Mandy Johnson is a Mindfulness-based Recovery Coach, Supervisor and Facilitator with an undergraduate degree from UCT in Industrial Psychology and Sociology. Mandy completed her Graduate Diploma in Counselling (Coaching) through Sacap (South African College in Applied Psychology). She is credentialled as a Master Practitioner Coach (CMP), with COMENSA (Coaches and Mentors South Africa) and has completed her Post Graduate Certification in Mindfulness-based Interventions at Stellenbosch University through the Faculty of Medicine.

Mandy was a director for the Institute for Mindfulness South Africa and a supervisor on the Stellenbosch University post graduate programme. She offers courses and supervision for mindfulness teachers, coaches and anybody interested in recovery and wellbeing.

Mandy worked in organisations for 18 years in Sales and Management and knows first hand the pressures faced by executives. After suffering burn-out and cancer, she studied further to find ways to support and grow individuals struggling with stress, fear and anxiety. Her guiding principle for establishing Introspect Coaching and Facilitation, is to explore new ways to support healing through offering recovery principles and practices. Mandy has taught many mindfulness courses including Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction. She has been part of a new 8-week Feeling Tone course, designed by Mark Williams, the Professor of Clinical Psychology and past director of the Oxford Mindfulness Centre and Principal Research Fellow in the University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry.

She has been in recovery for over 20 years and her focus is primarily geared towards supporting recovery from co-dependency and the adult child syndrome. During a 30-day silent retreat in 2018, Mandy faced a crisis of confidence with mindfulness, suffering a reactivation of old trauma, which resulted in an intense period of re-building herself and regaining balance. Through the support offered by Cheetah House and by Willoughby Britton, she was able to make meaning of the crisis and is now determined to make sure that trauma-informed ways of teaching are at the forefront of all mindfulness programmes. Mandy, through her work, highlights the dangers of long retreats for traumatised individuals, especially when working with the Adult Child syndrome and its many manifestations, including addiction and co-dependency.

She is currently part of the Cheetah House care team, offering resources to clients who suffer adverse events from meditation and retreats. It has afforded her the rare opportunity to learn from pioneers in this field and to explore new modalities, treatments and interventions.