about laila
Biography
Laila Jeebodh-Desai is an Educational Psychologist at St Peter’s college where she provides Psycho- Educational Assessments and Therapeutic Interventions which includes Mindfulness-Based practices, Narrative Therapy, Solution Focused brief therapy and other blended techniques. Laila also practices as a lecturer at the South African College of Applied Psychology in Johannesburg since 2016.
As part of a community outreach, Laila is part of the Atlantic Humanitarian Relief group (AHR), which is a non-profit organisation which conducts medical, surgical, psychological and humanitarian missions in Jordan Amman to assist Syrian Women and Children in camps. Laila’s narrative entails global and unique domestic experiences from living and working in South Korea teaching English to children and adults, then returning to her homeland in South Africa to complete her Honours and Master’s degrees in Educational Psychology at the University of Johannesburg. Laila also worked in a school with special needs children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD); Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD); and Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD). As part of her internship programme she thoroughly enjoyed her experience of working at King David College and immersing herself to understand and celebrate Jewish ethnicity. Proudly a diverse South African female and passionate about Mindfulness practices, Laila is also a member of the Institute of Mindfulness in South Africa (IMISA).
Laila is currently completing her PhD through the University of Johannesburg (UJ). Her study focuses on Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness for the treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) of refugee survivors of war. A proud Mom to her Beagle, Rocco, and wife to a Zimbabwean, Laila enjoys spending her free time travelling, exploring diversities, diving, cooking, boxing and spend quality time with her family.
Workshops
Workshop: Mindfulness in Schools
When: 1 July 2019
Venue: St Peter's College
Laila is currently presenting a workshop on Mindfulness in Schools at St Peter's College in Sunninghill, Johannesburg. The workshop is designed to help teachers recognize and regulate emotional reactivity in their classrooms. The workshop will provide effective, ready-to-use, and evidence-proven mindfulness techniques to help educators manage the stresses of the classroom, cultivate an exceptional diverse learning environment, which utilises mindfulness as a technique to regulate emotions and form effective relationships with students.
Drawing on basic and applied research in the fields of diversity, psychology, and education, as well as the presenter’s extensive experience as a mindfulness practitioner, psychologist, and lecturer, the workshop will include exercises in mindfulness, emotional awareness, movement, listening, ethical considerations.
Understanding students’ behaviour and learning is critical to the ability to orchestrate the social-emotional dynamics and the physical spaces that are conducive to learning. Practicing mindful awareness helps teachers, practitioners, student leaders and students develop the skill of paying attention in the present moment, without judgement and learning to see what’s truly happening in their environments, thus allowing teachers and students to develop better solutions to challenges experienced.
Mindfulness does much more than just create a positive classroom culture. Some benefits of mindfulness include decreasing stress and anxiety, improving self-esteem and self-regulation, and increasing a sense of calm. Teachers across the country have been bringing mindfulness into their classrooms, hoping that their students see some of these benefits.
Workshop Objectives:
- To help shift the focus of mainstream schooling to incorporate effective methods of mindfulness that enhance inclusive education, acceptance of diversity and awareness of the value of respect, resilience, relationships and self-care meet the needs of the 21st century my incorporating Mindfulness
- To help teachers, school leaders, psychologists based at schools and whole school development consider the benefits of using mindful awareness training as a basis for developing skills within an integrated framework that promotes well-being in their communities.
- To help individual teachers; student teachers and student leaders value the importance of their role, and to help them discover practical ways to sustain themselves and thrive in an exciting and rewarding profession of teaching.
MINDFUL BASED INTERVENTIONS
What is Mindfulness?
What is a Mindful Based Intervention MBI?
What is a Mindful Based Intervention MBI?
Mindfulness may be fundamentally understood as the state in which one becomes more aware of one's physical, mental, and emotional condition in the present moment, without becoming judgmental. Individuals may be able to pay attention to a variety of experiences, such as bodily sensations, cognitions, and feelings, and accept them without being influenced by them. Mindfulness practices are believed to be able to help people better control their thoughts, rather than be controlled by them.
Mindfulness is a mode of attention characterised by openness, acceptance and an enhanced ability to respond to the present moment.
Being mindful allows for a clearer understanding of how thoughts and emotions impact on our health and quality of life. Mindfulness practices enable us to recognise and overcome the many ways that we tend to get caught in rumination, distraction and resistance.
What is a Mindful Based Intervention MBI?
What is a Mindful Based Intervention MBI?
What is a Mindful Based Intervention MBI?
Mindfulness-based interventions are therapeutic approaches grounded in mindfulness which promote the practice as an important part of good physical and mental health. Mindful based interventions reveal the inherent ability of the mind and body to rebalance and sustain wellbeing, and help discover positive new perspectives, behaviours and solutions.
In the Western world, mindfulness-based interventions are becoming widely accepted methods of addressing the symptoms associated with many commonly experienced mental health challenges and/or emotional concerns. Mindfulness approaches have their roots in ancient Buddhist traditions such as Vipassana and Zen meditations.
MBSR
Individual Sessions
Individual Sessions
The classic 8 week MBSR (Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction) training adapted to the needs and schedule of each individual.
The program includes:
– Guided mindfulness meditations during each session
– Discussions and sharing of experiences
– Guided homework practices (45min/day)
– Ongoing email support
– Inquiry into what you are experience at home and within each session
– Short theoretical sessions on: automatic pilot, negative thoughts patterns, difficult emotions, stress
triggers/ reactions, etc
– Supportive readings / handouts and audio guided meditations
Individual Sessions
Individual Sessions
Individual Sessions
This involves sessions which discuss your individual needs and specific challenges. You will be taught the key mindfulness practices to continue your personal practice between sessions and explore ways of integrating mindfulness into your daily life.
During mindfulness based interventions, clients are guided in therapy to direct their focus on the present moment followed by training to zone in on a particular phenomenon. If the client become aware that their thoughts are drifting away from the present, they are encouraged to take notice of where they are and what they are doing before bringing their attention back to the present moment, without reacting or judging themselves. This technique helps those in treatment better understand and address the emotions and physical sensations associated with their cognitions.
psychological services
Psychological Assessments
Psycho-educational assessment refers to the evaluation of underlying mental processes impacting educational, workplace achievement and life management abilities.
To understand why a person achieves at a certain level, it is critical to measure various aspects of cognition using the tools of psychological measurement. The cognitive processes indexed by these tests include attention, concentration, processing speed, working memory, reasoning, novel problem-solving, language and spatial abilities, memory, and executive functions, like planning and organizing. Other more applied performance domains may be tested also, including academic skills like reading, writing, and mathematics.
Other psychological traits like depression and anxiety can impact a one’s performance on these sets of skills, as well as neurodevelopmental issues, such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Dysgraphia, Dyslexia and specific learning disabilities (e.g. writing, reading, math), and ADHD. The assessment may also screen for these and refer appropriately as need arises.
Part of psycho-educational assessment includes obtaining personal history from the client. This will include an intake interview, and we may ask you to complete self-report questionnaires. Family members, teachers or other people close to you may be asked to complete questionnaires as well.
It is important that you understand your results and can ask questions about your performance. After you complete the formal assessment, a feedback session with the psychologist provides you with information about your results, diagnoses and specific recommendations to improve functioning and overall well-being.
Why should you have an assessment?
Many students and non-students alike wonder why they struggle in a certain subject or task, or want to know how to improve their performance, especially as they enter higher education, as well as for those who are employed or seeking to be employed. Psycho-educational assessment can provide you with specific recommendations to improve your academic and workplace achievement, as well as stay more organized in your personal life.
Additionally, most universities and colleges require psycho-educational assessment to approve accommodations when enrolling for the first time. Even if the student has been tested in the past, it may be considered outdated. Many higher education disability offices require assessments completed within the previous four years from enrollment. [Please note that the awarding of the amount and type of accommodations are at the sole discretion of the university or colleges disability office and is not guaranteed.]
Career Assessments with guidance
Whether you are just starting out, or wondering if another career would suit you better, self-assessments can help you consider different options and confirm types of careers that might be right for you.
Career assessments are a way to learn more about how well a variety of careers might suit you. Each assessment focuses on a specific area, such as skills, interests, or values. Typically, an assessment asks you to answer questions about what you like, don't like, what’s important to you, and what your strengths are.
Therapeutic interventions
Interventions can help modify behaviors that interfere with a person’s well-being and the well-being of family and friends. Although interventions are often arranged for individuals, they are also organized for people who reside in institutional settings such as schools and for communities at large, such as families and societies.
Laila's training incorporates training to provide Mindfulness based interventions; Solution Focused Brief therapy; Narrative therapy; Rational Emotive Behavioural therapy and other blended techniques.