Adolescent Mind Lab

30/04/2026

Sharing this in case it resonates 🤍

This CONFIDENCE WORKSHOP is very PRACTICAL

You’ll learn simple tools to
CALM YOUR MIND
RESET your state
and manage overwhelm in real-life situations

👉 Tools you can use
At work
In a crowded room
When you feel anxious or stuck

These take just a few minutes but make a big difference

You’ll also create your own STRENGTHS BOARD and CONFIDENCE CARDS to take with you

⸻
CONFIDENCE WORKSHOP: Unlock Your Strengths. Strengthen Your Confidence.
📍 Penn Valley Golf Estate, Pennington
🗓 Saturday 9 May
🕘 09:30 – 12:30

💰 R350 per person
👭 R600 for two

⸻

⚠️ Only 2 spaces left
⚠️ Bookings close Sunday 03 May

💬 Message me here
https://wa.me/27630915735?text=Workshop%209%20May%20-%20please%20send%20details

29/04/2026

I wanted to share this story with the parents and followers in this community because it highlights something so important 🙏

How many of us, when we think about the police force, immediately focus on what’s going wrong?
How often do we group everything together and overlook the individuals who are actually doing incredible work?

And yet, here we have Constable THEO WEILBACH, someone who has shown dedication, commitment, and real impact 👏🇿🇦

Stories like this matter. Because they remind us that within any organisation, there is always good… even if it doesn’t always make the headlines ✨

And this links so strongly to how our brains work.

We all have what we call threat-focused brains 🧠
Our minds are naturally wired to notice what’s wrong, what’s missing, and what isn’t working.

That’s why it feels so easy to remember our mistakes, our weaknesses, and our struggles.

This isn’t a flaw. It’s how the brain is designed.

But it does mean something important.

If we don’t intentionally take time to notice what’s strong in us…
what’s working in our lives…
and what’s good in the world…

our brains will, by default, keep pulling us back to what’s wrong.

That’s why this work matters 💛

We need daily reminders.
We need visual cues.
We need intentional moments of reflection.

Because strength is there. Good is there. Progress is there.

We just have to train our minds to see it.

✨ From what’s wrong to what’s strong. CONFIDENCE WORKSHOP: Unlock Your Strengths. Strengthen Your Confidence.

The Theunissen Regional Court has sentenced Matebesi Papikie Bambiso (40) to life imprisonment for r**e.

The sentencing emanates from an incident that occurred on Saturday, 5 October 2024, at about 19:00. The Regional Court heard how, on the day of the incident, the female victim who was aged 46 at the time was accosted by the accused and his accomplice. While the victim was walking home from a traditional ceremony, she was attacked by the two males. She was able to identify one of them as Papi. During the attack, the victim was struck on the left side of the head with a stone. The victim recalled how both males assaulted her before taking turns and r**ed her.

While the victim was lying defenceless on the ground, they kicked her, and Papi further stabbed her. Believing that the victim was dead, they then left her after taking her daughter's cellphone from her. The victim then managed to get up and seek assistance at Theunissen police station, where a case of r**e was registered.

The matter was assigned to Constable Theo Weilbach of the Bultfontein Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit for further investigations. Through his meticulous investigation, the one suspect who was known to the victim was arrested on 5 November 2024. The accused was denied bail until the commencement of the trial and subsequently the time of his conviction.

The investigating officer who worked tirelessly alongside prosecutor Dr I Maklein of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) ensured that the accused was found guilty. Matebesi Papikie Bambiso was sentenced to life imprisonment by Magistrate Mr Mitha on Tuesday, 28 April 2026.
https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=68208

29/04/2026

I wanted to share this story with the parents and followers in this community because it highlights something so important 🙏

How many of us, when we think about the police force, immediately focus on what’s going wrong?
How often do we group everything together and overlook the individuals who are actually doing incredible work?

And yet, here we have Constable THEO WEILBACH, someone who has shown dedication, commitment, and real impact 👏🇿🇦

Stories like this matter. Because they remind us that within any organisation, there is always good… even if it doesn’t always make the headlines ✨

And this links so strongly to how our brains work.

We all have what we call threat-focused brains 🧠
Our minds are naturally wired to notice what’s wrong, what’s missing, and what isn’t working.

That’s why it feels so easy to remember our mistakes, our weaknesses, and our struggles.

This isn’t a flaw. It’s how the brain is designed.

But it does mean something important.

If we don’t intentionally take time to notice what’s strong in us…
what’s working in our lives…
and what’s good in the world…

our brains will, by default, keep pulling us back to what’s wrong.

That’s why this work matters 💛

We need daily reminders.
We need visual cues.
We need intentional moments of reflection.

Because strength is there. Good is there. Progress is there.

We just have to train our minds to see it.

✨ From what’s wrong to what’s strong

FROM WHAT’S WRONG TO WHAT’S STRONG

The Theunissen Regional Court has sentenced Matebesi Papikie Bambiso (40) to life imprisonment for r**e.

The sentencing emanates from an incident that occurred on Saturday, 5 October 2024, at about 19:00. The Regional Court heard how, on the day of the incident, the female victim who was aged 46 at the time was accosted by the accused and his accomplice. While the victim was walking home from a traditional ceremony, she was attacked by the two males. She was able to identify one of them as Papi. During the attack, the victim was struck on the left side of the head with a stone. The victim recalled how both males assaulted her before taking turns and r**ed her.

While the victim was lying defenceless on the ground, they kicked her, and Papi further stabbed her. Believing that the victim was dead, they then left her after taking her daughter's cellphone from her. The victim then managed to get up and seek assistance at Theunissen police station, where a case of r**e was registered.

The matter was assigned to Constable Theo Weilbach of the Bultfontein Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Unit for further investigations. Through his meticulous investigation, the one suspect who was known to the victim was arrested on 5 November 2024. The accused was denied bail until the commencement of the trial and subsequently the time of his conviction.

The investigating officer who worked tirelessly alongside prosecutor Dr I Maklein of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) ensured that the accused was found guilty. Matebesi Papikie Bambiso was sentenced to life imprisonment by Magistrate Mr Mitha on Tuesday, 28 April 2026.
https://www.saps.gov.za/newsroom/msspeechdetail.php?nid=68208

29/04/2026

Sometimes the best way forward isn’t to push harder… it’s to step away.

A few quiet minutes, a change of view, and everything starts to shift.

From what’s wrong to what’s strong

FROM WHAT’S WRONG TO WHAT’S STRONG

24/04/2026

WHY DO WE FIND IT SO EASY TO SEE WHAT’S WRONG… AND SO HARD TO SEE WHAT’S STRONG?

This is something I see all the time
With teens, young adults, and even adults

We are often far more aware of our flaws than our strengths

And it’s not because something is wrong with us
👉 It’s because of how the brain is wired

That’s exactly what this CONFIDENCE WORKSHOP is about

Helping you understand
WHY you get stuck in that pattern
and giving you practical tools to shift out of it

In this 3-hour workshop, you will

Learn how to CALM and RESET your mind
Understand the “WHAT’S WRONG LOOP”
Identify your STRENGTHS across different areas of your life
and build your own CONFIDENCE TOOLS

Including
Your STRENGTHS CARD
Your CONFIDENCE CARDS
and simple tools you can use in everyday situations

This is not about forcing confidence.
It’s not about changing you.
It’s about building it from what is already WITHIN YOU

📍 Pennington
🗓 Saturday 9 May
🕘 09:30 – 12:30

💰 R350 per person
👭 R600 for two

⚠️ Only 2 spaces left

If this resonates, you’re welcome to join us

💬 https://wa.me/27630915735?text=Workshop%209%20May%20-%20please%20send%20details

23/04/2026

WHEN YOUR BODY TRIGGERS THE “WHAT’S WRONG” LOOP

So I want to share something real from this past week.

I’ve been dealing with a chronic hamstring injury for a while now… managing it, working around it, doing all the right things.

But last Friday, I was walking in the forest, and I tripped.

And in that moment… I tore the old injury. The scar tissue.

And everything changed.

Sudden. Intense pain.
The kind that doesn’t ask your permission.

And just like that, I went from managing… to being completely housebound, bedbound for the week.

And if you know me… you’ll know that’s not exactly my natural state. 😅

But here’s what really stood out to me.

It wasn’t just the physical pain.

It was what started happening in my mind.

I noticed my thoughts shifting.
My emotions becoming heavier.
My focus narrowing onto what’s wrong, what’s not working, what feels hard.

And I caught it.

This is the “what’s wrong loop.”

But not triggered by something outside of me.

Triggered by my body.

And that really landed for me.

Because we often think this loop comes from situations, people, stress out there.

But something happening inside your body can trigger the exact same response.

So here’s the way I started understanding it this week.

Think of your brain like a country. 🧠

When pain shows up, your brain treats it as a threat to the country.

And immediately, different systems switch on.

🚨 Alarm City goes on high alert
Your brain starts scanning for danger, becoming more sensitive to anything that could make things worse.

🛂 Border Control tightens
This decides what gets your attention. And now it starts prioritising what’s wrong, what feels off, what could go badly.

🛡️ Defense Forces mobilise
Your body protects. You move differently, you guard, you tense. Your whole system shifts into protection mode.

🛣️ And then your Story Highway shifts
This is the part that really hit me.

The stories change.

This is a problem
This is too much
I can’t do what I normally do
What if this doesn’t get better

And suddenly… everything feels heavier.

Not because my life changed.

But because the lens I was seeing it through changed.

And that was my big realisation this week.

Nothing was wrong with me.

My brain was doing exactly what it’s designed to do.

Protect me.

But in today’s world, that protection can sometimes pull us into a loop of “what’s wrong” without us even realising it.

And here’s something important.

This doesn’t only happen with big injuries like mine.

Even low-level pain, tightness, discomfort you’ve just gotten used to… can quietly keep this system running in the background.

So if you find yourself feeling more negative, more overwhelmed, more stuck in your head…

Pause and ask yourself:

Is my brain trying to protect me right now because something in my body feels like a threat?

Because sometimes…

It’s not your life that feels heavy.

It’s your nervous system working overtime to keep you safe. 🤍

And when you understand that…

You can meet yourself with a little more compassion, and a lot less self-judgment.

💬 Have you noticed how your thinking or mood shifts when your body is in pain?

FROM WHAT’S WRONG TO WHAT’S STRONG

’sWrongLoop

21/04/2026

There are so many things in my life that I’m grateful for… but one that really stands out is my monthly PSIG-CFT group

It’s a space filled with wise psychologists, psychiatrists, and counsellors from around the world, people with such depth of experience, insight, and a genuine willingness to share and support one another.

I don’t take for granted how special it is to be able to learn from some of the leading voices in CFT. People with so much experience, and the generosity to share it. And I feel really grateful that I get to be part of this group once a month.

Today’s session felt especially meaningful. We had Kate Lucre with us, sharing her work and her thinking around safeness, play, and working with groups in such a compassionate and grounded way.

She spoke about the paradox of play and the importance of cultivating safeness, both in groups and in individual work. It was such a powerful reminder that healing doesn’t just come from understanding… it comes from safeness, from connection, from play, from a sense of belonging and acceptance, from laughter, and from being able to feel and truly experience.

I feel incredibly grateful to be part of this space, to learn from these brilliant minds, and to call many of them friends.

A huge thank you to Kate for sharing your knowledge and your wisdom. I gained so much from today’s talk, and I’m really looking forward to attending your upcoming workshops.

And Ellie, and to everyone in the group, thank you. For holding this space, for your consistency, and for creating something so meaningful. We don’t always realise the power of a group, but there really is something special that happens when people come together like this.

Something else that really stayed with me today was the importance of not just imagining a “safe space”… but actually creating it in a more concrete, visual way.

A few weeks ago, I played around with AI to create a visual of my own “welcoming, peaceful space of connection” — inspired by the fynbos mountains of the Cape. When we moved, I realised I needed something more tangible to anchor into… and seeing it visually made such a difference.

Kate’s talk sparked something for me here too, especially in my work with adolescents. The idea of helping them create their own safe or welcoming spaces, and then bringing those individual spaces together into a shared group “continent” of care and compassion… separate, but connected.

There’s something really powerful in that.

20/04/2026

Why does your mind keep going back to what’s wrong?

Your brain is constantly filtering information.

If you think of it like a kind of border control,
it decides what gets through.

And because your brain is wired for SURVIVAL,
it prioritises what feels unsafe, uncertain, or threatening.

That’s why it’s so easy to get stuck in the
“WHAT’S WRONG LOOP.”

Not because it’s true —
but because it’s what your brain is prioritising.

In this talk, you’ll begin to understand:
• Why this happens
• How to recognise the loop
• And how to start shifting your focus

💛 This is the FINAL FREE TALK in the
“FROM WHAT’S WRONG TO WHAT’S STRONG” series

📍 Kai Kaffe
🗓 Saturday 25 April | 14:00 – 15:30
⚠ ONLY 4 SEATS LEFT

👉 Book here: https://tinyurl.com/5ymmaseu

📱 WhatsApp: 063 091 5735

18/04/2026

STUCK IN THE “WHAT’S WRONG” LOOP?

Ever notice how your mind goes straight to what’s not working
what’s not right
what you should be doing better

And the more you try to fix it
the more stuck you feel

Trying to think more positively
Trying to stop the thoughts

But it doesn’t shift

It’s a bit like driving a manual car

You can’t change gears
by pressing harder on the accelerator
or harder on the brake

If you do, you either
speed up out of control
or stall completely

You can try force the gear without the clutch
but it’s rough
it creates strain
and you risk damage

And yet this is exactly what we do with our minds

Because the part of your brain driving that spiral
isn’t something you can simply override with willpower

So the more we push
or try shut it down
the more pressure we create

Not just for ourselves
but often in how we show up with others too

What’s missing is the clutch

That pause
That moment of stepping in, not fighting

Because only when your system settles
Can you actually shift gears

So if you’re feeling stuck

Don’t push harder
Don’t shut it down

Put the clutch in first
Then shift

If you want to understand how to do that
how to put the clutch in when your mind feels stuck

Join me for a free talk

KAI KAFFE, SCOTTBURGH
Saturday 25 April 14:00 to 15:30

FROM WHAT’S WRONG TO WHAT’S STRONG

WE HAVE 5 SEATS LEFT

BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE
Understand your mind
Shift from what’s wrong to what’s strong

👉 Book your seat: https://wa.me/27630915735?text=Hi%20I%E2%80%99d%20love%20to%20book%20a%20seat%20for%20the%2025th%20of%20April%20talk%20at%20KAI%20KAFFE

17/04/2026

Did you know your brain can filter OUT helpful information — not just negative?

If you think of your brain as a country,
it has a FILTERING SYSTEM (like border control) deciding what information gets through.

Because your brain is wired for SURVIVAL,
this system prioritises what feels UNSAFE, UNCERTAIN, or THREATENING.

And that’s helpful… until it isn’t.

Because this same system can:

👉 Trigger you to focus on what’s WRONG
👉 Keep your attention on MISTAKES or perceived WEAKNESSES
👉 And — importantly — filter out HELPFUL, POSITIVE, or SUPPORTIVE information

So even when something is going well…
or someone gives you encouragement…
or there’s evidence that you ARE CAPABLE…

Your brain might not fully let it in.

That’s how the “WHAT’S WRONG LOOP” keeps going.

Not because it’s true —
but because it’s what your brain is PRIORITISING.

The goal isn’t to switch this system off.
It’s to UNDERSTAND it.

Because when you understand how your mind works,
you can begin to:

✔ Notice what’s being filtered IN
✔ Recognise what’s being filtered OUT
✔ And gently guide your attention toward what’s STRONG

If you’d like to learn how to work WITH your brain — not against it…

Join us for the
FINAL FREE TALK in the “FROM WHAT’S WRONG TO WHAT’S STRONG” series

📍 Kai Kaffe in Scottburgh
🗓 Saturday 25 April
⏰ 14:00 – 15:30
👥 ONLY 12 SEATS AVAILABLE

👉 Book your seat: https://tinyurl.com/5ymmaseu
📱 WhatsApp: 063 091 5735

16/04/2026

It’s 9:15 and I’m already ready for my 2pm talk FROM WHAT’S WRONG TO WHAT’S STRONGwhich probably means I now have 4.5 hours to accidentally rehearse it 17 times 😅✨

Note to self: do NOT turn a 45-minute talk into a full-day seminar 😂

But honestly… how lucky am I 💛
Getting to speak about something I’m so passionate about, in a beautiful coffee shop, Kai Kaffein a lovely town, in my new home.

This is exactly where I’m meant to be ☕️✨

14/04/2026

Kai Kaffe ☕✨

There’s something special about finding a space that invites you to slow down…
To breathe…
To feel a little more like yourself again 🤍

And this is something I care deeply about

Because in my work with teens…
I see how quickly they get stuck in the “what’s wrong” loop

How their minds turn against them
How they overthink, withdraw, or feel like they’re just not enough

And what breaks my heart is that so many adults are sitting in that same space, too

Trying harder
thinking more
pushing through

not realising that the brain doesn’t work that way

We can’t think our way out of a stressed mind

We have to pause first

That’s why I love this space at Kai Kaffe
because it naturally invites that pause

This isn’t just a talk,
It’s a gentle space to understand what’s happening in your mind…
and to experience the first step to shifting out of it

So that you can begin to feel calmer, clearer, and more in control again

And when we learn to do that for ourselves
We can start showing up differently for our teens, too 🤍

(and yes… the carrot cake is incredible 🥕🍰)

📅 Thursday | 14:00 – 15:30
📍 Kai Kaffe, Scottburgh
⚠️ Only 6 seats left

📲 063 091 5735

Or click the link in the Event Form FROM WHAT’S WRONG TO WHAT’S STRONG

Sarah Roos