Vanessa Hemp is a Clinical Psychologist who trained at Wits University. She started working at Tara Hospital with children, adolescences and their parents, on an outpatient basis. She became Head of Department of Psychology, managing and supervising the psychological service provision throughout the hospital, including the outpatient and outreach services at Alexandra Clinic. She was also involved in the training and supervision of interns and psychiatry registrars as well as in the planning of the Children's Ward and training of staff. Vanessa's role in the Alex AIDS Orphans Project was to identify the psychological needs of orphaned children, and to develop and supervise a number of bereavement groups. This work was presented at conferences, including the World Association of Social Psychiatry in Kobe, Japan. At Tara, she served as a joint appointee to the Wits University Department of Psychiatry. Since leaving the hospital, Vanessa has been in private practice, focusing on adolescents and parenting. She continues to present at conferences on topics relating to children, adolescence and parenting. Addressing issues of affect regulation and assisting children, teens and their parents to manage stressful situations and overwhelming feelings has been a major focus of her work.