Hi There!
Hello, I’m Marelize Krieg — and I help traumatised human beings bloom where they are planted. 🌸
I’m a Specialist Wellness Counsellor (designated by the ASCHP) based in Cape Town, South Africa, working at the intersection of trauma recovery, post-traumatic growth, and nervous system healing. My work is rooted in a simple but powerful belief: you are not broken — you are responding exactly as a human nervous system does when it has been through too much, too fast, too soon.
Through The Blooming Practice, I offer counselling, resources, and gentle, evidence-informed tools designed to help you move from survival mode into something softer, steadier… and eventually, stronger.
My approach is not about fixing you.
It’s about helping you understand yourself, regulate your body, and reconnect with your capacity to heal.
Because trauma doesn’t just live in your thoughts — it lives in your body, your breath, your patterns, your pauses.
That’s why my work weaves together:
- Trauma-sensitive counselling
- Mindfulness and nervous system regulation
- Body-based practices for emotional safety and resilience
I don’t believe in forcing healing.
I believe in creating the conditions and practices where it becomes possible.
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. I walk alongside you as you make sense of your experiences, develop healthier ways of coping, and rediscover your own strength.
You are the expert on your life.
I simply help you hear yourself more clearly.
And somewhere along the way, something shifts.
Not all at once.
Not perfectly.
But gently… steadily…
Until one day, you realise:
You’re not just surviving anymore… You’re learning… You’re adapting… You’re growing… You’re thriving.
Because healing isn’t about becoming someone new.
It’s about returning to who you were before the world told you to shrink.
Or perhaps… becoming someone even more rooted, more resilient, more alive than before.
At The Blooming Practice, we don’t rush the process.
We honour it.
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 healing and growth process for you.
“Every flower must grow through dirt.”
Laurie Jean Sennott
I will fight for you, but I cannot save you – only you can do that.
I can equip you with the tools and space you need to succeed and help you find your way on your own. 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.
I offer a wide range of services to individuals, couples, families, and other groups, working with adolescents and adults, including:
- Coping skills
- Trauma debriefing
- Trauma counselling
- Crisis management
- Loss and grief counselling
- Substance abuse and addiction counselling
- Psycho-education
- Depression management
- Anxiety management
Don’t be sad that roses have thorns.
Lee Child
Be glad that thorns have roses.
How badly do you want it?
As a Specialist Wellness Counsellor, 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.
“As one person I cannot change the world, but I can change the world of one person.”
Paul Shane Spear
About Me…
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.
Check out my Philosophy for more information on my approach.
P.S. I am also a crazy cat lady.
“One person’s weed is another person’s wildflower.”
Susan Wittig Albert
This Is My Story…
Completed a Short Learning Programme (SLP) in Counselling Children and Adolescents at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 2019.
Completed a Short Learning Programme (SLP) in Health Coaching at the University of the Free State (UFS) in 2019.
Graduated with distinction in a bachelor’s degree in Health Sciences and Social Services (Psychological Counselling) from the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 2022.
Managed and hosted a depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) support group for young adults (ages 18-35) under the banner of the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) from 2022 to 2024.
Graduated with a BSoSci Honours (Psychology) degree from the South African College of Applied Psychology (SACAP) in 2023.
Completed training and a 220-hour internship as a Specialist Wellness Counsellor with Humanitas in 2024. In addition to interning with Humanitas, I also worked with Optimystic Bikers Against Abuse.
Qualified and registered as a Specialist Wellness Counsellor with the Association for Supportive Counsellors and Holistic Practitioners (ASCHP) in 2024.
Completed several courses in working with teenagers (self-harm and suicide) through Vita Nova Humanitas and couples counselling through FAMSA in 2024.
Completed several courses in working with teenagers (foundation), counselling in the school setting, trauma counselling, and working with couples (including healthy communication, infidelity, and attachment styles and behaviours) through Vita Nova Humanitas in 2025.
Completed a course in trauma-sensitive yoga by Candice Clark in 2026.
Currently completing a life coaching course from New Insights Africa.
“Others have seen what is and asked why.
Pablo Picasso
I have seen what could be and asked why not.”
My Current Chapter…
At present, I am working to complete a life coaching certification with New Insights Africa. Becoming a life coach has been a long-held dream of mine for many years now. I am excited to start offering life coaching services to my clients soon!
I am also gearing up to doing a yoga nidra and further trauma counselling courses later in 2026.
In my personal life, I am working to heal and nourish my physical and mental health so that I can be my best self and devote my best efforts to my clients. I am currently on a journey to up my meditation game!
Choose to bloom with all of your flaws.
Anonymous
A Final Note…
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
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