When traumatised children can share their stories in a safe space to a caring adult, they escape the trauma cycle to change the trajectory of their lives.
Benjamin Perks, head of global advocacy at the United Nations Children’s Fund, perhaps said it best with his words: “Those who feel love at home come to school to learn. Those who don’t, come to school to be loved. You cannot learn if you don’t feel loved because, for a child to be unloved is to be unsafe.”
Based on this premise non-profit company Community Keepers was founded 15 years ago during a Stellenbosch University research project that found that there was only one state social worker and one psychologist to service 45 schools and 32 000 children in the Cape Winelands at the time, and set out to change this stark reality.
Since then the organisation has established on-site mental-health facilities at 90 partnering schools in low-income communities the latest being opened at Petunia Primary School in the gang-ridden neighbourhood of Scottsville last week.
“In their research project, our founding members interviewed over 2 000 candidates – children, youth, parents and educators. The intention was to listen to the challenges they faced and the needs they had in their communities. A common denominator that we found across all ages was that the candidates “needed someone to talk to.”
This was particularly evident among the youth, who expressed a need to discuss issues in confidence in someone other than their friends and parents.
Free psychosocial services
The facilities provide free psychosocial services to learners, parents and staff.
“The facility is roomed by the unique combination of a qualified social worker or psychologist and a local community member trained by the organisation in mental health first aid, to offer frontline intervention and support. Learners are offered the supportive presence of an engaged adult to learn how to build resilience to journey towards well-being and to thrive.”
According to Bartlett, two-thirds of children in South Africa live below the upper-bound poverty line, and nearly one in two children have experienced violence, including physical violence and sexual abuse.
“In some parts of the country, almost all children have either witnessed or experienced violence in their homes, schools and communities. So it’s not surprising that more than one in 10 children in South Africa have a diagnosable and treatable mental-health disorder.”
This includes depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, conduct, learning and substance-use disorders.
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She says half of all adult mental-health disorders begin before the age of 14, so intervention is needed early in childhood and adolescence.
“Many young people are living in a state of fight, flight or freeze due to adverse childhood experiences that include loss, neglect, exposure to abuse, violence or poverty. If this trauma is not addressed there is a risk of these young people becoming trapped in a downward spiral where they begin to engage in high-risk activities, violence, drop out of school or, tragically, repeat the pattern where the victim becomes the perpetrator.”
Range of services
The facility, the third in Kraaifontein, has a range of services, but will work closely with the learners, teachers and parents or guardians to identify their specific needs and responsive plan for the year, that which remains fluid as needs change.
“We call this managing the dosage; some schools may need more therapeutic interventions to start with, others may decide to first focus on destigmatising help seeking behaviours.
“Bullying and substance use and abuse are high on any school agenda and another trend we see at the moment in all schools is strained parent-child relationships. So themes such as setting boundaries, positive communication and self-esteem will be included in our workshops. We have a strong focus on GBV, but we also take an approach of modelling and promoting positive attributes such as kindness, emotional literacy and emotional regulation, hope and empathy,” says Bartlett.
Community Keepers’s business model is to work in geographic clusters of four or five schools in an area, this to help a real impact in a specific area. They have already partnered with Bernadino Heights High School and will open an office at Wallacedene Primary School this month. The organisation currently has 150 practitioners who serve 85 000 learners each year.
“This is only possible thanks to our funding partners who believe in the work we do and step up to show these children that someone does cares,” said Bartlett.
