Laetitia Permall

Background

About Laetitia Permall

Laetitia Permall is a Registered Educational Psychologist and currently serves as Director of the Centre for Student Support Services at the University of the Western Cape. With over 36 years of experience in education, she brings a deeply rooted commitment to student development, wellbeing, and empowerment. She holds a PhD in Child and Family Studies and has played influential leadership roles within the Student Affairs sector, including serving as President of the Southern African Association for Counselling and Development in Higher Education (SAACDHE), founding member and Secretary of the Southern African Federation of Student Affairs and Services (SAFSAS), and Faculty Member at the Roelf Visser Student Housing Training Institute for over six years. Dr. Permall is passionate about fostering environments where students and staff can learn, grow, and thrive. She has presented widely at national and international conferences and continues to design strategic interventions that support academic success, psychosocial wellness, and inclusive student leadership. She has lead in the development of an institution-wide mental health framework and the development of a predictive analytics tool, grounded in collaboration, prevention, and responsive care, and is committed to ensuring that existing services evolve to become more proactive, culturally competent and accessible. For her, cultural competence is not a gesture of inclusion but a responsibility—quiet, conscious, and continuous. With a growing interest in the integration of neuroscience into student support, she is a certified BrainWorking Recursive Therapy (BWRT) practitioner and an accredited Empowerment Practitioner and Master Trainer through the Empowerment Institute in Rhinebeck, New York. Her dedication to empowering the next generation led to the co-founding of Cabanga, a non-profit organization focused on the upliftment of women and youth. Dr. Permall’s leadership is grounded in authenticity, guided by her life’s philosophy: “To thine own self be true.” She is married, the proud mother of two daughters, and deeply blessed to be “Mimi” to three grandsons. As the higher education landscape continues to evolve, she remains committed to leading with vision, empathy, and purpose in navigating digital transformation and cultivating resilient, future-ready support systems