My name is Ryan Lorraine Cooper and I qualified as a clinical psychologist in 2004.
I provide therapy and psychological support for individuals, adolescents, couples and families dealing with anxiety, trauma, depression, relationship challenges and life transitions. I have been in private practice ever since, whilst simultaneously working at Redhill School from 2011–2022. I am currently in full-time private practice.
I started my undergraduate degree in Pietermaritzburg at the University of Natal and moved back to Johannesburg to attend the Rand Afrikaans University, currently known as UJ, two years later. I completed my master's at MEDUNSA, the Medical University of South Africa, a division of the University of Limpopo, where I trained from a general systems theory perspective. .
I did my internship at Dr George Mukhari Hospital in Soshanguve and at Weskoppies Clinic in Pretoria. My community service was spent in Soweto, at the Zola, Mofolo and Chiawelo clinics. I have also done work with Cotlands Baby Sanctuary, Women and Men Against Child Abuse and Yenzani Children's Home over the years. At Dr George Mukhari Hospital, I worked in the spinal ward, focusing on clients with severe spinal cord injuries, paraplegia, and quadriplegia. During my rotation at Weskoppies Clinic, I worked in the male, maximum security ward with clients presenting with psychiatric disorders who had committed crimes. During my community service year, I worked at Mofolo Clinic with a focus on childhood assessment, including emotional and psychoeducational assessments. At Zola and Chiawelo Clinics I worked with all cases that presented at the clinics, ranging from individuals with depression, addiction issues and poor living conditions to marital and family difficulties and child abuse.
Children, adolescents and adults can benefit from one-on-one therapy sessions. Personal development, emotional growth, coping strategies, support and safety in a confidential therapeutic space provides for an environment conducive to healing.
Relationship's experiencing dysregulated patterns of interaction, heightened conflict, grief or loss, trauma or communication difficulties benefit from therapy, which is focused on the specific and nuanced challenges face by all couples, family relationships and context specific relationsips or interadctions.
Dialectical Behaviour Therapy developed by Marsha Linehan is an evidence-based, therapy that assists in the management of intense emotional reactivity, self-harm, depression and suicidal behaviours via a structured skills-based model that teaches mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness.
A trauma-informed approach enhances the therapeutic journey by addressing the profound effects of trauma on brain function, emotional states, and overall worldview. Through empathetic, supportive, and client-centred therapy, trauma processing aids in the integration of traumatic memories, promotes somatic and emotional regulation, and reorganizes the interplay of these elements. The following modalities are offered:
• BWRT - Brainworking Recursive Therapy
• EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing
• TRE - Tension & Trauma Release Exercise
• EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique
Depressive disorders encompass a range of conditions, including disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, persistent depressive disorder, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and substance/medication-induced depression, among others. Depression often serves as a signal from within, highlighting the distress and pain we carry. Therapy offers vital support and helps develop coping strategies and techniques, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and interactional pattern analysis, to name just a few.
Anxiety is often compared to the body's alarm system and includes conditions such as separation anxiety, selective mutism, phobias, social anxiety, panic disorder, agoraphobia, generalized anxiety disorder, and substance/medication-induced anxiety.
Therapy can offer education, strategies, techniques, and insights into anxiety, helping individuals to regulate their nervous symptoms effectively.
Bipolar & related difficulties include manic episodes, hypomania, depressed episodes, cyclothymic disorder & substance/medication induced Bipolar and related difficulties. These disorders are viewed as a bridge between the depressive disorders and psychotic disorders. Bipolar I &II disorders related to shifts between syndromal manic episodes and major depressive episodes.
Obsessive-Compulsive & related disorders, include body dysmorphic disorder, hoarding disorder, trichotillomania, excoriation disorder, medication/substance induced OCD. In attempts to control, predict and create a sense of emotional safety, recurrent urges, thoughts, images and repetitive behaviours are engaged in.
Characterised by a disruption or discontinuity in consciousness integration, memory, identity, emotion, perception, body representation, motor control and behaviour, dissociative difficulties are often experienced after trauma. Depersonalisation and derealisation, dissociative amnesia, dissociative identity disorder are included in this category.
Symptoms related to the body, such as pain, fatigue, and worries about illness, can be perceived as excessively harmful. These symptoms often define the individual and dominate interpersonal relationships.
Subject choice and vocational assessment can assist grade 9 learners in making effective choices regarding their education and future career path.
Supervision is a vital component of the professional development journey for psychologists. Both students and qualified clinical psychologists gain valuable experience and support from their senior colleagues.
The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) is South Africa’s data protection law. It regulates how personal information is collected, stored, and used. As part of my professional and ethical obligations, I am committed to protecting your personal information and ensuring that it is handled lawfully and confidentially. You can download my full POPIA policy below.
