Corporate counselling and workplace wellbeing · Cape Town and online
Support the person. Strengthen the workplace.
Confidential one-to-one counselling for employees, with facilitated team sessions and practical workshops where the difficulty belongs to the group rather than to one person.
The employer funds access without becoming part of the counselling room. That distinction is what makes the support worth having.
Rates are published further down this page. A partnership begins with a short conversation.
Michael Kaplan
BA Psychology · ASCHP-registered Wellness Counsellor (Reg. 10559)
Online during working hours
In person in Newlands, Cape Town
The employer funds
an agreed pool of sessions, sized to the organisation and topped up as it is used
The employee is the client
booking directly, without explaining the reason to anyone at work
The content stays private
with utilisation reported, and session material not reported at all
Designed for
- Small and medium businesses
- Professional practices
- NGOs and non-profits
- Agencies and studios
- Growing teams
Organisations that want confidential support in place for their people without commissioning a full traditional employee assistance programme.
The idea behind the partnership
Workplace wellbeing is not only about what happens when somebody reaches breaking point.
Stress, grief, relationship difficulties, anxiety, conflict and life transitions do not stay neatly outside the office. When people are struggling, concentration, motivation, communication and relationships at work are all affected, usually well before anyone names the problem out loud.
Sangham offers employees a confidential place to work through what is happening before it becomes more entrenched. The employer funds that access. The employee remains the counselling client, and the content of their sessions stays between them and the counsellor.
Alongside individual support, an organisation can add carefully designed group sessions and workshops focused on communication, stress, emotional awareness, conflict, trust and healthier team functioning. Not every workplace difficulty is one person’s private problem, and treating it as one tends to leave the actual pattern in place.
A partnership can begin simply, with a pool of counselling sessions, and expand into team development, facilitated conversations or focused workshops where that turns out to be useful.
The aim is not simply to help people cope. It is to create more capacity for reflection, communication and constructive action.
How support works
Simple access, clear boundaries, and support that can grow with the need.
The company funds access
An agreed allocation of counselling sessions is purchased for eligible employees. The organisation decides the size of the pool and who may draw on it.
Employees book directly
Employees contact Sangham themselves, so access stays private, simple, and independent of management.
Counselling stays confidential
Session content is not reported back to the employer, except with the employee’s consent or where a recognised safety or legal exception applies.
Organisational work is added where it belongs
Workshops, group sessions and facilitated conversations can be added where the difficulty sits with the team rather than with one person.
Not a full EAP
This is an independent counselling and workplace wellbeing service, not a 24-hour employee assistance programme or an emergency response service.
Not performance management
Counselling is not used to judge quotas, discipline employees, or supply management with private clinical information.
Not clinical diagnosis
Where psychiatric diagnosis, specialised treatment, emergency care or formal assessment is required, referral is made to an appropriate professional.
Most partnerships start with a small pool of sessions and grow from there.
One to one
A private place to work through what is getting in the way
Employees can use sessions for anything affecting their wellbeing, their relationships or their ability to function. They do not need to justify the reason to management, and nobody at work is told they attended.
The work is supportive and reflective rather than diagnostic. It helps people understand what is happening, identify the patterns underneath it, consider their choices, and develop healthier ways of responding.
Common areas of work
- Stress and emotional strain
- Anxiety
- Grief and loss
- Relationship difficulties
- Life transitions and adjustment
- Recurring patterns
- Motivation
- Workplace conflict
- Boundaries and difficult conversations
When work is part of the problem
Sessions can explore workplace stress, difficult conversations, boundaries, motivation, conflict and adjustment directly. Where an employee comes because their performance is under strain, the counselling still remains separate from the employer’s performance-management process. The counsellor helps them think through constructive next steps, and does not become an evaluator for management.
Practical details
- 60-minute sessions
- Online during weekday working hours
- Newlands, Cape Town, on selected weekday evenings
- Saturday morning availability
If a presenting concern suggests that a psychologist, psychiatrist, medical practitioner, emergency service or other specialist is more appropriate, the employee is supported with a referral. Where it helps, supportive counselling may continue alongside that specialist care.
Not every workplace difficulty is one person’s private problem.
Group work
When the challenge belongs to the team, work with the team
Some patterns cannot be resolved in private counselling, because they do not belong to any one person. Facilitated sessions give colleagues a structured way to address tension, rebuild communication, and get clear about what actually needs to change.
These sessions are kept distinct from any employee’s private counselling. Participation, purpose, confidentiality and who will receive any feedback are all agreed in advance, so that nobody is surprised by the role the facilitator is playing.
Communication and difficult conversations
Where something needs to be said, has not been said, and the cost of the silence is starting to show in the work.
Interpersonal conflict
Where a tension between colleagues has settled into a pattern that neither party can now step out of alone.
Trust and psychological safety
Where people have learned that raising a concern is not worth what it costs them, and have quietly stopped raising them.
Stress and burnout awareness
Where overload has become the normal operating state, and nobody is noticing it early enough to act on.
Workshops, used before a problem becomes a crisis
Workshops combine guided discussion, reflection, practical exercises and usable psychological or mindfulness-based tools. They are built around the team’s real context rather than delivered as a generic motivational talk.
Workplace communication
Listening, feedback and repair: what makes a difficult conversation usable rather than merely survivable.
Stress and self-regulation
Recognising overload earlier, and practical ways to pause and respond with more awareness.
Connection and team culture
Healthier ways of relating, and what it takes for a team to repair after tension rather than route around it.
Change and transition
Navigating uncertainty together, and what people need from one another while the ground is moving.
A healthier workplace is not one without tension. It is one with more capacity to notice, communicate and repair.
Boundaries
Useful information for the employer, without turning counselling into surveillance
An employer can reasonably know how many sessions have been funded and used, and can receive carefully aggregated observations where the numbers are large enough to protect identity. What an employer does not automatically receive is anything about a particular person.
Generally appropriate to share
- Total sessions used and remaining
- Service uptake at an aggregate level
- Agreed attendance confirmation, where genuinely necessary and consented to
- Broad non-identifying organisational themes, where anonymity is realistic
- Recommendations for workshops, manager training or systemic support
Not ordinarily appropriate
- Counselling notes or detailed session content
- Diagnosis or psychiatric opinion
- Whether an employee is telling the truth
- Performance, disciplinary or fitness-for-duty conclusions
- Personal histories, or judgments about an employee’s character
In a small team, can that reporting really be anonymous? Honestly, no. Even apparently anonymous thematic reporting can identify people, and it should be treated as identifying. In those settings reporting stays especially minimal.
Management can encourage or formally refer someone to seek support, and performance expectations remain a management responsibility throughout. Where any feedback is expected as part of that, the employee should know exactly what may be shared before counselling begins.
Mediation, formal assessment, or a report supporting an employment decision is a materially different professional role, and may need to be held separately from an employee’s private counselling. It is worth raising early rather than at the point it becomes urgent.
Wellbeing support can contribute to better functioning at work. It should never become a covert tool for surveillance or discipline. Read the privacy policy, or the full scope and ethics.
People bring their whole lives to work, whether or not there is room for it.
2026 rates
Start simple. Add depth where it is useful.
A small organisation can begin with a counselling allocation alone, and add organisational work only where a need actually appears.
Individual session
R850
60 minutes
Online, or in person in Newlands where available.
Five-session package
R3,400
total, at R680 a session
A contained piece of work at a lower rate per session.
Corporate counselling pool
R680
per session, from 5 prepaid
Non-refundable, and valid for 12 months from purchase.
Focused facilitated session
From R1,750
60 to 90 minutes
A small team or a specific workplace issue.
Three-hour workshop
R5,500
up to 20 participants
Preparation included.
Half-day workshop
R7,500
up to 20 participants
Approximately four hours, preparation included.
Larger groups and custom programmes
Quoted separately where participant numbers, preparation, travel, multiple facilitators or custom materials materially change the scope.
Retainer or monthly allocation
For organisations wanting a predictable monthly pool of counselling plus agreed check-ins or workshops, a tailored retainer can be structured.
Rates and scope are confirmed in writing before commencement. Individual clients outside a corporate arrangement pay the same session rates, set out on the Cape Town counselling page.
Ask about a pool size that would suit your headcount, or about a single workshop to begin with.
What the partnership may support
No ethical provider can promise a productivity outcome from counselling. What this work aims at is a set of human capacities that tend to support both wellbeing and better functioning at work.
Earlier support
A low-friction route to support before stress or personal difficulty becomes more entrenched.
Healthier communication
More capacity to name concerns, listen, set boundaries, and approach difficult conversations constructively.
Self-regulation
Practical ways to recognise overload, pause, and respond with greater awareness.
Stronger team culture
Shared sessions can strengthen empathy, mutual support, and the ability to repair after tension. Over time, asking for help becomes more ordinary than exceptional.
Online, or a quiet room in Newlands
Most employees work online, which is simpler to sustain around a working week. For those who would rather sit in a room, in-person appointments are held in a private consulting room in the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town.
About Michael
Michael Kaplan
ASCHP-registered Wellness Counsellor (Reg. 10559) · Group facilitator · Founder of Sangham
Michael has more than a decade of experience working with boys and young men through mentoring, group facilitation and counselling, including many years within the Boys to Men community in Cape Town. His work combines relational counselling, group process, and long experience with mindfulness and contemplative practice.
Within organisations, the emphasis is on creating psychologically safe spaces in which people can reflect honestly, while keeping the boundary between employee support and management decision-making clear.
Where a need sits outside his professional scope, he refers to psychologists, psychiatrists, medical practitioners, mediators or other appropriate specialists, rather than stretching the service beyond its proper role.
Questions employers usually ask
Can employees use sessions for something unrelated to work?
Yes, and most do. Stress, grief, anxiety, relationship difficulties and life transitions do not stay neatly outside the office, and an employee is not required to justify their reason for attending to anyone.
What happens if someone needs more support than the allocation covers?
The pool can be extended, or the employee can continue privately at the standard session rate. Where the need is for specialist care rather than more sessions, referral is made to an appropriate professional. Nobody is left without a next step because an allocation ran out.
Can you guarantee an improvement in productivity?
No, and it would be worth being sceptical of any provider who does. Counselling supports the person. What it can reasonably aim at is earlier support, better communication, and more capacity for reflection, all of which tend to help how a workplace functions.
Support people well. Help teams work better. Keep the boundaries clear.
A partnership begins with a short conversation
Before any service agreement is confirmed, we clarify workforce size, location, expected utilisation, whether online or in-person access suits better, referral pathways, confidentiality, reporting, and any team-level priorities.
Start by email
Write with your headcount, your location, and what has prompted the enquiry. A few lines is enough to work out whether there is a sensible fit.
Discuss a partnershipOr ask first
Send a WhatsApp message if you would rather ask one question before involving anyone else. Either route reaches Michael directly.
Message on WhatsAppOr send the details here
Thank you. Your enquiry has been sent.
Michael normally replies within 1 to 2 business days. If you would rather add something in the meantime, WhatsApp reaches him directly.
Contact
Michael Kaplan
michael@sangham.org
073 673 8063
Cape Town, South Africa
Also for organisations
Reflective Group Counselling and Mindfulness, a six to eight week facilitated programme for NGOs, clinics, shelters and community organisations.
Employees can read about the counselling itself on the counselling overview.