MARLIZE SWANEPOEL

MARLIZE SWANEPOEL – BIOGRAPHY

Sp(i)eel Arts Therapies Collective

Cape Town,
South Africa

Marlize Swanepoel is a HPCSA-registered Drama Therapist, and the director and co-founder of Sp(i)eel Arts Therapies Collective. She is also a founding member of the national Arts in Health Community of Practice (CoP), the Secretary of the South African National Arts Therapies Association (SANATA) and a guest lecturer in Arts Psychotherapies at the Universities of Cape Town, Witwatersrand and Johannesburg. She enjoys being in spaces of learning, unlearning and dancing and is passionate about developing community-based models of mental health care that are relevant to a South African context and situated in an African cosmology.

– What does inner wellbeing mean to you?

When I can hear my body’s cues and are able to choose caring for myself as many times as possible.

– How would you define wellbeing in one word?

Presence

– Are there any rituals or practices you use to enhance your wellbeing?

I honour the wisdom of my female cycle, to take note when I need to cocoon or when there are bursts of creative energy and I try to be in play for as much time as possible.

– Why is it important that we prioritise individual and collective wellbeing?

If we want to be able to co-regulate, we have to begin with ourselves, to be regulated when we do our work. Lasting change is possible when it comes from a grounded, reflective and thoughtful place, and not as a reactive response.

– Do you have any favourite books, podcasts, or articles that you believe support, promote, or educate on wellbeing and related themes?

Humankind: A Hopeful History by Rutger Bregman, Everything by Bayo Akomolafe and the ancient tales and myths.