Leanie Pretorius
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My introduction to life started of fairly ordinary. During my adolescent years things already started unravelling. Thou home became more unstable by the minute and my reference to healthy family life become another South African statistic of Alcoholism and divorced parents, single moms with no support from the father despite legal systems.
In my late twenties I found myself married and by 30, I had two boys. Born 2008 and 2010. I found myself in a marriage with a pornography addict from 2007 – 2014, at which point he abandoned his then two toddlers and wife for the dream life he wanted with a safari dream affair and no children to share his life with and immediately had the German fairy tale wife moved into my home. Needless to say, it was a very traumatic divorce and an instant shock to my system as it all happened in a matter of days. After the divorce (3 months) in an escape to his High Court maintenance obligations he disappeared off to Germany in 2015 never to be heard of again.
Myself and the children found ourselves emotionally butchered for at least 3.5 years. During which time additional social hurts and discourses repeated the onslaughts. Church hurts, pastoral hurts, where my traumatic situations and 3x mental hospitalisations were the juicy story to tell and children’s birthday parties. All the while spiritual deliverance where repeatedly done on me, leaving me as an open wound with no aftercare. At all of this time I was in a country with no family members and two boys you depended on me 100% . This fact did not alleviate the emotional and mental pressure to maintain our livelihood and a dangerous cycle was put into motion.
In desperate frantic search of real, true, reliable help, the grace of God stepped in and I went for intense Narrative Therapy with an elderly pastor at a local congregation.
My most traumatic 5 years of my life did turn out to be a blessing for generations to come.
Being down the isle of many “solutions” the only true healing came from the Word of God as the truth and the tender love in Narrative Therapy. I can testify and understand the value that this Therapy discipline has birthed in my life and my two boys’ life, and later my new husband, 2019, (widower since 2014) and his son’s life.
Now, after 8 years of the healing journey my heart longs to sow this blessing into the lives of others.
Having learnt the priceless responsibility of confidentiality, care and our power to choose how we
will react to the circumstances in and around us, it is confirmation to myself that wholeness and healing is well complimented with other disciplines as needed.
It is absolutely liberating and freeing to receive the healing that separates you from anything that humans could possible do to you.
People are valuable, no matter the age, the race, the language and communication, love and understanding unites us.