Startup Story
The Professional Mind Resilience Institute, founded by Sonja Cilliers & Maryke Groenewald, empowers legal practitioners to attain unparalleled excellence, find balance in their personal lives, and transcend the boundaries of traditional legal practice in South Africa. The business, which launched in 2024, is on a mission is to enhance cognitive abilities, personal resilience, and professional expertise through comprehensive courses and workshops tailored specifically for legal professionals.
Sonja has been in practice, as attorney and advocate for an aggregate of 24 years, including the three vocational training years, and obtained extensive experience in litigation in various fields of the law; including contractual law, banking law and litigation, corporate law, family law, insurance law and personal injury law.
Maryke is an accomplished professional with a passion for facilitating transformation within her clients. She holds several qualifications including her Honours in Psychology, BCom Behavioural Sciences, and certifications in Master Transformation Coaching, NLP Practitioner and Neuro-Coaching. Driven by a genuine desire to help individuals unlock their full potential, Maryke combines her wealth of experience, diverse skill set, and in-depth knowledge to guide her clients towards meaningful personal and professional transformations.
LoA spoke to co-founders Sonja Cilliers & Maryke Groenewald about their motivation for starting the business, and their vision to make a lasting impact in their profession.
What does your company do?
At PMRI, we develop neuro-based resources specifically for legal practitioners to enhance your untapped potential with a new emphasis on mental acumen and brain health. We offer programs and workshops that provide essential skills to enhance your cognitive, analytical, management, ethical, and emotional abilities.
“At PMRI, we develop neuro-based resources specifically for legal practitioners to enhance your untapped potential with a new emphasis on mental acumen and brain health.”
What inspired you to start your company?
The legal profession faces increasing demands and pressures, making stress management, wellbeing, and professional skills more important than ever. By partnering with PMRI, the General Council of the Bar can provide its members with the tools and knowledge they need to thrive in their careers while maintaining their health and wellbeing.
What makes your business, service or product special?
Currently we are the only service offering as such in Africa, a first to market.
Tell us a little about your team
It was a meeting of two minds and the discovery of our shared passion that led to the birth of the Professional Mind Resilience Institute. We realised that in today’s rapidly evolving world, technical legal knowledge is no longer sufficient for success in the legal profession. To truly thrive and make a lasting impact, legal practitioners need to develop a unique blend of cognitive, analytical, management, emotional, and ethical skills. These skills are not taught in any tertiary institute in South Africa as part of the law curriculum. Mere technical legal knowledge is no longer sufficient to sustain a successful legal career. Our mission is simple yet powerful: to empower legal practitioners to attain unparalleled excellence, find balance in their personal lives, and transcend the boundaries of traditional legal practice.
“Our mission is simple yet powerful: to empower legal practitioners to attain unparalleled excellence, find balance in their personal lives, and transcend the boundaries of traditional legal practice.”
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And, do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
The Professional Mind Resilience Institute (PMRI) is dedicated to uplifting the legal profession by addressing the unique requirements and challenges within the legal industry. Our mission is to enhance cognitive abilities, personal resilience, and professional expertise through comprehensive courses and workshops tailored specifically for legal professionals.
PMRI is a collaboration on between Sonja Cilliers, an advocate with extensive legal experience, and Maryke Groenewald, a neuro-and behavioural coach with a deep understanding of neuroscience principles, stress management and psychology.
Sonja Cilliers practiced as an attorney for four years before successfully completing her pupillage at the Pretoria Society of Advocates in 2005. She has practiced as an advocate since then unti l June 2024, when she resigned as a member to dedicate her full attention to the development of PMRI.
Technical legal knowledge alone is not enough to ensure professional success, professional skills are essential. PMRI develops comprehensive courses covering every facet of these professional skills, providing legal professionals with the tools they need to be successful. These innovative and comprehensive courses are meticulously crafted to empower legal professionals with a unique blend of cognitive, emotional, and ethical skills essential for success in the dynamic world of law. They delve into the intricacies of the brain and self-management, fostering diligence, resilience, adaptability, and burnout prevention. Additionally, they enhance critical and analytical skills for effective problem-solving, while communication mastery, ethical decision-making, and client-centred practices further elevate the legal professional's expertise.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
We are actively preparing an extensive array of additional courses for online distribution.
In addition to our online courses, PMRI offers customised workshops that can be conducted in person or online. These workshops will be tailored to meet the specific needs of your members.
The following topics can be covered, as well as customised for your specific requirements:
Current Online Offerings
Preventing Burnout through Self-Management:
This short course equips legal professionals with strategies to identify and prevent burnout through self-management strategies. It focuses on self-awareness, stress management techniques, and the importance of maintaining a healthy work-life balance.
Neuro-based Stress Management:
This course uses neuroscience principles to help legal professionals understand and manage stress more effectively. Participants gains an in-depth understanding about the impact of stress on the brain and body, and learn practical techniques to maintain resilience and peak performance under pressure.
The Ultimate Time Management Course for Lawyers:
Designed specifically for the legal profession, this course provides advanced ti me management strategies to boost productivity and efficiency. This practical course, gives participants a blueprint on how to effectively block time, minimise distractions, delegate, set professional boundaries and prioritisation of tasks. We would be pleased to provide additional details and pricing information on our courses upon request.
Customised Workshops
Cultivating diversity and inclusivity
Overcoming cognitive biases
Developing a Work-life Barrier
Empowering the Legal Mind with applied neuroscience
Stress management
Time management
Resiliency training
“The legal profession faces increasing demands and pressures, making stress management, wellbeing, and professional skills more important than ever.”
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Being able to redefine the path to legal success and secure a prosperous and fulfilling future in the legal profession especially amongst busy working women / mothers / sisters & being a friend. We get "joy" from helping others work on a fulfilling, balanced life.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Remember to self-care throughout the process, especially during the early days. Time management is also crucial to avoid early burn-out.
Find out more
Email: info@pmri.co.za
Website: http://www.pmri.co.za/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pmriSA
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/sa_pmri/
Why LoA loves it…
In today’s increasingly high-pressured, performance driven, and stressful world, it has never been more important to maintain a sense of balance and wellbeing in order to perform at the highest level. That is certainly the case for the legal profession. Sonja Cilliers & Maryke Groenewald, identified a gap in their market and a real need to empower legal practitioners to attain unparalleled excellence by finding balance in their personal lives and enhancing their cognitive abilities, resilience, and professional expertise. Their unique neuro-based resources are geared to helping their clients transcend the boundaries of traditional legal practice. Inspirational and impactful! — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa