Meet the Happy team
Elsie Linström
Elsie is the owner, founder, and creative force behind A Happy Place Counseling.
Elsie is an autistic counselor who focuses on assisting young adults, teenagers, and kids in overcoming obstacles in life. Her sessions are practical and tailored to your interests and strengths, ensuring that you feel supported, learn practical and useful skills, and learn more to understand yourself better in a judgment-free setting.
Elsie has completed a Bachelor of Fine Arts program at the University of Pretoria and a Bachelor of Social Science Honours Degree in Psychology. She has also received extensive training to support individuals with a Pervasive Drive for Autonomy (PDA) profile, facilitate socio-emotional screenings, DASEL screenings, support authentic AAC, understand Gestalt Language and Cognitive Processing, and facilitate trauma incident reduction (TIR) sessions. She is currently developing her skills as a registered social worker student.
Elsie works with children, teenagers, and adults, while facilitating workshops on topics such as understanding autism from a neurodiversity-affirming perspective, managing negative thoughts, anxiety support for neurodivergent individuals, accommodating yourself as an autistic or ADHD individual, creative counselling interventions, and more!
Specialist Wellness Counsellor, ASCHP: SWC21/878
Student Social Worker, SACSSP: 4062975
Georgina Egberink
Georgina holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts and an Honours degree in Educational Psychology from the University of Pretoria, as well as a Master’s degree in Educational Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand. With experience in neurodiverse and remedial educational settings, she brings a nuanced understanding of the challenges children and parents may face. Georgina strives to create a warm, understanding environment where both children and their families feel supported, empowered, and encouraged to grow.
Her special interests include:
- Supporting autistic and ADHD children and teenagers
- Parent guidance on raising neurodivergent children
- Creating caring, growth-focused spaces for children and families
- Fostering resilience and emotional well-being in educational contexts
Her dedication ensures that every child and their family receive the individualised care they need to overcome obstacles, embrace their strengths, and move forward with confidence.
Aletta Cloete
Our practice manager brings over 30 years of experience as an educator, with a deep commitment to remedial education. Aletta ensures that you receive compassionate care throughout your experience with us.
Aletta is available virtually on our WhatsApp line to ask questions, communicate feedback from the counsellors, and manage your payments, booking of sessions, and contracting. She takes pride in ensuring the practice is orderly and that you feel comfortable.
Her expertise in managing both people and our processes is vital to the supportive atmosphere of our practice.
"Kindness is doing what you can, where you are, with what you have. Kindness is a silent smile, a friendly word, a nod of encouragement. Kindness is the most powerful thing we can teach children." - Raktivist
Nadia Townshend
Nadia is a highly experienced mental health counsellor with over 20 years of expertise spanning the corporate, NGO, and community sectors across Africa. Her extensive background includes counselling interventions, change management implementation, and training programme facilitation. Nadia offers a personalised and solution-focused approach tailored to each individual's unique preferences and needs.
Nadia’s trauma-informed expertise encompasses:
- Navigating change
- Trauma debriefing
- Abuse recovery
- Infidelity and betrayal trauma
- Couples counselling
- Narcissistic abuse recovery
Nadia is based in Rosebank, Johannesburg. You can learn more about her services at https://themindspace.co.za/home and book a session with her via WhatsApp on +27 69 889 9518
Our friendly space
