Teams
Your counsellor sends a private encrypted link. Just need internet and a quiet space.
🇿🇦 Cultural identity & generational trauma
You cannot separate who you are from where you come from.
Generational trauma
Trauma passed through families — from apartheid, colonialism, displacement, poverty, violence — lives in the body and shapes behaviour in ways that often feel inexplicable. We work with it directly, not around it.
Politics & personal pain cannot be separated
Land dispossession, systemic inequality, community violence and structural oppression create psychological wounds that require culturally informed, historically aware care.
Cultural identity & belonging
Whether navigating being South African abroad, reconciling multiple cultural identities, or processing community expectation — culture is not a complication. It is context. And context is everything.
Intersectionality, always
Race, gender, class, sexuality, religion, language — our counsellors work without hierarchy, assumption or cultural erasure. Your full self is welcome here.
“We do not ask you to be culturally neutral in your healing. We meet you in your full humanity — including the parts that history shaped without your permission.”
🇿🇦 Our story
Born from lived experience.
Not from a boardroom.
TherapyNow was founded by Elza Berk — not because it seemed like a good business idea, but because she needed it herself. After her own journey through mental health struggles, trauma and addiction, Elza spent over 20 years working inside South Africa’s leading rehabilitation clinics, beginning in 2006.
Since 2016, Elza and Marlene Voss have been working in collaboration — blending harm reduction, trauma-informed care and consciousness work into an online counselling approach that is honest, holistic and genuinely transformative.
“Personal struggle can be transformed into collective healing. Lived experience is a powerful form of expertise. And compassion is the most revolutionary tool we have.”
— Elza Berk, Founder & CEO
Today TherapyNow is a global NPC, co-authoring research with King’s College London, represented at the WHO’s Mental Health and Human Rights Guidance, serving clients across continents. The founding philosophy hasn’t changed: meet people where they are, without judgment, and walk with them.
🇿🇦 Why we are different
What sets TherapyNow apart
Anyone can call themselves a counsellor. Very few can be truly good at it. At TherapyNow we believe great counselling requires something that cannot be taught in a classroom alone.
01
Lived experience meets academic excellence
Our counsellors bring professional qualifications AND their own real human journeys — creating depth that credentials alone cannot.
02
Hand-picked, not just credentialled
Every counsellor is personally selected for empathy, integrity and genuine passion. We turn away impressive CVs that lack the human qualities that matter most.
03
Monthly team supervision — together
Our counsellors meet monthly as a team, sharing the latest research and supporting each other. When our counsellors thrive, our clients thrive.
04
Harm reduction at the core
Since 2016 — not as a last resort, but as a first principle. We meet people where they are. No judgment. No ultimatums.
05
A community, not a transaction
We are not here to process bookings. We are here to help people understand who they really are and learn to thrive.
06
Online since before it was normal
Delivering effective online counselling internationally since 2016 — long before the world caught up.
🇿🇦 What we work with
Deep expertise across every dimension of human experience
Trauma & PTSD/CPTSD
Childhood, sexual, complex & generational trauma.
Addiction & Harm Reduction
Substance use, behavioural addiction, eating disorders.
Anxiety & Depression
Including ADHD, stress, burnout, emotional regulation.
Relationships & Couples
Mono & poly, coercive control, narcissism, divorce.
LGBTQ+ Affirming
Safe, affirming counselling for all identities.
GBV & Domestic Violence
Gender-based violence and survivor support.
Expat & Cultural Identity
Homesickness, cross-cultural stress, belonging.
Neurodiversity
ADHD, autism, neurodivergent individuals and families.
Corporate Wellness
EAP programmes, employee counselling at scale.
Student Counselling
Academic pressure, identity and transition.
Family & Parenting
Family dynamics, parental guidance, teen support.
Grief & Loss
All forms of loss — including identity and country.
🇿🇦 Relationship trauma & abuse recovery
When love became the wound.
Some of the deepest damage comes not from strangers but from the people we trusted most. These are the experiences we specialise in — with depth, with care, and without judgment.
Narcissistic abuse
Recovering from a relationship with a narcissist is one of the most disorienting experiences a person can go through. You may feel grief for someone who hurt you. You may feel confused for still loving them. You may spend months — or years — trying to make sense of what was real and what wasn’t.
Our registered counsellors understand the specific damage narcissistic relationships leave behind — the hypervigilance, the self-doubt, the shame, the exhaustion of constantly second-guessing your own reality. We work with you to rebuild a sense of self that belongs entirely to you again.
Book a session →The empathy wound — why kind people attract harm
There is a pattern that almost no one talks about openly. Women and men who carry deep empathy — who feel things profoundly, who instinctively want to help, to heal, to hold space for others — are disproportionately drawn into relationships with people who exploit exactly those qualities.
This is not weakness. It is not naivety. It is not your fault.
Empathy is one of the most extraordinary human capacities. But without boundaries, without self-knowledge, and without understanding why certain dynamics feel so familiar, it becomes a vulnerability. We work with you to understand the roots of those patterns — often reaching back to childhood, to early attachment, to the families that shaped how you learned to love — and to build a relationship with yourself that no longer requires you to earn your place in it.
Book a session →Coercive control
Most people don’t recognise it while it’s happening. Coercive control rarely looks like what we imagine abuse to look like. It looks like love, at first. It looks like concern. It looks like someone who simply needs you to do things a certain way.
Over time it becomes a system — of isolation, monitoring, financial control, and the slow erosion of who you are. If you have spent years walking on eggshells, second-guessing yourself, or feeling like you’ve somehow lost the person you used to be — this is a space where that experience will be understood, named, and worked through with genuine care.
Book a session →Divorce & post-divorce trauma
Divorce is not just the end of a relationship. It is the dismantling of a life, an identity, a future that was planned. Even when leaving is the right thing — even when it is the bravest thing — the grief is real, the trauma is real, and the road back to yourself takes time.
We support people through the legal chaos, the co-parenting complexity, the financial fear, and the quiet devastation of starting over. Whether your divorce happened last month or five years ago and you’re still carrying it — you do not have to do this alone.
Book a session →🇿🇦 Programme leads
Omashree Balie
🇿🇦 Since 2024 · BA Hons Psych · ASCHP SWC22/1510
Mimi Shirindza
🇿🇦 Since 2022 · BPsych · HPCSA PRC 0023507
NPC Director
Janika Cumpsty
🇿🇦 Since 2022 · BA Hons Psych · CCSA CO3044
NPC Director Head of Supervision
Marlene Voss
🇿🇦 In collaboration since 2016 · PG Diploma · 35 yrs
Elza Berk Founder & CEO
🇿🇦 Cape Town · ASCHP WCW/271 · 20+ yrs
🇿🇦 Addiction/Harm Reduction Programme
Since 2016 — not as a last resort,
but as a first principle.
What does Addiction/Harm Reduction actually mean?
Traditional addiction treatment often works on one model: stop completely, or you’ve failed. Addiction/Harm Reduction says something different. It says that any positive change is progress. That meeting someone where they are — rather than where we think they should be — is how real healing begins.
No ultimatums. No shame. No requirement to have hit a particular low before you deserve support. Whether you want to stop entirely, use more safely, or simply understand your relationship with substances better — you are welcome here, exactly as you are.
Addiction/Harm Reduction has been at the core of TherapyNow since 2016 — long before it became a mainstream conversation.
“I spent over 20 years working inside South Africa’s leading rehabilitation clinics. I’ve sat across from people who had tried everything — and been told they weren’t trying hard enough. When the reality was they were trying with everything they had. They couldn’t try any harder. And addiction was never a choice — yet they were judged as though it was.
I know what it feels like to carry addiction. I have been sober for over 25 years — and yet, being conscious, being awake, is unbelievably hard.
As a society we have decided, for some reason, that addiction is not the same as depression or anxiety. Yet it is. It is a struggle with mental health. A desperate attempt to find a way to live inside yourself when living inside yourself feels unbearably uncomfortable.
And no one should ever be shamed for having relapsed. We don’t shame people for a return of symptoms of depression, anxiety or trauma — yet when someone in addiction has a recurrence of symptoms, we shame them. Why?
At TherapyNow we look at a recurrence of symptoms and try to understand why they happened. We try to understand you — knowing, always, that you know yourself better than anyone else ever could.
TherapyNow’s Addiction/Harm Reduction Programme exists because I needed it to exist. Not to fix you. Not to judge you. To walk with you — wherever you are on the road. To meet you exactly where you are.”
— Elza Berk, Founder & CEO · Sober 25+ years
Book your first session →Who this programme is for
First time seeking help
You don’t need to have hit rock bottom. You just need to be ready to try something different. This is a safe, judgment-free place to start.
Tried treatment before
You know what hasn’t worked. We meet you with that knowledge — not with the same script. Our approach doesn’t require you to have failed less.
Aftercare & ongoing support
Aftercare is where most programmes leave you alone. We don’t. Consistent support is what makes the difference between a chapter and a life.
🔒 Your privacy is absolute.
We understand that reaching out about addiction takes enormous courage — and that fear of judgment, disclosure or discovery can be the very thing that stops people getting help. Everything shared in your sessions is strictly confidential. We do not share information with employers, medical aids, family members or anyone else without your explicit written consent. The only exception is if there is an immediate risk to life, as required by law.
Your story belongs to you.
🇿🇦 Addiction/Harm Reduction specialists
Online. Flexible. Yours.
VAT included · ~$1,050 USD · ~€960
Private residential rehab starts at R80,000. This is real, structured support — online, ongoing, and without leaving your life.
Everything included
3 sessions per week
Use them as individual, couples or family sessions — however you need them that week
1 facilitated group session per week
With others who understand the road you’re on
24/7 non-crisis support
WhatsApp check-ins and support between sessions
Dedicated counsellor
The same person, every session — consistency matters in recovery
TherapyNow Addiction/Harm Reduction Community Free
A private, moderated WhatsApp group for people with lived experience of addiction. Real connection. Real understanding. No judgment.
R19,999 per month · VAT included
🇿🇦 What clients say
Real people. Real change.
★★★★★
“Mimi gave me a safe space to express myself. I never thought I needed counselling but I’m glad I did — it was exactly what I needed.”
Anonymous · Individual counselling
★★★★★
“I felt like I was being heard and my counsellor was very attentive and gave me great advice.”
Anonymous · Online session
★★★★★
“Janika is the best counsellor ever — very professional and very kind.”
Anonymous · Online counselling
★★★★★
“Amazing platform and the owner is really passionate about mental health. Janika has so much patience and kindness. Highly recommended.”
Anonymous · Corporate counselling
★★★★★
“Our experience with TherapyNow supporting our employees has been outstanding. Holistic, personalised, meaningful and impactful.”
Anonymous · Corporate counselling
★★★★★
“Elza and Marlene have worked with clients across North Africa, America, Mauritius, Canada, Australia and the UK online since 2016 — 10 years of international experience.”
TherapyNow · International practice
🇿🇦 Terms & Conditions
Please read before booking
Bookings & payments
- All bookings are confirmed only upon receipt of full payment in advance.
- Prices are quoted in ZAR and include VAT. International card payments are accepted. Exchange rates are determined by your card provider at the time of payment.
- Bulk session packages must be paid in full at the time of booking. Sessions within a package are non-transferable between clients.
- The Addiction/Harm Reduction Programme is billed monthly in advance. The programme begins on the date of first session.
- TherapyNow reserves the right to adjust pricing. Any changes will be communicated with a minimum of 30 days’ notice to existing clients.
Cancellations & rescheduling
- A minimum of 48 hours’ notice is required to cancel or reschedule a session without charge.
- Cancellations made with less than 48 hours’ notice will be charged in full and the session forfeited.
- No-shows (failure to attend without notice) will be charged in full and the session forfeited.
- Bulk session packages are valid for 6 months from date of purchase. Unused sessions after this period are forfeited without refund.
- The Addiction/Harm Reduction Programme requires 7 days’ written notice to cancel. No refund will be issued for the current billing month upon cancellation.
Confidentiality & privacy
- All sessions are strictly confidential in accordance with the ethical codes of the HPCSA, ASCHP and CCSA.
- Information shared in sessions will not be disclosed to any third party without your explicit written consent.
- The only exceptions are: (a) where there is an immediate and serious risk to your life or the life of another person; (b) where disclosure is required by law.
- Session notes are stored securely and are not shared with employers, medical aids, or family members without your consent.
- Online sessions are conducted via encrypted platforms. Clients are responsible for ensuring their own privacy in their chosen location.
Scope of service
- TherapyNow provides registered counselling services. Our counsellors are not medical doctors, psychiatrists, or clinical psychologists and do not diagnose, prescribe medication, or provide clinical psychological assessment.
- Counselling sessions are not a substitute for emergency medical or psychiatric care. If you are in crisis, please contact SADAG (0800 567 567), Lifeline (0861 322 322), or your nearest emergency service.
- The Addiction/Harm Reduction Programme is a structured counselling support programme and does not constitute medical detox or inpatient rehabilitation.
- TherapyNow operates in accordance with South African law. International clients are responsible for ensuring online counselling is permissible in their country of residence.
The counsellor-client relationship
- TherapyNow reserves the right to terminate the counselling relationship if a client behaves in a threatening, abusive, or inappropriate manner toward a counsellor.
- Counsellors may refer clients to another professional if they determine it is in the client’s best interest or outside their scope of practice.
- Clients may request a change of counsellor at any time. Unused prepaid sessions will be transferred to the new counsellor.
- The counsellor-client relationship is professional in nature. All dual relationships (personal, romantic, or business) are strictly prohibited in accordance with professional ethical codes.
WhatsApp community & group sessions
- The TherapyNow Addiction/Harm Reduction WhatsApp Community is a peer support space, not a crisis service. It is moderated but does not constitute clinical counselling.
- Group session content is confidential. Participants agree not to share the identities or disclosures of other group members outside the session.
- TherapyNow reserves the right to remove any participant from a group session or the WhatsApp Community for behaviour that is disrespectful, harmful, or disruptive to others.
🇿🇦 Your questions answered
FAQ — SA, expat & international clients
Yes. Our counsellors are South African themselves and deeply familiar with the cultural, political and historical context that shapes the South African experience — wherever in the world you are now. You won’t need to explain apartheid, load-shedding, or what it means to leave home.
Absolutely. We work with clients from all over the world. Our counsellors are trained to work across cultures and are experienced in expat, cross-cultural and international contexts.
In most cases, yes. Online counselling across borders is generally permitted where the counsellor is providing support rather than clinical diagnosis or prescription. We recommend checking your country’s specific guidelines if you have concerns.
We accept all major international credit and debit cards. No South African bank account is needed. Prices are shown in ZAR, USD and EUR.
Sessions are held via WhatsApp (voice or video), Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, or Zoom — whichever works best for you. Your counsellor will send a private link before your session.
Our counsellors are based in SAST (UTC+2) and EAT (UTC+3). Morning, afternoon and evening slots are available to accommodate clients across Europe, the Americas, Australia and beyond.
Yes. All sessions are strictly confidential. Our counsellors adhere to HPCSA, ASCHP and CCSA ethical codes. Information is only shared in cases of imminent risk to life, as required by law.
Yes. Please provide at least 48 hours’ notice to reschedule or cancel without charge. Cancellations with less than 48 hours’ notice will be charged in full.
TherapyNow is a registered Non-Profit Company (NPC) in South Africa. Our NPC status reflects our founding commitment: mental health support as a right, not a privilege. Any surplus is reinvested into expanding access to care.
🇿🇦 Ready to start?
You don’t need to be in South Africa
or be South African. You just need to be ready.
Take the first step. Your counsellor is waiting.