Tessa is a qualified Management, Resilience, ‘Time to Think’, and Enneagram Coach. She helps clients identify their strengths and develop self-leadership. She has a particular interest in coaching career development, building emotional intelligence, and executive presence. Tessa is also a qualified therapist and grief educator, focused on anxiety, depression, building coping skills, and wellness. She teaches and supervises on the Master’s in Art Therapy program at the University of Johannesburg.

Tessa started her career as an Art Psychotherapist and has 20 years of experience with individuals and groups. She added coaching in 2013, working with individuals and teams.

She also enjoys facilitating ‘Time to Think’ and Enneagram workshops, as well as designing and implementing leadership, resilience, and self-mastery workshops.

Tessa’s coaching speciality is in resilience, wellness, and health – mental, physical and emotional. She enjoys helping clients identify their strengths and develop self-leadership, particularly through developing emotional intelligence. Tessa uses a variety of methods and tools, fine-tuned for each unique individual. These, she believes, allow new paths and perspectives to emerge, to support change, overcome blocks, and create liberating shifts. Her main aim in coaching is to help people reach their potential and to thrive! She is sometimes known as a “Therapeutic Coach”. Tessa particularly enjoys working with the Enneagram personality tool, as an adult development tool to help clients stretch and grow, specifically with identity maturity and EQ.

As a therapist Tessa works a lot with anxiety and stress and also specialises in grief and loss counselling; she is an accredited Grief Educator. She has been registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) since 2010. Based in Cape Town, Tessa has a keen interest in positivity, breathwork, mindfulness, gratitude, and creative practices. She takes time to truly care and engage with each person, to motivate and support growth, hold accountability, and celebrate successes.

Tessa has published two chapters in books, most recently on ‘The Difference between Coaching and Therapy’ in the Coach Matching book ‘The Wealth of Coaching’ (Knowledge Resources: 2025). On a personal level, Tessa values integrity and perseverance. She is hard-working and organized, and passionate about working with people. In addition to her private practice as a coach and therapist working with all ages, and teaching on the Master’s program at UJ, working with mature students, Tessa consults with NGOs: She designed a program for adolescents to reduce school dropout. She also co-owns a family business – Shweshwe Baby. Tessa continually strives for a good work-life balance to enjoy her career, family, and self-care.

Tessa has coached graduates and new managers, entrepreneurs and team leaders, managers and executives, private professionals and teams. Through Coach Matching, her corporate experience has mainly been within the financial sector. Previous experience centred in the sphere of adult education.

Tessa particularly enjoys working with clients considering role transitions or within the career development space, and with new graduates. She has taught Time to Think on Executive Education Programmes being delivered by business schools and/or Grey Matters Leadership Development, Coaching and Consulting. Most recently she partnered with Grey Matters and UJ Business School, running Resilience workshops with staff in 2025, and MBA students since February 2026.