EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST
– KATHERINE MALAKOU

Educational Psychologist, Katherine provides support to children and adolescents confronting a broad spectrum of challenges. These challenges range from everyday personal development difficulties to concerns that require intensive interventions. Her skills involve assessing clients with barriers to learning, these include social, emotional, behavioral, neurodevelopmental, and scholastic challenges. Katherine also conducts career and subject choice assessments, in addition to providing career guidance, therapy and play therapy to her clients. While Katherine makes use of various therapeutic approaches, she primarily works from a systems-based approach, meaning she considers the interaction between the client’s family, school, and social context when providing support.

Katherine is passionate about neurodiversity and enjoys working with clients from various cultures, races, genders, ages, religions and backgrounds. In 2011, Katherine volunteered at a school in Northern India, and in 2018 and 2019, she worked for Skateistan South Africa. Skateistan is an NGO that promotes education through access to resources and provides a safe space for recreational activities to at-risk youth from low-income families in inner-city Johannesburg. Katherine also taught Life Orientation and English at the High School level. Katherine completed her Master’s Education at the University of Pretoria, and her internship was split between two Curro schools, one in Thatchfield and one in Tembisa. As such, she has experience in assessing and providing support for learners in different contexts.

Katherine’s Master’s research focused on resilience enablers in South African youth. To this end, Katherine’s approach to psychology focuses on empowering clients by equipping them with the necessary tools to actualise their potential.