To make an appointment to see one of the Psychologists
come to the BSU and speak to the BSU Administrator during school hours.
The Bishops Support Unit (BSU) has been established to encourage the optimal psychological, emotional, social and intellectual development of pupils at Bishops and individuals and families in our community. The Unit strives to help individuals achieve their potential by assisting them to overcome personal, emotional, psychological, behavioural, academic, family and relationship difficulties. The Psychologists, Peter Farlam and Marileen Harrod, provide confidential individual and group counselling and psychotherapy to learners and academic staff in the College. Peter Farlam heads the BSU and is primarily responsible for providing counselling and co-ordinating the counselling services of the unit. Marileen Harrod offers individual and group counselling and also does Educational Psychology assessments. At present there are two Educational Psychology interns who provide Educational Psychology and Career Assessments under the supervision of the BSU psychologists. The BSU also has an Academic Support Specialist, Angela Ledwidge, who helps boys with language support, study skills and organisation and planning. The BSU also offers numerous parenting workshops and other support for parents as well as staff development and training. The BSU Administrator takes responsibility for the day-to-day running of the centre and for making appointments and coordinating the psycho-educational courses offered by the unit. Individuals wishing to make appointments to see a Psychologist do so by contacting the BSU administrator at bsu@bishops.org.za or by calling (021) 6591010.
College Staff
Clinical Psychologist and Director of the Bishops Support Unit
Pete Farlam is a Clinical Psychologist and is the Director of the Bishops Support Unit. Email pfarlam@bishops.org.za
Educational Psychologist and Learning Support Co-ordinator
Marileen Harrod is an Educational Psychologist and is the Learning Support Co-ordinator at the College. Email mharrod@bishops.org.za
Administrative Manager
Nicky Lewis is the Admin Manager at the Bishops Support Unit.
Email bsu@bishops.org.za
Psychology Intern
Chanel Roos is an Educational Psychology Intern at the BSU.
Email croos@bishops.org.za
Psychology Intern
Kirsty Shuttleworth is an Educational Psychology Intern at the BSU.
Email: kshuttleworth@bishops.org.za
Psychology Intern
Fatima Parker is an Educational Psychology Intern at the BSU.
Email: fparker@bishops.org.za
Psychology Intern
Genevieve During is an Educational Psychology Intern at the BSU.
Email: gduring@bishops.org.za
Academic Support Teacher
Angela Ledwidge
Angela is an Academic Support Specialist, who helps boys with language support, study skills and organisation and planning.
Email aledwidge@bishops.org.za
Pre-prep and Prep Staff
Pre-Prep School Counsellor
Nathierah Essa is the School Counsellor at the Pre-Prep. She is also an Educational Psychologist.
Email: nessa@bishops.org.za
Prep School Counselor
Laura Cook is the Educational Psychologist and School Councillor at the Prep-School.
Email:lcook@bishops.org.za
Linda Brombacher – Speech and Language Therapist
Linda Brombacher (BSc [Speech Pathology], UCT, 1989) is a speech therapist who specialises in developmental articulation, language and fluency disorders. She started in public health at Tyberberg Hospital where her work focused on diagnostic hearing tests and paediatric speech and language therapy. After working for two years as a speech pathologist in public schools in Athens, Georgia (US), she started a private practice in Cape Town in 1998. In her practice she has worked with more than 1 500 children aged between 4 and 8 years. Her preferred therapy approach is to include parents as active role players in the remediation of communication disorders.
Linda works at Bishops Pre-Preparatory in the mornings and in her practice in the afternoons.
Jane Durham – Occupational Therapist
Jane studied Occupational Therapy at UCT, qualifying in 1990. She worked for the department of Health for the first 15 years of her career – Alexandra Hospital for people with intellectual disability (5 years) and Red Cross Children’s Hospital (10 years). Her time at Red Cross Children’s Hospital included working in the Developmental Clinic, Child and Family Unit and Oncology Unit. She was Acting Head of Department for 2 years of her stay at the hospital. She has run her own private practice since 2006, working mostly in 2 schools. She has been at Bishops Pre-Prep since July 2008 and enjoys working closely with parents & teachers and mentoring dynamic young Occupational Therapists. Jane has post-graduate qualifications in Sensory Integration Therapy (SI) and Neurodevelopmental Therapy (NDT) and enjoys using an eclectic approach to therapy, drawing on these and perceptual-motor principles to actively involve the children in achieving their therapy goals. She also has training and many years of experience in group therapy, including gross & fine motor groups, sensory modulation groups, perceptual groups and socio-emotional groups. Working with children has always been her passion and she loves developing supportive relationships with children and helping them achieve optimal performance in their daily tasks.
Services offered: Assessment, individual treatment, tandem treatment, small group treatment, handwriting groups, correcting letter reversals groups, Alert Programme groups, home programmes & Muscle Mania classes for Grade R.