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MANDY YOUNGPsychotherapist Cape Town South Africa Phone: +27 82 445 4142  mandy@peace-of-eden.co.zaBIOGRAPHY Who is Mandy Young…and why does she encourage us to Rediscover Ourselves in Nature?  |
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“The bush has always been a place of healing for me. I only really discovered that twelve years ago, when I was going through my own divorce and needing time-out to re-balance my life and establish a new identity. I took a journey to Mana Pools and Matusadona, two used-to-be, untouched, wilderness spaces in Zimbabwe. I had Clarissa Estes book clutched under one arm, ‘Women who Run with the Wolves’ for guidance and inspiration. It is in times of transition like these that we can evoke various fight-or-flight responses. We can see life crises as perceived opportunities or 'can't-deal-with-this' regressions; creative explorations of new passions or confused withdrawals into more work or more brandy; new life-paths or deepening patterns of self-destruction. It was at this time that I started a new journey that transformed my life forever. The day we watched an African Wild Dog pack corner, kill and consume an Impala I realized the importance of merging the truths about myself I was learning in the bush with the establishment of a new family structure. As I engaged in this journey of self-discovery in nature, the ‘wisdom from nature’, life truths impacted on the lives of my psychotherapy clients as well. I wanted to pass on the healing and creativity that was surging through my veins to all who would journey with me and the wildlife ecotherapy experiences thus evolved: to Dance with Dolphins, learn from the Wisdom of Elephants, be a Wild Women or Wild Man with the Wild Dogs or to Mingle with Meerkats.”
Mandy Young is a Psychotherapist in Private Practice in Cape Town, a Theta accredited Field Guide and an Ecotherapist. She has been active in her professions since 1979 as a psychotherapist, researcher and tutor / lecturer at the University of Cape Town. Mandy has worked with children, adults, teenagers and students who have been dealing with depression, drug addiction, sexual abuse, parenting issues, academic underachievement, relationship difficulties, post-divorce/separation adjustment, adults wanting to improve their own parenting skills, and teenagers engaged in ecotherapy programs who are trying to replace drugs, drinking and sexual experimentation in their lives with more life-giving activities. Her Masters thesis was an ecosystemic assessment of the 'Hurt to Hope' Divorce Adjustment program. 
In the last 12 years Mandy has embarked on a new journey - studying the African Wild Dogs at many wildlife reserves in South Africa and Zimbabwe, and more recently the mothering behavior in African Elephants, as well as social behavior in Dolphins and wild Meerkats. Mandy has found her wilderness experiences and research having provided important understandings for her work with people. She realized that genetically, soulfully and spiritually we evolved in adaptation to nature and as humans, we are not best adapted to the stresses and strains of city life and many aspects of our westernized lifestyles.
“In nature we experience the therapeutic environment of unconditional acceptance, the stability, continuity and containment of natural processes and cycles of life and death that are reflective of most long-term human relationships. Animals are present in the moment, not worrying about past events or worrying about future possible encounters with predators, their attitude can help us enormously to be present, authentic and honest with ourselves.”
The culmination of her work has been the subject of several magazine articles and newspaper editorials, local and national conference presentations, and has recently been included in a baby book called Ecotherapy, the Wisdom of Elephants and Continuum Concepts. Her ecotherapy experiences and Hurt to Hope program has also been featured in several documentary series on animals and healing.  Wisdom from Nature Wild Women, Wild Dogs And Wild Men Wisdom of Elephants Dancing With Dolphins Mingling with Meerkats |
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