Biography
Yvonne Retief entered the helping profession when she completed her first course in Marriage Guidance and Counselling at the University of South Africa. She also completed Psychology 1, 2 and 3 at the University of Pretoria, and obtained a certificate in divorce mediation from the South African Institute of Mediators. She spent twenty years dividing her time between her private practice and FAMSA - the Family and Marriage Association of South Africa.
Through her work as marriage counselor, Yvonne became involved with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. At the time there was a serious lack of resources on helping people cope with such childhood experiences. After extensive research, Yvonne developed a method that could be used to guide the healing process in these circumstances. The method is based on Transactional Analysis, and has been used with great success by many therapists and counsellors who received their training in the technique from Yvonne. In 1993 she presented a paper on the topic at the Family Therapy Conference in Amsterdam, and again in 1994 at the Family Violence Conference. She has presented courses on the method nationally and internationally, and it forms the basis of her first book - Joy Comes in the Morning.
In 2000, Yvonne was one of the first trainees schooled in Traumatic Incident Reduction by one of its developers, Gerald French, in South Africa. She has been using TIR successfully for the past 20 years. Since then she has become very involved in trauma work. She is often called in to do group debriefings in a variety of circumstances ranging from armed robberies at banks to fatal mining accidents to helping employees after one of their colleagues had committed suicide. In 2009 Yvonne delivered a presentation on Trauma in South Africa at the TIR conference in Cambridge.
Yvonne has received extensive training in a variety of related fields:
Transactional Analysis:
- Basic TA ( 50 Hours )
- Advanced TA ( 100 Hours)
- Applied TA ( 20 Hours )
- Supervision ( 100 Hours)
- Further training, supervision and workshops in TA by national and international experts in the field. (Over 600 Hours)
- Reflection and Projection in TA
- Personality Disorders: A TA Perspective (25 hours)
- Real Self in TA
- TA Approach to Marital Therapy
Trauma:
- TIR
- Life Stress reduction
- TIR Expanded Applications
Other:
- Basic Training in Counselling Skills
- Supervision by Senior Therapists
- Training in Imago couples therapy
- Maraton Group Therapy
- A systems approach to individual counselling
- About 30 four-hour workshops on other topics related to personality
Yvonne is a committed Christian. Although her faith plays a role in her counselling work, she does not discuss it with clients unless they themselves raise the issue. She regularly counsels clients with other religious views.
Through her work as marriage counselor, Yvonne became involved with adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. At the time there was a serious lack of resources on helping people cope with such childhood experiences. After extensive research, Yvonne developed a method that could be used to guide the healing process in these circumstances. The method is based on Transactional Analysis, and has been used with great success by many therapists and counsellors who received their training in the technique from Yvonne. In 1993 she presented a paper on the topic at the Family Therapy Conference in Amsterdam, and again in 1994 at the Family Violence Conference. She has presented courses on the method nationally and internationally, and it forms the basis of her first book - Joy Comes in the Morning.
In 2000, Yvonne was one of the first trainees schooled in Traumatic Incident Reduction by one of its developers, Gerald French, in South Africa. She has been using TIR successfully for the past 20 years. Since then she has become very involved in trauma work. She is often called in to do group debriefings in a variety of circumstances ranging from armed robberies at banks to fatal mining accidents to helping employees after one of their colleagues had committed suicide. In 2009 Yvonne delivered a presentation on Trauma in South Africa at the TIR conference in Cambridge.
Yvonne has received extensive training in a variety of related fields:
Transactional Analysis:
- Basic TA ( 50 Hours )
- Advanced TA ( 100 Hours)
- Applied TA ( 20 Hours )
- Supervision ( 100 Hours)
- Further training, supervision and workshops in TA by national and international experts in the field. (Over 600 Hours)
- Reflection and Projection in TA
- Personality Disorders: A TA Perspective (25 hours)
- Real Self in TA
- TA Approach to Marital Therapy
Trauma:
- TIR
- Life Stress reduction
- TIR Expanded Applications
Other:
- Basic Training in Counselling Skills
- Supervision by Senior Therapists
- Training in Imago couples therapy
- Maraton Group Therapy
- A systems approach to individual counselling
- About 30 four-hour workshops on other topics related to personality
Yvonne is a committed Christian. Although her faith plays a role in her counselling work, she does not discuss it with clients unless they themselves raise the issue. She regularly counsels clients with other religious views.