Wednesday 12 mid-day Lynette Vermaas office is packed with four students and as the busy women walks into her office with the most welcoming voice I have ever heard. “I am so busy with twenty things at once. This week is just crazy for me, with the Addicted to life fun day fun walk.” explained Lynette as I walked into her office. The four girls purchased the tickets to the exciting Addicted to life fun day fun walk event with shock on how Lynette could spell one of their names “Koketso” without any assistance, she laughed with sincere laughter. The brunette haired lady with extremely gorgeous honey glow skin came and joined me at her round table which had striking dry flowers and bright inviting orange cushions on all four chairs around the table. With two pink and white teddy bears (which she uses for hypnotherapy) and a pleasant sweet flower aroma one could not help but be more relaxed in Lynette’s office. This may be why many students around campus, in stress dash to office 352 for some advise and a shoulder to cry on. The Zeerust born lady studied towards her Bachelors of Arts in Social Sciences during 1987 till 1990 at the Rand Afrikaans University now known as University of Johannesburg. She continued with her Masters of Arts in Clinical Social Work in 1993 till 1995. “I was in first year at UJ my then boyfriend was doing his second year. We dated for four years and decided to get married”, said Lynette with a big smile on her face while going down memory lane. “He had one of the craziest proposal but I think it was just the sweetest ever, he gave me a box of chocolates but in one of them was quite hard when I opened it, I found the ring.” , explained Lynette. They couple had already decided to get married before the proposal; the two soon after tied the knot at what Lynette called a student wedding. Twenty one years later the university lovers have been blessed with a teenage daughter. The proud mother of one explained that she was not planning on having another child, “I have a very busy schedule and my daughter is already fourteen (14) years old”, added Lynette. During her 19 years t experience in Clinical Social Worker Lynette has truly been around, she began her career at Telkom South Africa in 1990 where she held the position of Industrial Social Work Assistant, in 1991 she moved to the Department of Health and Welfare where she worked as a social worker. “I saw some of the most painful things ever, from young children that have been abused and violated. Taking the kids away from their homes and seeing that they don’t understand what is going on. I learned a lot from working there”, said the brave Lynette. After six months of working at the Department of Health and Welfare the young ambitious lady was offered a position at Rand Aid Association: Wedge Gardens Rehabilitation Centre where she worked as a senior therapist. For seven years while she was there she did individual and Group Therapy, Marital and Family Therapy. When her husband was transferred to Pretoria from Johannesburg, Lynette was lucky enough to get a job at the Stabilis Treatment Centre for Alcohol and Drug Dependency where she held the same title of senior therapist. In 2004 she moved to the Tshwane University of Technology where she has been doing wonders. She specialises in education and Training for both students and staff in drug Interdiction; rape protocol; pregnancy and abortion; mentor training; trauma; personal Safety and eating disorders. “Over the past two weeks four pregnant students have came to see me, they were all not willing to keep the babies and were not even aware of the after effects.”, she said. She mentioned that it was a great disappointment with all the available resources and information out there that students still get themselves in such situations. As part of her Doctoral studies in Social Sciences at UNISA, she titled her research “Tertiary students’ experiences and needs related to unplanned pregnancies and TOP’s: A guidance programme from a social work perspective” which is nothing new to this talented women. In 2008 Lynette established a co-operative agreement between TUT and the University of Pretoria where she managed and supervised social workers internships. The first group’s research topic was “The Perceptions of female students at TUT regarding unplanned pregnancy” the second group, in 2009 did not go far off and based their research on “Challenges pregnant students experience at the Tshwane University of Technology”. In the Witwatersrand student newsletter it was mentioned that student pregnancies at tertiary institutions worldwide are increasing every year despite the assumption that students have sufficient knowledge of the risks of unprotected sex and showed concern on the statistic rise in abortions although it’s legal. Lynette delivered a paper Dealing with unplanned pregnancies and abortions amongst tertiary students at the 6th African Conference on Psychotherapy in Uganda which she describes as one of her highlights of her life. She smile with pride and said she went there alone which was a daunting yet exciting experience for her. The easy going women received a TUT Academic and Research Excellence Award for teaching, Learning and Technology and Student Development and Support Practitioner of the Year 2007. This phenomenal women who grow up at the coast describes herself as loyal, caring and hard working and says her main focus at this point is getting completing her D. Phil with UNISA and with the little spare time she has she makes the most out it with spending time with her family and reading books.