Marina obtained her MA Clinical Psychology degree (with distinction) from the University of Pretoria where she was trained in most therapeutic modalities. She was trained in individual (child and adult) as well as couples and family therapy. Her master’s degree thesis was titled A content analysis of forensic psychological reports written for sentencing proceedings in criminal court cases in South Africa, also passed with distinction.
Clinical Experience
Before her professional training as Clinical Psychologist, she was a Lifeline volunteer counsellor for five years and went on to work permanently for the organisation as Counselling Manager where she was responsible for the selection and training of counsellors, supervisors and facilitators.
Marina has been exposed to and worked in various environments including in-patient settings, i.e. psychiatric hospitals and private psychiatric clinics, where she worked as part of a multidisciplinary team, giving input at ward rounds and running weekly groups with psychiatric in-patients. She also worked in out-patient settings, i.e. private practice, clinics and prison, doing individual, couples and family therapy.
Forensic Experience
Marina has worked in the Investigative Psychology Section, Forensic Services, of the South African Police Service (SAPS). During this time, she provided forensic psychological guidance to prosecutors and investigating officers (detectives) for many psychologically motivated crimes, such as serial murder, serial rape, and child sexual abuse, often involving paedophiles. This assistance took the form of analysing crime scenes, assisting detectives with the investigation, interviewing offenders and victims, and compiling pre-sentencing and victim impact reports.
Since 2011 Marina has testified in numerous court cases where she provided expert evidence. She has testified in several criminal cases relating to serial rape, paedophilia, filicide, child pornography, fraud, corruption and competency to stand trial. She has also testified in civil matters relating to the impact of sexual abuse of children in cases against the church, and certain schools, for example. Other civil matters include matters against the Minister of Police, involving the psychological impact of wrongful arrest; Minister of Defense, involving wrongful and culpable conduct of SANDF members; MEC for Health: Gauteng, involving the sexual assault of a minor. She has also compiled several Clinical and Neuropsychological Reports and testified in civil matters in the medico-legal context against the Road Accident Fund (RAF), on behalf of the RAF as well as on behalf of the Plaintiff.
TRAINING
Marina has presented training to SAPS members on Serial Rape, Serial Murder and Muti Murder. She presented training to the National Prosecuting Authority on Psychology and Law as well as at international conferences, for instance at the American Academy of Forensic Sciences’ annual meeting, on the topic of Sex Offenders. Besides presenting training, she also presented papers nationally and internationally at conferences on the topic of Sexual Grooming by Paedophiles.
Marina endeavours to stay abreast in her field of expertise and have therefore attended training nationally and internationally on the following topics:
Training in
Clinical Psychology
- Conceptualisation Skills and Choosing Best Intervention for Client
- Addiction
- Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
- Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT)
- Ethical & Legal Compliance in Private Practice
- Assessment and Evaluation Tools
- Psychoanalytic Theory and Practice
- Relationship & Couples Therapy
- Trauma and Posttraumatic Stress
- Member of The Neuropsychoanalysis Association (NPSA)
Training in
Criminal Forensic Psychology
- Assessment of Psychopathy (Dr Hart: Threat Assessment Specialist, Protect International)
- Psychologically Motivated Crimes
- Interviewing Victims of Sexual Offenders
- Paraphilias, Paedophilia
- Child Abuse
- Facilitating the Child’s Disclosure: Introduction to Sexual Abuse
- Forensic Investigation into Allegations of Sexual Abuse
- Child Pornography
- Criminal Behaviour Analysis (Dr Collins: University of Toronto & Ontario Provincial Police, Canada)
- Threat Assessment
- Medico-Legal Death Investigation (University of St Louis, Missouri, USA: Division of Forensic Pathology)
- Anatomy and Forensic Pathology
- Arson Related Cases (Ed Nordskog: Arson, Explosion Consulting, Los Angeles, USA)
Training in Neuropsychology and the Medico-Legal Field
- Traumatic Brain Injury
- Psychological Consequences, Emotional Shock and Constitutional Damages
- Medical Negligence
- Child Neuropsychology
- Expert Witness Skills Training
- Medicolegal Report Writing
- Understanding and Measuring Memory
- Malingered Cognitive Deficits
- RAF 4 Assessment and Recommendations
- The Neuropsychology of Executive Functions and Emotional Processing