Knowledge is wealth and power and should be shared.
Micki Pistorius matriculated at Hoërskool Menlo Park, Pretoria in 1978. The following year she enrolled for a BA majoring in Psychology and Languages at the University of Pretoria and upon qualifying, she embarked upon a career in journalism, working in diverse media.
Ten years later, she answered a calling to become a psychologist, applied and was selected at the University of Pretoria.
Her career as educator commenced as junior lecturer in Social Psychology at the University of Pretoria, whilst she was completing her Honors degree in Psychology. She completed her Master’s degree in Psychology two years later. Both her Honors and Masters’ degrees were awarded cum laude.
She obtained her Doctorate’s degree in Psychology at the University of Pretoria in 1996 with the thesis titled: “A Psycho-analytical approach to serial killers.”
Her academic publications include:
- ‘n Kruisevaluering van die teorieë rondom die Oedipuskompleks aan die hand van ‘n gevallestudie. University of Pretoria, MA Thesis 1993
- Entering the positive Oedipus position – a different perspective. Propersona, vol 4 no 2 p 1-5 (co-author Prof JAK Erasmus).
- A Psycho–analytical approach to serial killers. University of Pretoria,
DPhil Thesis, 1996
- Forensic Criminalistics: Crime Scene as information source. Co-author, chapter 2. 1996
- An explanation of the boy next door syndrome in serial killers: International Criminal Police Review. (Co-author Prof Maurice Aronstam)
In 1994 she was appointed the first psychological profiler in the South African Police Service and she founded the Investigative Psychology Unit. She designed and wrote the curricula and presented two courses to train South African Police Services’ detectives, commanders and crime scene technicians in the investigation, psychology and profiling of serial killers and other sexual offenders. These courses were reserved for the elite select few.
Dr Micki Pistorius identified international masters in their field and endeavored to learn from these experts. During the period 1994 to 2000 she was privileged to be trained by the following mentors: retired FBI agents Robert Ressler and Roy Hazelwood in criminal profiling and crime scene analysis, at the University of Dundee in Scotland.
She was trained in advanced interviewing and interrogation techniques by Mr Nate Gordon of the Academy for Scientific Investigative Training, based in the USA and also in Scientific Content Analysis by Mr Avinoan Sapir of the Laboratory for Scientific Interrogation (USA).
She attended a crime scene analysis course presented by Mr Thomas Muller of Interpol Vienna. She was accepted into the Advanced Threat Assessment, Workplace Violence and Stalking course of Gavin de Becker Inc in Los Angeles and she was trained in Competitive Intelligence by International Business Intelligence Services in Pretoria.
She expanded her knowledge of French by attending more courses at Alliance Franςais in Pretoria in 2003 and 2004.
She resigned from the SA Police Service in 2000 and for the next two decades her focus shifted from crime investigation to psychology, especially in the fields of forensic / court psychology and neuro-psychology.
She attended a course by Professor Alfred Allan of Australia on Psychology in Court, workshops presented by the SA Society for Clinical Hypnosis and the Milton Erikson Institute of SA, Brain Based therapy by Dr John Arden, director of the Kaiser Permanente Medical Centers in San Raphael, and a workshop on compiling a Parenting Plan, presented by Advocate Chris Maree of the Family Advocate’s Office.
She attended the 2nd World Congress of Healthy Ageing and completed a neuroscience refresher course hosted by the SA Clinical Neuropsychological Association.
She completed a training course in mediation at the Institute of Family Mediators.
She attended a workshop on the latest version of DSM V diagnostic manual and attended a course on inspirational leadership.
By 2010 her private passion for archaeology and antiquity inspired her to enroll and complete an Honors degree in Biblical Archaeology at UNISA.
In 2015 Dr Pistorius qualified as a Teach English Foreign Language educator.
In between her studies, running her psychological practice and consultation service and training, she authored seven books.
Dr Micki Pistorius has always believed in sharing knowledge to empower all people and therefore she set out to teach others.
Besides the junior lecturer position at the University of Pretoria and developing the Investigative Psychology courses for the SA Police Service, she has lectured extensively in South Africa and on international podia. The most notably being her training European profilers for the Centre International de Sciences des Criminelles et Penales in Paris, France on an annual basis from 1998 to 2005.
She was invited to lecture at the National Crime Faculty at Bramshill Police Training Academy, United Kingdom, and at the University of Liverpool’s 5th Annual International Convention on Criminal Profiling in the UK. She presented a guest lecture at the World Conference on Modern Investigation, Organized Crime and Human Rights at Sun City.
She presented the first of a series of workshops on Workplace Violence to several South African companies and she expanded to training auditors to profile white collar criminals at the Internal Auditors conferences.
She trained several covert units of various Government Intelligence Departments in intelligence profiling.
She has presented several guest lectures and modules at the University of Rhodes and University of Pretoria to psychology and criminology students.
In 2006 she was invited to present a two-week course on serial homicide and related crimes to the Namibian Police.
In 2010 she presented at the Association of Psychology and Psychiatry for Adults and Children congress in Athens, Greece and at the International Milton Erikson Institute of SA congress at Sun City.
In 2011 she presented interviewing skills for forensic accountants at the University of Pretoria.
She presented a series of lectures on criminal behavior to the psychologists of the Government Department of Correctional Services: Gauteng in 2011 and 2012.
In 2012 she lectured on interrogation and profiling to DHC International Fraud detection and to the SA Professional Polygraph Institute on white collar crime, interrogation skills and profiling.
In 2013 she lectured at the Internal Auditors SA Conference, the SA Professional Polygraph Association, the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, on intelligence profiling and profiling psychopaths.
She was also invited by the Premier of North-West, Ms Thandi Modise, to present at the province’s Round Table Discussion on the Battle against Corruption in 2013.
She presented a neuro-psychological lecture at the Association of Psychology and Psychiatry for Adults and Children congress in Athens, Greece in 2016.
In 2016 she delivered a key-note workshop at the SchoolsCompany UK on the development of the teenage brain.
Dr Micki Pistorius acted as external examiner on the following theses:
K Schiff; “Childhood cruelty towards animals in aggressive and non-aggressive criminals”. 1997, as submitted in accordance with the requirements for the Magister Artium (Clinical Psychology), at the University of the Orange Free State.
L Netto; “ The Development of a Pro Forma Document for the use in Police Rape Investigations in South Africa”. 2000, as submitted in accordance with the requirements for the Magister Artium (Forensic Psychology), at the University of Rhodes.
D J Cartwright; “Latent Murderousness: An Exploration of the Nature and Quality of Object Relations in Rage Type Murderers” submitted in accordance with the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy, at the University of Rhodes.
F Visagie; “On the investigation of serial rape”. Submitted in accordance with the requirements for a higher diploma in Police Science at the Tshwane University of Technology, RSA.
B Hodgkiss: “A Multivariate model of the offence behaviours of South African serial killers”. 2001, as submitted in accordance for the requirements for the Magister Artium (Research Psychology), at the University of Rhodes.
E Olivier; “Killing for the camera? An investigation into the relationship between serial killers and the media”. 2007, as submitted in accordance for the requirements for the Magister Artuim (Psychology) at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University.
C McKinnell; “Towards characterising the female sexual offender: a systematic review of research articles”. 2013, as submitted in accordance with the requirements for the Magister Artium (Psychology) at the University of South Africa.
Dr Pistorius is a member of the following professional bodies and associations:
- Allied Health Professions Council of Mauritius
- Health Professions Council of SA
- South African Society for Clinical Hypnosis
- Psycho-legal peer review group, Pretoria
- Associate member: SA Clinical Neuropsychological Association
- Institute of Family Mediators
- SA Medico-Legal Association
- Mensa – Pretoria Gauteng
- Who’s who in South Africa
- Mauritius Society for Professional Psychologists
- SA Archaeological Association
In 2010 she was awarded the prestigious Laureate Award from the University of Pretoria’s Alumni Association as International Lecturer and Forensic Psychologist.
In 2016 she branched into in soft skills training for adults and leadership development for learners. After a decade of conducting career counseling for hundreds of learners and adults and generating countless reports, incorporating psychometric tests, Dr Pistorius developed a series of public seminars on Basic Brain; Adolescent Brain, Psychodietics and Stress Management, which she commenced presenting in 2017. She also conducts corporate training, leadership development and assessments and mentoring.
In 2019 she relocated to Mauritius. She has been accredited by the Mauritius Qualifications Authority and has lectured psychology at the Open University of Mauritius as well as Middlesex Mauritius satellite campus. Currently she presents corporate workshops and coaching.
She is registered as a psychologist at the Allied Health Professions Council of Mauritius
