Counselling has made vital difference
A KHAYELITSHA-based NGO’s recent successful counselling of two troubled and traumatised local teenagers reflects a tiny fraction of the work the Empilweni Trust has been carrying out in that community over the past 22 years.
The Empilweni Clinic, which it runs, was established in 1994 by the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of Cape Town after the institution’s research showed that Khayelitsha needed a clinic.
The aim of Empilweni (meaning place of healing) is to improve the quality of life of children, adolescents and their families by providing culturally appropriate, child-centred and community-based mental health support and counselling.
And this is appropriately reflected in Empilweni’s successful dealing with the cases of the two Khayelitsha girls Sihle and Okhanyo (not their real names).
Sihle was barely six years old when she lost both her parents. With no one to care for her, she was sent from the Eastern Cape to live with her paternal grandmother in Cape Town.
When her grandmother could no longer care for her, the Empilweni Trust stepped in to enrol her at a nearby high school.
After four sessions with a counsellor and three family sessions with her granny and the counsellor, Sihle is now a model student.
Sixteen-year-old Okhanyo was brought to Empilweni by her mother because she had become aggressive, cried easily, was withdrawn and unable to concentrate at school. This behaviour had started after her father’s sudden death.
While waiting in the queue outside the clinic on his appointment day, he collapsed and died. Okhanyo and her mother were notified.
When they arrived at the clinic, they were distressed to see him still lying there, with his face full of sand.
Okhanyo attended several counselling sessions at the Empilweni Trust. A memory box was used to help the family deal with their loss.
Although it was a very sad exercise, it enabled the family to mourn and begin to put their lives back together.
In Khayelitsha, the caseload for the Empilweni Trust this year stood at 608 individual counselling sessions, 393 family sessions and 333 group visits.
Board member Gava Kassiem said the quiet confidence of the committed social workers and counsellors had yielded positive results in the area.
Crime statistics for 2016 for the 10 worst precincts in the Western Cape place Khayelitsha third for sexual offences; fourth for murder; third for attempted murder; fourth for assault with the intent to inflict serious bodily harm; fourth for common assault; first for truck hijacking and fifth for robbery at residential premises, according to Kassiem.
“As adults we may have the skills and the experience to deal with a violent world and its aftermath, but children and teenagers really have no recourse.
“Their limited life experience and the fact that they are still trying to make sense of a fragmented world leave them vulnerable to the effects of violence, such as post-traumatic stress, depression, antisocial behaviour and so forth.”
Saying that exposure to violence necessitated access to counselling services in order to deal with the ensuing trauma and its manifestations, she explained that counselling was, however, a time-consuming, expensive and labour-intensive process.
And to increase the possibility of a positive outcome for a client, families and other members of the community also needed to participate, explained Kassiem, who said the operational challenges of NGOs placed a huge burden on already limited resources.
But even more so in the case of the Empilweni Trust, where there was a steady increase in the number of clients.
She said such organisations provided an important service to communities that are steeped in violence, and that corporates should do well to reflect prudently when they plan their corporate social investment portfolios.
Anyone interested in assisting can call Empilweni Trust at 021 361 7063 or e-mail admin@ empilweni.org. The banking details are: Empilweni Trust, First National Bank, branch code 200-309, Account No 6203 547 9535.