Meet the Team
At The Connect Group, our practitioners are committed to offering compassionate, professional support tailored to each client’s unique needs.
Kayla-Tess
Founder / Lead Therapist
Kayla-Tess Pattenden is a justice advocate, creative, mother of 3 faith-filled woman and proud South African. It is these factors combined which make Kayla-Tess an incredible social worker.
She graduated in 2015 with a Bachelors in Social Work (UCT) and continues to educate herself in addiction & recovery, statutory social work, couples and intimacy counselling and supervision. She has compassion in mounds and the wisdom & experience to transform this into meaningful interventions.
In working for The LifeMatters Foundation alone, she has written counselling material specific to the South African context, established a supervision group for social service professionals and developed the Teenage Awareness Programme- workshops for youth which makes The Life Orientation curriculum relevant and exciting! The Teenage Awareness Programme educates Grade 7-12 learners in healthy sexuality, safe social networking, career guidance, positive parental relationships, substance abuse prevention and more! It is the only programme of its kind in South Africa.
The programme has developed a good name and Kayla-Tess is seen as a referral source in psycho-social support for teens and their families. She is often invited into schools and other organisations to debrief and effectively equip staff to face the mental health challenges of their context.
Kayla-Tess currently utilizes her family systems therapy in-patient too, helping clients in recovery, confront trauma, make amends and rekindle relationship with their loved ones through family therapy.
Her family systems training also makes her an asset in the statutory field where she frequently does court mandated mediations, reunification sessions, care & contact assessments and parenting plans.
All of these programmes are rooted in client empowerment- they aim to educate and equip clients to cope and even thrive in the face of trial. Kayla-Tess is currently focusing on expanding the offerings at The Connect Group by means of training & supervising junior practitioners, furthering the reach of the practice . Overall, Kayla-Tess’s service is motivated by her Faith and Commitment to her beloved South Africa!
Kayleigh
Junior Therapist
As a genuinely empathetic and curious person, Kayleigh is passionate about learning more about others and how they are shaped by their experiences. Kayleigh De Villiers graduated with her Bachelor of Social Work degree in 2021. After working in the NPO sector, she then completed her honours specialising in Psychology in 2025 at the University of Cape Town to enhance her clinical knowledge. She also completed additional training in mental health assessment, trauma debriefing, and play therapy.
Much of Kayleigh’s experience has been in supporting young people and adolescents, particularly those navigating complex life transitions. She has provided mentoring and psychosocial support to youth leaving state care and supported high school and university students through academic tutoring and psychosocial support. In her work with New Hope SA, she facilitated personal development, work readiness and recovery groups to help previously homeless men battling with addiction. In this way, she has a good amount of experience supporting people of all ages through different life transitions. Her approach is grounded in a strengths based and relational framework, with an emphasis on collaboration, empowerment, and developmentally appropriate interventions. She values creating safe, supportive spaces in which people of all backgrounds and identities can explore challenges, build skills and work towards meaningful goals. She values the therapeutic relationship above all else and is passionate about creating safe spaces in which people feel heard and supported.
Kayleigh has a particular interest in human development, family systems, and the ways in which early relationships and social contexts shape mental health across the lifespan. She is curious about human behaviour and finds fulfilment in learning from others. Kayleigh also values self-care and maintaining a balanced work-life rhythm. Outside of work she enjoys art, spending time with friends and the outdoors, especially at the beach or hiking, which support her wellbeing and creativity. She is excited to enter the therapy space and continue to develop her skills to be the best social worker she possibly can.