About
Jake Gluckman, Registered Counsellor in Gardens, Cape Town & Online
I'm Jake Gluckman, an HPCSA-registered counsellor offering in-person counselling in Gardens, Cape Town and online counselling across South Africa and worldwide. Over the past five years my work has taken me through trauma centres, community mental health settings, adolescent care and crisis support. Here is what that journey looked like, and how it shaped the way I work.
Trauma Centres
Where the work began
My earliest counselling work was at trauma centres, sitting with people in the raw hours and days after something terrible happened. It taught me what no textbook can: that presence matters more than technique, that people are extraordinarily resilient, and that the first conversation after a trauma can shape everything that follows. That grounding in trauma-focused work runs through everything I do.
Community Mental Health
Care where it is hardest to find
I've spent years working in community mental health settings, where resources are stretched and the need is enormous. Working there strips therapy down to its essentials. You learn to be practical, to meet people exactly where they are, and to make every session count. It also taught me deep respect for the courage it takes to ask for help when help is not easy to come by.
Adolescent Wellbeing
Young people, taken seriously
I helped start an organisation working on adolescent mental health, and I've worked in schools around Cape Town supporting teenagers, giving workshops and talks, and walking alongside young people through crisis, identity questions and family difficulty. Young people carry a particular weight, and they open up when they trust that the space is genuinely theirs. That trust is something I work hard to earn.
Crisis Support
Steady in the storm
Crisis work has been a constant thread: suicide risk, acute distress, moments where life comes apart faster than anyone can process it. I know how to stay calm and useful when things feel unmanageable, how to help someone find the next foothold, and how to build safety before anything else. If you're in a hard place right now, you won't frighten me.
Experience & Training
Where I've worked
- 2023 to 2026
Registered Counsellor at Souper Troopers, Woodstock
Individual counselling with people experiencing homelessness, working with substance use, trauma, mental illness and family estrangement.
- 2022 to present
Counsellor at Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Co-facilitating support groups for transgender adolescents and their parents alongside a psychiatrist and clinical psychologist.
- 2021 to 2022
Student Registered Counsellor at Adolescent Centre of Excellence, Rondebosch
Individual trauma counselling for adolescents aged 12 to 18 within a multidisciplinary team, including complex PTSD, bereavement and suicidality.
- 2021 to 2022
Student Registered Counsellor at Trauma Centre, Woodstock
Trauma counselling for adult survivors of sexual trauma, family violence and gender-based violence, plus psychoeducational workshops.
- 2019 to 2021
Lay Counsellor at LifeLine South Africa
Telephone counselling and crisis intervention, including suicidality. Co-facilitated trauma workshops.
- 2019 to 2021
Lay Counsellor at SAPS Victim Support, Kirstenhof
Post-incident counselling for victims of crime.
- 2019 to 2021
Lay School Counsellor at Cape Academy of Mathematics, Science and Technology
Individual counselling, workshops and support groups for learners, plus a parent support group.
- 2020 to 2022
Co-Founder at Emoticon NPC
Non-profit delivering emotional awareness programmes to adolescents in under-resourced schools.
Registration & qualifications
- HPCSA Registered Counsellor, PRC 0043184 (since November 2023)
- Honours in Psychology, SACAP, 2023
- BA Health Sciences and Social Services, UNISA, 2018
- Advanced Certificate in Counselling and Communication Skills, SACAP, 2019
- Trauma Debriefing Skills, FAMSA, 2018
- Personal Growth and Counselling Skills, LifeLine, 2017 and 2019
My clinical approach
I work in a trauma-informed, person-centred way. In practice that means safety and trust come before everything else, the pace is set by you, and we work with what your life actually looks like rather than a theory of what it should look like.
I'm practical by nature. Insight matters, but so does what you do on a Tuesday afternoon when everything feels heavy. Sessions blend deeper processing with concrete tools you can use between our conversations.
And I don't believe in one-size-fits-all formulas. Whether you're an adult carrying an old wound, a teenager under pressure, or someone in the middle of a crisis, the work is built around you. Sessions take place at my practice in Gardens, Cape Town, or online via secure video call, wherever you are in the world.