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Words from Those I’ve Walked
Alongside.
Counselling is not about quick fixes. It’s about meaningful progress, understanding, and transformation over time. The testimonials that follow reflect the courage it takes to seek support and the empowerment that can come from doing the work.
I am grateful to each client who has entrusted me with their journey and chosen to share a glimpse of their experience.
I was referred to Monique by a family friend, and from the very beginning she accommodated my schedule and made each session feel comfortable and easy. She is a brilliant and passionate counsellor, deeply dedicated to helping people, and she truly goes the extra mile in her work. I found her easy to communicate with, and she helped me make sense of many things in my life. I received full support and even more than I expected, she also introduced me to a community of women who were facing similar struggles, which made my journey even more meaningful and encouraging. I saw her from late August 2021 until 2023, and I genuinely loved my sessions with her. Even now, she continues to check in with me monthly to see if I am okay, which shows her ongoing care and commitment. I would highly recommend her; she has done so much for me and my life. Our community truly needs dedicated and driven professionals like her.
Mrs ZC Africa Thandroyen
I am truly grateful for the referral to Monique. She went above and beyond in supporting me, and I honestly cannot thank her enough for the impact she has had on my life. Her guidance and care have made a real difference in my healing journey, and I will always appreciate the role she has played in helping me move forward.
L
Having someone to journey alongside you is so important, and Monique has been exactly that for me. Even during difficult times, her support, advice, and genuine care made a meaningful difference. She helped renew my hope and perspective, and her dedication truly sets her apart. I am deeply grateful for the way she has walked this path with me.
QJ (2020–2023)
I have known Monique Peterson for approximately 10 years in a professional capacity as her outsourced HR provider. She is a professional of integrity, resilience, and adaptability, and has consistently handled employee matters fairly and compassionately, including disciplinary issues, restructuring, and general HR management. Monique would be a valuable asset to any future employer.
Rachel
Monique was a wonderful mentor to me over a two-year period. She guided me in forgiveness, inner peace, hurts and relationships and has truly been a blessing in my life. Monique’s counselling and mentorship have been of great value to me and have contributed to the transformation of my identity in Christ.
Kathryn L
Monique was a wonderful mentor and support during one of the most challenging seasons of my life. She guided me toward forgiveness and helped me process deep hurt in a healthy and transformative way. Her compassion and understanding create a safe space for growth and healing. I will always value the role she played in my journey.
Tracy
Monique is a passionate and dedicated counsellor who truly goes the extra mile. She made me feel supported, understood, and never alone in my journey. Even today, she still checks in on me. I would highly recommend her to anyone who needs guidance and healing.
Zama
My heart is truly full of empathy and understanding for the care Monique provides. Her ability to create a safe and supportive environment allows real healing to take place. With her guidance, I found freedom from anxiety and learned how to sit with and process difficult emotions in a healthier way. I am incredibly thankful for her encouragement and support.
Adine Dallas
It is my distinct privilege to recommend Monique Peterson for counseling, consulting, HR advisory, and rehabilitation program development services.
During my time working with the NPO space, specifically within a program supporting survivors of human trafficking and women exiting survival sex work, we encountered a particularly severe bereavement case. One of our residents had endured multiple traumatic losses, culminating in the devastating loss of her baby. Despite the expertise of our internal psychology and social work teams, we required additional specialist support, and Monique came highly recommended to us.
From the very first session, the impact of Monique’s involvement was evident. As first responders, we often witness professionals being desensitized due to the intensity of the cases we manage. Monique, however, consistently demonstrated a rare and unwavering empathy. Her approach was deeply compassionate, yet clinically grounded and structured. The transformation we observed in our beneficiary began almost immediately, and it was clear that Monique’s bereavement counseling was both skilled and heartfelt.
What distinguishes Monique is that she does not limit herself to the presenting issue. She engages holistically. Beyond bereavement support, she became actively involved in broader aspects of the beneficiary’s rehabilitation journey, including mentorship, work-readiness preparation, CV development, and confidence building. She recognizes that sustainable healing requires integrated support.
Her professional background across multiple organizations gives her a remarkable depth of insight. This became particularly evident when she began consulting with our team regarding our substance abuse rehabilitation systems. Monique assisted us in refining our program structures, strengthening accountability measures, and implementing improved support frameworks. She asked insightful, strategic questions that shifted our thinking and elevated our standards of care.
Importantly, she never imposed solutions. Instead, she guided discussions with wisdom and humility, bringing the team along in a way that fostered ownership and collaboration. Her leadership style is calm, thoughtful, and empowering.
In addition to therapeutic and programmatic support, Monique assisted us with HR processes, professional development guidance, work experience placements, and staff mentoring. Her professionalism, integrity, and ethical standards were consistently evident, earning our complete trust across all facets of the program.
Monique is authentic, values-driven, and deeply committed to the wellbeing of the individuals and organizations she serves. She walks the walk. She brings both heart and structure, empathy and excellence.
I recommend her without reservation to any organization or individual seeking counseling services, rehabilitation consulting, HR advisory support, or strategic program development.
Natalie Ogden
Can one ever truly heal after a loss?
Do memories ever fade?
Can you really move forward?
Does the pain ever go away?
When you dream of them, do you wake up feeling lost and afraid, and sometimes with a small sense of joy because, for a moment, you got to see them again?
I had known my wife since childhood. We were simply two best friends living life together. We grew closer through church, school, and every spare moment I had was spent with my beautiful Charlotte. She was the one who helped set me up with girls I liked at school, and the one who comforted me when those relationships ended. After all of that, in 2001, we fell in love.
She was my best friend. There were no dark secrets, no betrayal, nothing to hide. We began building a life together, living and loving, experiencing some of the most exciting years of our lives. It is funny how you plan everything in life. We planned it all, our children, our home, our trips, our date nights, and a big beautiful future.
But we never planned for death.
We shared two beautiful children. Our first was born in 2011, and our second in 2018. In early 2019, my wife developed a small persistent cough. In July 2019, she was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer. In September 2022, she passed away.
I found myself in the darkest place I have ever known, broken in ways I did not think were possible.
I tried to be strong. I tried to be stoic. I tried to hold everything together. But as a single father of two small children who had just lost his entire world, I did not know how to cope. I cried in silence. I woke up every night reaching for her. The memories of her journey, the chemotherapy, the doctor visits, the devastating news, replayed in my mind like small movies.
I watched her deteriorate and felt completely helpless. Even though I was by her side, I could not save her. The moment that shattered my heart into a thousand pieces was holding her in my arms as she took her last breath.
I share these intimate moments because no one is exempt from grief. It is the price we all pay for love.
After my wife passed, the CEO of her company reached out to me regularly. She had been doing her own research and introduced me to Monique. For months, I resisted. I told myself I would deal with it on my own. But the pain grew heavier, and I found myself heading down a very dark path. Eventually, I decided to meet with Monique Peterson.
I remember our first meeting clearly. I did not want to speak. Monique never rushed me. She was calm, patient, and understanding. We spoke about life, my childhood, her experiences, and for the first time in a long while, I felt a sense of peace. The noise in my head became quieter.
Slowly, I began to open up. I started unpacking my pain, sometimes repacking it, and then unpacking it again. Through it all, Monique remained calm and empathetic, as though she truly understood the depth of what I was feeling. I felt seen. I felt heard. So I began to speak.
After every session, I left feeling a little lighter, a little stronger. It felt like I had received my weekly dose of strength to face another week. Monique equipped me with practical tools and coping mechanisms to face each day, each week, each month, and eventually each year.
She showed genuine care for my healing journey. She remembered every name I mentioned, every memory I shared, and paid attention to even the smallest details.
As I mentioned earlier, we prepared for everything, except death. In 2022, my wife passed away. Then in December 2023, my mother, my rock, was diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, she passed in September 2024. The pain was just as real, just as heavy. But this time, I had the tools Monique had helped me build.
Monique helped me heal so deeply after my wife’s passing that I was able to cope with the second loss in a healthier way.
Her support was not only about healing from grief. She prepared me for all the firsts, the first birthday, the first Christmas, the first school events for the children, anniversaries, and special dates that my wife and I once shared. Because of her guidance, I knew how to face those moments instead of being consumed by them.
I sought professional help from someone who was initially a stranger, yet she made me feel like family. She walked alongside me in my darkest moments and supported me with compassion and dignity.
I wholeheartedly and personally recommend Monique to anyone who is searching for healing and learning how to live again after loss. I pray that my experience reflects the light Monique brings through her warm smile and open heart.
Thank you, Monique.
I truly mean that. Thank you.
Neelan Pillay.
CHOC is the Childhood Cancer Foundation of South Africa, and we respond to the needs of children with cancer. Kindly go to our website for more information www.choc.org.za
Monique has been connected to CHOC since the grievous loss of her own child in 2008. This tragepy spurred her on to be involved with children with cancer and she chose CHOC.
These are some of her contributions:
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Organised a Golf Day and raised funds for CHOC
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Managed a weekly "Mums Who Pray Group", Fridays for Moms at CHOC House and donated bibles for these sessions.
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Undertook life skills programmes with caregivers whose children were diagnosed with cancer.
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Represented the bereaved parent component on the CHOC Committee for several years.
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Participated and raised fund for CHOC as follows: CHOC walk up Sani Pass over several years; Swam for the CHOC COWS in the Midmar Mile for 4 years and raised funds for the CHOC teas
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Conducted CHOC annual Remembrance Days over several years in partnership with her spouse.
Monique is a person with high integrity, warmth and genuiness. She is always available when we need her, which speaks to her reliability. She is also open and willingly discloses information about herself. This speaks to her understanding her own nature and being self-aware.
As an individual she wholeheartedly supports families whose children are diagnosed with cancer or who are bereaved. Her own experience with the loss of her precious little baby has created a deeply spiritual person who understands hurt, sorrow and loss.
She is also generous in her actions and is very supportive of people who are flawed in their character. She can be trusted to take families into her confidence, and she maintains confidentiality.
I have personally watched Monique in her interactions, and I can say when she meets people, she exudes love and kindness. Her respect is obvious.
CHOC wishes Monique everything of the best in her endeavours.
Agie Govendor
This letter serves to confirm that Monique Peterson served as a Grace Counselling lay counsellor from 2017 to 2020.
Monique completed the Grace Wholeness Counselling Training Course successfully and then commenced counselling in a mentee role until she was ready to become a lead lay counsellor.
Monique was punctual, reliable, confidential and had a friendly but professional disposition towards her clients. Some of the issues she addressed in the counselling rooms dealt with eating disorders, grief, domestic abuse and addictions. She completed her case notes and follow up reports timeously and correctly.
Monique also assisted with the assessment of our 2020 Counselling Students pursuant to their successful pass on all other criteria on our annual Course.
She left Grace Counselling to initiate a new counselling service at her home church, Immanuel Church in Somerset Park.
Deb Mun-Gavin
I have had the great privilege of working with Monique Peterson for the last 4-5 years at Immanuel Christian Church as we serve together on the Pastoral staff at Somerset Park.
Monique and her husband Kevin have been married for 27 years and she is a dedicated mom to her three children.
Monique is an excellent counselor and mentor who has a genuine concern and compassion for people.
She also has very strong administrative capabilities both on the team at Immanuel and also overseeing the HR functions and Department in their owo business, Holomatrix (Pty) Ltd.
Added to that she is gifted with hosting events and ensuring that the decor fits the occasion.
Monique is definitely a great team player and at the same time, very self-motivated. She has great inter-personal skills that I have personally found refreshjng when working with her.
Monique is dedicated as well as innovative and, in my opinion, would certainly be an asset to any company in which she is employed
Immanuel Church
I write this letter to confirm that Monique Peterson, whom I met at Immanuel Church in Somerset Park, has been counselling me since around the end of 2017 and continues to do so to this day. At the time, I was facing a number of serious challenges, including my family’s financial difficulties, a seriously ill son, marital problems, and severe, ongoing panic attacks, among other struggles.
I remember when we first started counselling, she told me that I was so broken that it was difficult to even find the real “me” behind all the problems I was experiencing. I needed weekly sessions and intense support. Every time I met with her, she remembered everything we had discussed before and would ask about each member of my family. She showed such genuine care, concern, and love that truly helped save me from what ongoing anxiety could have done to my life.
She has been a pillar of strength when I have desperately needed it. She has gone far beyond simply offering counselling. Whenever there has been a problem or a need, she has stepped in and helped wherever she could. Monique has been such an example to me in many ways. She loves God passionately, has a strong and stable marriage, and three children who clearly adore her. She has shown incredible dedication in her role as my counsellor and friend. I knew that I could fully trust her with my deepest struggles, and the lounge at our church where we met became a safe place for me. I truly do not know what I would have done without her.
I take this opportunity to say a heartfelt thank you to my very dear friend. I know that she has all the right qualities to help many other people and positively impact many more lives.
Lynnette Roodt
I have had a delightful privilege to counsel as second with Monique Peterson approximately a year,
During this space of time Monique was utterly responsible and completely dedicated to the sessions, she was always punctual.
Monique comes with a lot of maturity and wisdom in her sessions, she is a well spring of finely nurtured social and conimunity building tools, she is remarkably learned in her counsel .
Monique is very gifted is discernment and intercession, she is also gifted in organizing and managing well, from small one on one meetings to group meetings and large conferences ,any organization will find working with Monique a solid assist as she is very dependable, responsive and reliable.
Taryn C Naidoo
I was referred to Monique by a family friend, and from the very beginning she accommodated my schedule and made each session feel comfortable and easy. She is a brilliant and passionate counsellor, deeply dedicated to helping people, and she truly goes the extra mile in her work. I found her easy to communicate with, and she helped me make sense of many things in my life. I received full support and even more than I expected, she also introduced me to a community of women who were facing similar struggles, which made my journey even more meaningful and encouraging. I saw her from late August 2021 until 2023, and I genuinely loved my sessions with her. Even now, she continues to check in with me monthly to see if I am okay, which shows her ongoing care and commitment. I would highly recommend her; she has done so much for me and my life. Our community truly needs dedicated and driven professionals like her.
Mrs ZC Africa Thandroyen
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