Hello World!
My name is Marelize Krieg, and I am a Specialist Wellness Counsellor designated by the Association for Supportive Counsellors and Holistic Practitioners (ASCHP) (registration number SWC2024/7073). My areas of interest include trauma processing and post-traumatic growth.
I offer a wide range of services to individuals, couples, families, and other groups, including:
- Coping skills
- Trauma counselling
- Trauma debriefing
- Crisis management
- Substance abuse and addiction counselling
- Loss and grief counselling
- Psycho-education
The Blooming Practice offers counselling services, content, resources, and products for healing, personal growth, counselling, lifestyle design, mental health, and holistic wellness. The aim is to empower you with the awareness, knowledge, insight, and tools so you can transcend your fears to become your favourite self and build your dream life.
I believe each individual is the writer of their own story, with the power to envision and create their best life. You have the power to choose which chapters define you and which are just another small part of your journey. You are your own hero.
As a Specialist Wellness Counsellor, my primary aim is not to treat, but to improve, not to diagnose, but to screen (identify), and not to cure, but rather to care.
My Profiles
My Background and Qualifications
2019
- Short Learning Programme in Counselling Children and Adolescents
(University of South Africa) - Short Learning Programme in Life Coaching (University of the Free State)
2022
- BA Health Sciences and Social Services (Psychological Counselling) (University of South Africa)
- Minored in Victimology and Criminology
2023
- BSoSci Honours (Psychology) (South African College of Applied Psychology)
- Honours research thesis on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
2024
- Counsellor training and 220-hour internship as a Specialist Wellness Counsellor (Vita Nova Humanitas and Optimystic Bikers Against Abuse)
2022 – 2024
- Managed a support group for depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for young adults (ages 18-35) (South African Depression and Anxiety Group)
Additional Training
- Couples Counselling (including attachment styles and behaviour)
- Working With Teenagers (including self-harm and suicide)
- Trauma Counselling
- Counselling in the School Setting
Currently in Progress
- Life Coaching (New Insights Africa)
- Trauma-Sensitive Yoga Facilitator (Candice Clark)
Let Yourself Bloom…
Why are we here? Because we’re alive. Because we each have a purpose to fulfil on this earth.
Life can be hard, unfair, intense, and terrible. But, life can also be beautiful, enriching, inspiring, and hopeful. Surviving is not easy, and thriving is even more difficult.
However, you are resilient.
Everything you need to succeed, you already have access to – perhaps you just don’t know it yet. Still, a little help never hurts anyone. My role as your Specialist Wellness Counsellor is to help you unlock your own potential so that you can empower yourself to transcend your fears, become your favourite self, and live your best life. By utilising a Person-Centred Approach and drawing on my own personal experience, I will guide, support, and facilitate the adjustment and growth process for you.
The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.
Richard M. Nixon
I will fight for you, but I cannot save you – only you can do that.
However, I can equip you with the tools you need to succeed and help you find your way by and for yourself. Together, we will work on promoting functional, healthy thoughts and behaviours. I will help you to feel your feelings, because the only way out is through. And, if we need more help, I can help you get it. You know yourself best and only you can choose what you want to do with your life. You are the expert on you. We work with what you bring. Commit to the process for long enough and make the shift from victim to survivor to warrior.
Don’t be sad that roses have thorns.
Lee Child
Be glad that thorns have roses.
How badly do you want it?
I live for a single moment… The moment the individual sitting opposite me realises their own strength and capability, when they light up and the fire of determination burns in their eyes, because they know they will rise up and fight back, no matter how many times they are knocked back down and have to try again. Try, they will, because they choose to do so.
You are strong enough. You are worthy enough. You can do it.
There is no easy way through life, no safe way. There is nothing you can do to prevent the pain of being alive. Pain is inevitable. But, suffering is optional. For a million, tiny reasons, life is worth it. You just need to find your reason. Find something to hold on to, something to fight for, something to live for. Trust me and let me hold the space for you. Let me help you to not only survive – but thrive.
Your life is your own. Rise up and live it.
There are always flowers for those who want to see them.
Henri Matisse
My Approach
I lean towards the humanistic school of thought, specifically the Person-Centred Approach proposed by Carl Rogers, which maintains that clients are a product of their own subjective experiences. Person-Centred Counselling is a highly empathetic approach that contends the client’s nature is goal-directed, and that the client is capable of change and has constructive potential. I believe that my clients can direct their potential towards the change they need if they are unconditionally accepted and feel free to grow without being limited. Throughout my counselling, I practice the Rogerian principles of congruence (genuineness), empathy (putting myself in the client’s shoes), and unconditional positive regard (having a non-judgemental attitude).
Ergo, I want to collaborate with my clients to facilitate an environment wherein they can empower themselves to process the difficult emotions they are struggling with and the trauma behind those emotions, to find a healthier, more functional alternative to coping, so that they can move from victim to survivor to warrior.
I also borrow and integrate elements, principles, and concepts from various other theories and modalities to create a holistic view of my clients and underpin my interventions. This includes, but is not limited to, the Ecological Systems Theory, Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), Systems Theory, Narrative Therapy, Psychodynamic Therapy, Gestalt Therapy, Existential Therapy, and Mindfulness Therapy.
Check out the Philosophy and Purpose and Values pages for more information.
One person’s weed is another person’s wildflower.
Susan Wittig Albert
Choose to Bloom With All Your Flaws…
I am privileged to be able to truly “see” my clients, to help them to live well, and to feel better than they ever thought they possibly could. I am passionate about helping them to take control of their mental health in a practical way and to guide and support them as they make the changes they believe are necessary.
It is an incredible responsibility and privilege to earn a client’s trust and share in their journey of healing and growth. To be the recipient of so much vulnerability and honesty is not something I take lightly. Instead, it is something I strive to be worthy of every moment of every day.
Sending you love and light, Marelize.
Accepting help is its own kind of strength.
Kiera Cass
Interested in Receiving Counselling?
Send an email to thebloomingpractice@gmail.com or a WhatsApp message to +27 71 342 9810 to make an appointment with me or ask any questions.
I will respond in between seeing clients during the following South African business hours (GMT +2):
- Monday: 08h30 – 19h00 (excluding 10h30 to 13h00)
- Tuesday: 08h30 – 19h00 (excluding 10h30 to 13h00)
- Wednesday: 08h30 – 19h00 (excluding 10h30 to 13h00)
- Thursday: 08h30 – 19h00 (excluding 10h30 to 13h00)
- Friday: Closed
- Saturday: Closed
- Sunday: 09h00 – 13h30
In case of an emergency, go to your nearest police station or to the emergency room of your nearest hospital.
Excited to hear from you!
The Blooming Practice 