Welcome to The JHB Clinic
About Us
Low Fee Mental Health Services
Our story began in 2016 with the founding of the SAPA/SAPI/UBUBELE Low Fee Service Johannesburg.
Our aim was simple yet vital: to provide high-quality psychological support for individuals unable to afford private therapy rates. From the outset, our foundation has been psychoanalytic, rooted in the belief that understanding the unconscious mind is not a privilege for the few, but a right for all.
The Cape Town clinic will be opening soon.
“Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu.”
— I am Because We are —
Our Vision
Healing and a Sense of Hope
The JHB Clinic sees a future where residents of Johannesburg have access to low-fee psychoanalytic services which foster healing and a sense of hope.
NO MATTER YOUR FINANCIAL SITUATION YOU CAN RECEIVE A SERVICE FROM OUR CLINIC!!
Our Mission
Providing Affordable Services
Our mission is to provide high-quality psychoanalytic services to residents of Johannesburg who would otherwise not be able to afford them.
Pumla Godobo Madikizela
— Our Patron —
We started with just two dedicated colleagues: Sue Levy, the Service’s founder, and Vossie Goosen, the first to join her.
We began as a wing of the South African Psychoanalytic Association (SAPA) and their sister organisation the South African Psychoanalytic Initiative (SAPI). The mental health NGO UBUBELE generously offered us rooms to work and in 2016 we became the SAPA/SAPI/UBUBELE Low Fee Service.
After four challenging years, we had expanded to include 23 clinicians offering their time pro-bono. Today, in 2025, we have 56 clinicians on our books offering one or more weekly pro-bono sessions to the Clinic.
We are deeply grateful to SAPI and SAPA for their invaluable support in founding the original Low Fee Service. Our hope is to remain closely linked to these sister organisations as we foster our joint mission to build psychoanalysis in South Africa. We are proud to be the clinical arm of low-fee adult psychoanalytic services in South Africa.
Our thanks also for the generous support from UBUBELE. We have been close colleagues since they “took us in “ all those years back and the collaborative spirit with UBUBELE remains stronger than ever. Today the Khula Clinic, an arm of UBUBELE, forms the Child and Adolescent section of the JHB Clinic.
In January 2023, Heather Jones Petersen joined Sue as a co-director of the Low Fee Service JHB. In October 2023 we became the independent Johannesburg Clinic, part of the broader South African Psychoanalytic Clinics under the Directorate of Sue Levy and Heather Jones Petersen in Johannesburg and Armien Abrahams and Mark Solms in Cape Town. The JHB Clinic currently hosts 14 Clinicians working from our premises with a total of 56 Clinicians offering their services overall.
In January 2025 Alan Sweiden – Clinical Psychologist, Nozipho Sangweni – Health Policy Expert, Carol Richards – Psychoanalyst and Lauren Segal – Museum Curator joined the Clinic as part of our Expert Advisory Board. Their expert contribution has allowed us to grow and develop as a Clinic.
Perhaps most important at this point in our journey, is to acknowledge our extraordinary broader community. The JHB Clinic has been made possible by YOU the community.
The Clinic offers a range of treatment options:
We are writing about our Clinic in this detail because we want to inspire you to support the Clinic financially. Please consider donating a monthly amount to the Clinic, or if you would prefer, perhaps you can make a once-off donation.
Any amount, no matter how small, will be hugely welcome and will be used carefully and with gratitude.
Thank you!