about Zaakirah. 

Zaakirah is an Educational Psychologist and qualified educator with over 10 years of experience.

Working with individuals from the age 5 years to adults, Zaakirah's passion lies in trauma work. She is trained in Brain Work Recursive Therapy, Trauma Incident Reduction, and EDMR. She also has experience working with anxiety and has additional training in both cognitive behaviour therapy and solution focus therapy.

In 2013, Zaakirah created her own internship programme which was approved by the Health Professionals Council of South Africa (HPCSA). It was through this programme that she received valuable training and exposure to working in a multi-disciplinary team which set the foundation for her future years in practice.

Working early on for an NGO on behalf of the Department of Social Health, Zaakirah helped to create a learner workbook to promote psychosocial skills and also conducted educator workshops for GDE. Conducting such workshops is something Zaakirah enjoys as a mechanism for empowering educators by giving them the tools and techniques to better cope with learners in varied environments. She has also spent numerous years working for Harambee Youth Employment Accelerator where she helped young work seekers enter the world of work by offering professional guidance in terms of interview skills and assessments, as well as counselling and therapy to candidates where this was needed.

Zaakirah's work has been published in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health, and she has presented her research at conferences including the 16th Annual Congress of Psychology held by the Psychological Society of South African Association. She has also lectured at the South African College of Applied Psychology on the module “trauma and crisis counselling” to undergraduate students in addition to being an invited speaker at Wits University to present at a learning difficulties master class. Zaakirah has also supervised assessment modules at Masters level for Wits Educational Psychology students.

You can find out more by listening to some of the various television and radio shows that she has been featured on where she has spoken on various topics from learning disabilities to issues such as bullying, studying skills, school readiness, and anxiety.