I'm Erene Mitchell — a counsellor and registered social worker in private practice in Fairmount, Johannesburg. People usually arrive in my room (or on my screen) at a hard moment: a loss, a marriage under strain, a worry that has stopped being manageable, a parent who is fading. My job is to make that moment easier to survive, and then, slowly, easier to grow from.

Where a long career takes you

I qualified in social work at the University of the Witwatersrand and have spent my whole career with people — in community work, in a care home for older people, and in private practice. That range matters more than it might seem. It means I have sat with families in crisis and with individuals in quiet despair; with the very old and with adults half their age; with people who found words easily and people who needed me to wait.

Years of working with older people, in particular, shaped me. Ageing, loss, dementia, the courage of carers — this is territory I know from the inside, and it's why counselling in later years and support for their families sit at the heart of my practice.

How I work

My approach is person-centred: you set the pace and the agenda, and you will never be pushed somewhere you're not ready to go. Within that, I draw on what fits — emotionally focused work with couples, somatic and trauma-focused approaches, compassion-focused work for the harsh inner critic, and body-based work for what will not settle by talking alone.

People describe me as warm, and I am. But warmth isn't wallpaper — I will gently say the true thing when it needs saying. After 40+ years I have no appetite for keeping people in counselling longer than serves them.

Why a social worker?

In South Africa, registered social workers in private practice are trained, regulated counselling professionals — my registration is with the South African Council for Social Service Professions, and sessions can often be claimed from medical aid, depending on your plan. If you're weighing up who to see, I've written honestly about the difference between a social worker and a psychologist — including when a psychologist is the better choice.

Credentials, plainly

  • BA Social Work (Honours), University of the Witwatersrand
  • Registered social worker — SACSSP registration 10-27663
  • Social worker in private practice — Practice No 038 2795
  • Trained in somatic (body-based), trauma-focused and emotionally focused approaches
  • Over 40 years of professional experience across community, residential-care and private-practice settings

For clients outside South Africa: I practise from Johannesburg under my South African registration. I work online with people in the UK, Ireland, Europe, the Middle East and Africa — though not with clients based in the United States.