Dr Sonia Joubert

Registered Psychologist

Let us Help you Craft your Life!
Become an Excellent Creative Problem Solver…
Therapy | Life- and Business Coaching | Mentoring

Meet Dr Sonia Joubert:

Dr Sonia Joubert is a registered psychologist with the Health Professions Council of South Africa, a life- and business coach as well as a mentor in private practice, Linden, Johannesburg. Dr Sonia Joubert also does corporate training on topics like creative- and critical/logical thinking, developing a creative and innovative organizational culture, multi-cultural training, conflict resolution, change management, communication skills, Emotional Intelligence, etc.

Through my own life and professional experiences over many years, I have developed a passion for thinking. It has been said that thinking is an art. It is an art that is well worth learning, because everything we do depends on it. Because we are able to think, unfortunately does not mean that we think in appropriate ways.

Services:

Let us find solutions for your problems and challenges together through:

• Personal mastery by acquiring creative- and critical thinking skills
• Individual therapy which is flexible and custom-made for each client
  (Some of the approaches applied are Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Creative Problem
• Solving, Positive Psychology and Hypnotherapy)
• Online Skype option for services
• Life coaching
• Business coaching
• Family therapy
• Trauma debriefing, PTSD as well as dealing with crises such as severe illnesses, bereavement, ageing, retrenchment, etc.
• Relationship counselling
• Divorce mediation and court reports
• Parenting skills
• Spiritual issues like finding purpose and meaning at all stages of life
• Psychological assessment of personality, creativity, identifying scholastic problems, aptitudes as well as careers choices
• Therapy for children and teenagers with emotional or learning difficulties
• A variety of intermittent workshops on topics like personal development, marital relationships and parenting

About:

The most vital step to unlock your potential optimally, is to learn effective thinking skills. Thinking is the key ability that makes us uniquely human. It is the pivotal point upon which consciousness depends. Descartes said “I think therefore I am.”

Thinking is therefore undoubtedly the most important thing we do. It is the catapult for every feeling we experience, every decision we make and every action we take. The thought comes first and determines our feelings, decisions, and actions.

This means that we are, do and have what we think. If we think we are too busy, we will be too busy, if we think we are not good enough, we will not be good enough, but if we think we can, we can achieve whatever we desire. This is as simple as it is.

Unfortunately, although we as humans are able to think, unfortunately, it does not mean we think “well” and productively. Thinking involves skills we need to acquire in order to become thinkingfit; able to identify challenges correctly and solving them with relative ease. Once learnt, these skills add immeasurable value to our lives. Most of our problems are the result of faulty thinking. We have the ability to think ourselves into- or out of problems!

Passion for thinking:

My deep interest in- and continuous efforts to improve my own thinking skills, started 25 years ago when I decided to pursue a doctorate with creative thinking as my topic.

Subsequently, in 1994 I organised and facilitated a three day workshop during which I combined two groups of students from different races and opposite political orientations. Nine black students belonged to APLA/AZAPO, and nine white students belonged to the Afrikaner Volkstater Movement. In spite of the lapse of time, the techniques and methodology are currently still appropriate.

My aim with the workshop was to shift the perspectives the groups held about one another with the purpose of cultivating more tolerance; it meant learning and applying more appropriate ways of thinking. I utilized a powerful creativity technique, called paradoxical thinking. This means developing the skills to look at situations objectively and from all angles; seeing reality with a fresh pair of eyes. The workshop was a huge success and recognized internationally. Subsequently, I won the De Kat/Johannesburgse Sakekamer prize as one of ten unsung heroes in 1994.

I became even more convinced that the acquisition of effective thinking skills has the potential to turn lives around. It is the only way to change. On a personal level, I practiced and applied these skills relentlessly and overcame extreme challenges, from depression, divorce, raising four children on my own and serious financial difficulties. If they worked for me, they will most definitely work for you too!

Your brain can change!

During the last twenty years, neuroscientists have also discovered that our thoughts and experiences literally wire the synaptic connections of our neurons, in other words our brain cells. These thoughts and experiences thus impact profoundly on our brain anatomy. Our brain is not “cast in stone.” The human brain is malleable and flexible. We can furthermore literally rewire and change our brain wiring by adjusting our thoughts and experiences. It is even possible to raise our intelligence and delay the ageing process by applying more productive thinking skills. This amazing and exciting new scientific field is called neuroplasticity.

An invitation to make a choice

To learn effective thinking skills, requires a choice; the choice to take my hand as an experienced expert in psychology, life coaching, mentoring and thinking with the purpose of showing you how to become aware of how you currently think, how this affects your circumstances and to perhaps learn more productive ways of thinking. This could prove to stand out as one of the best choices and investments you make during your entire life!

Make the choice and let us go on a journey together!

Academic Qualifications:

• BA (US) – Majoring in Afrikaans-Nederlands and History (1971)
• BA Honours (RAU) – Afrikaans – Nederlands (1972)
• HED (Unisa) (1979)
• BEd. (Unisa) – Gifted Education (1982)
• MEd (RAU) – Educational Psychology (1991)
• D Ed (RAU) – Educational Psychology (1994)

Additional Qualifications:

• Logotherapy (Unisa) (2002)
• Fundamental Intensive Training in Ego State (Hypnotherapy) Therapy presented by The Milton H. Erickson Institute of South Africa) (2003)
  
• Informal training through the US and other service providers towards acquiring Continued Professional Development Points as per requirement of the HPCSA
• Creative Problem-Solving at the University of Buffalo, Upstate, NY

Work Experience:

Senior Lecturer in Education at Vista University – Soweto Campus (1993 to 1994).

Associate Director at the Faculty of Business Management at the Witwatersrand Technikon. (1994 to 2004). This position included tasks such as

• Management of various departments such HR and Communicatio
• Initiation, design, and implementation of a bridging program for students who did not meet first-year entry criteria.
• Lecturing a variety of subjects such as Entrepreneurship, Organisational Behaviour, Statistics for MBA students etc.

Consulting and training for a variety of large corporate companies on:

• Identifying “champions” and assessing leadership potential
• Cultivating a culture and climate for creativity
• Mentoring towards the development of creative and critical thinking, emotional intelligence etc.
• Developing change management for companies
• Restructuring and facilitating change management
• Team building and mediation
• Research on various problems a specific company might experience on any level in the form of pre-test, intervention and post-test investigations
• Teaching, implementing and mentoring Creative Problem Solving Processes in corporations

Motivational speaking at corporate events.

TV appearances on topics like mindfulness and marital relationship exploration as well as a regular contributor to Sarie magazine.

Current Vocation:

Psychology practice (2004 to the present)
Services include the following:

• Psychological therapy using a wide variety of approaches such CBT and Creative Problem Solving models
• Mentoring, life and business coaching
• Regular contributions to magazine articles for SARIE magazine as well as Television recordings in terms of the above.
• CEO of thinkingfit Pty. Ltd.
  Services include corporate interventions as well as group workshops focused on individual development, relationships, parenting, career planning and various other topics as described above. Co-facilitators I have mentored and trained over a significant period of time, assist in the latter.

Special Achievements:

Winner of the De Kat/Johannesburgse Afrikaanse Sakekamer as one of ten unsung heroes of 1994. Apla/Azapo and Volkstater students were combined in a three-day workshop at RAU. The purpose was to apply an advanced form of thinking called “paradoxical thinking” to shift existing paradigms. This workshop was partially sponsored by the Chairman’s fund of Anglo America.

The intervention was measured by a pre- and post-test in order to verify the results academically. The result was exceptionally positive and led to an invitation by the University of St. Thomas, Minneapolis and the University of Buffalo (US) to present these in 1994.

Leader of the International Home base at the annual Creative Problem Solving Institute Conference, University of Buffalo, Upstate NY.

Contact Us:

Dr Sonia Joubert has over 25 years of experience as a therapist with a doctorate in creative thinking. This has resulted in a flexible, open and solution-oriented therapeutic style. Although Dr Sonia Joubert is well versed in a wide range of therapeutic approaches, she has a strong leaning towards creative problem solving, a psychological model she has developed herself. She believes firmly that every problem has a creative solution.

Dr Sonia Joubert can assist individuals of all South African cultures to master personal difficulties such as loneliness, a lack of self-esteem, low confidence, anger, stress, anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, substance abuse ADD, ADHD and many other challenges. She is also an experienced life/business coach and mentor who is able to assist organizations with developing a climate for creativity and innovation, multi-cultural challenges, career development of employees, conflict management, emotional intelligence etc.

Make an appointment
Dr Sonia Joubert
082 822 4179

Email Me
soniaj@absamail.co.za
sonia@thinkingfit.co.za

Workshops
soniaj@absamail.co.za
info@thinkingfit.co.za

Skype:
thinkingfit has introduced a channel via Skype to provide therapy, coaching, and mentoring.
This holds possibilities to see a therapist right where you are; home, work, etc. explore this option by contacting Dr Sonia, Joubert at 082 822 4179 or sonia@thinkingfit.co.za

HPCSA Number: PS0030899