Meet the team

Joy Ituika

Founder

Ardent Psychological Center was born from a conviction — that mental health care in Kenya deserves structure, dignity, and excellence. Joy Ituika founded Ardent with a clear and unwavering vision: to build a psychological practice grounded in ethical integrity, clinical precision, and compassionate care. She saw the need for mental health services that were not only accessible, but professionally structured and aligned with global standards — services that individuals, families, and organizations could trust.

Joy’s work has always centered on helping people move from emotional overwhelm to clarity. She works with adults navigating anxiety, depression, stress, relational challenges, burnout, and life transitions. But Joy’s vision extended beyond the therapy room.

Recognizing the growing mental health needs within workplaces, she expanded Ardent into corporate mental health and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP), partnering with organizations to strengthen psychological safety, resilience, and leadership wellbeing. She believes that emotionally supported employees build stronger institutions — and that corporate wellness must be handled with confidentiality, structure, and measurable impact.

She has intentionally cultivated a team culture rooted in professionalism, trauma-informed practice, and ethical accountability. Every service delivered under Ardent reflects her commitment to evidence-based standards and stigma-free mental health care.

Those who work with Joy often describe her as composed, visionary, and deeply empathetic. She combines calm leadership with emotional intelligence — creating spaces where clients and corporate partners feel both understood and confidently guided.

At the heart of Joy’s leadership is a simple but powerful belief: Mental health care should never feel uncertain, unsafe, or unstructured. It should feel clear, ethical, and empowering. Through Ardent Psychological Center, Joy continues to build more than a practice — she is building a standard. A standard of care that strengthens families, empowers adolescents, supports professionals, and promotes resilient workplaces across Kenya.

Leslie Pere

Licensed Psychologist | Specialist in Adolescent & Pre-Teen Emotional Wellbeing

At Ardent Psychological Center, we believe adolescence is not a problem to fix — it is a season to understand, support, and strengthen. Leslie reflects this belief through her calm presence, clinical structure, and deep respect for young people’s experiences.

Leslie Pere is an Adolescent, Pre-Teen, and Teen Therapist dedicated to supporting young people aged 9–18 through emotional, social, and developmental challenges. She understands that behind anxiety, withdrawal, mood changes, academic pressure, or behavioral shifts, there is often a young person trying to make sense of overwhelming emotions and rapid life changes.

Adolescence is a critical stage of brain development and identity formation. Leslie provides a safe, confidential, and non-judgmental therapeutic space where teens feel heard, validated, and empowered. She works with concerns such as teen anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, peer relationship difficulties, academic stress, emotional regulation challenges, grief, and the impact of social media.

In alignment with Ardent’s evidence-based standards, Leslie integrates structured approaches including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), strength-based therapy, and emotional regulation skills training. With pre-teens, she uses developmentally appropriate and creative methods that support safe emotional expression. With teenagers, she fosters collaboration and autonomy, helping them build resilience, confidence, and long-term coping skills.

Leslie also works collaboratively with parents, strengthening family communication while maintaining ethical adolescent confidentiality. Her goal is not simply symptom reduction, but equipping young people with emotional intelligence and self-awareness that supports lifelong wellbeing.

Clients and families often describe Leslie as approachable, patient, and deeply attentive. She creates an environment where adolescents feel safe enough to open up and supported enough to grow. If you are looking for adolescent therapy, teen counselling, or pre-teen psychological support in Kenya, Leslie is here to walk alongside your family with professionalism and care.

Kenneth Kariuki

Licensed Psychologist | Marriage, Family, Child & Adolescent Specialist

At Ardent Psychological Center, we believe that clarity, structure, and compassion create the foundation for meaningful psychological care. Kenneth Kariuki — known to many as Ken — brings this balance into every therapeutic space he holds.

Ken is a Licensed Psychologist with experience in Counseling Psychology, Marriage and Family Therapy, and Child & Adolescent Psychology. He works with individuals, couples, children, and families, supporting them through emotional challenges, relational conflict, behavioral concerns, and life transitions with steady guidance and evidence-based care.

Children and adolescents form a significant focus within his practice. Ken conducts structured child psychological assessments to better understand developmental, emotional, and behavioral concerns, supporting informed intervention and collaboration with families and schools. He also works with children with special needs, providing patient, developmentally sensitive support tailored to each child’s unique strengths and challenges.

In marriage and family therapy, Ken helps restore communication, strengthen connection, and create healthier relational patterns within the home.

Clients and families often describe Ken as calm, thoughtful, and reassuring. He combines clinical structure with genuine empathy, creating safe environments where individuals and families can grow with confidence.

Millicent Lukundo

Licensed Psychologist | Marriage & Family Specialist | Clinical Supervisor

Millicent Lukundo — fondly known as Milly — is a Licensed Counselling Psychologist and Marriage & Family Therapy Specialist with extensive experience supporting individuals, couples, children, and families across Kenya.

Her work is rooted in trauma-informed and family-systems approaches, recognizing that emotional challenges often reflect deeper relational and generational patterns. Milly works with clients navigating marital conflict, parenting challenges, family transitions, emotional distress, and relational breakdowns with clarity, professionalism, and compassion.

Children and adolescents form an important part of her practice. She provides developmentally attuned, evidence-based interventions that strengthen emotional regulation, communication skills, and family cohesion.

Beyond therapy, Milly serves as a Clinical Supervisor and certified Trainer of Trainers (TOT), mentoring mental health practitioners and contributing to ethical supervision standards in Kenya’s counselling profession. Her leadership strengthens not only individuals and families, but also the broader systems that support them.

Clients often describe Milly as grounded, steady, and reassuring. She combines warmth with clinical structure, creating safe environments where meaningful and sustainable change becomes possible.