We’re in the Eastern Cape

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Amanda, Nomfundo and Funeka

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In the June holidays we visited rural villages and rural schools in the Eastern Cape doing Mental Health First Aid training.  Thank you Nomfundo and Axium Education for hosting us, we have learnt as much from you and your colleagues as you have from us.  Prof Vikram Patel of Harvard Medical School says: “Humanising and de-medicalising is the most powerful strategy for de-stigmatising mental health.”
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In 2019, Axium Education‘s Social Worker, Nomfundo Kalipha, came to Stellenbosch to spend part of her induction period with our team.

“Since then there has been ongoing support and engagement between the two organisations. Recently we explored the concept of “first responders” based at school, and Nomfundo expressed the need for school-based staff to enable greater reach and responsiveness to the needs of children across the nine PSP schools.  We are based in deep rural villages in two education districts (OR Tambo Inland and Amathole East) where we have been working with schools since 2009. We currently serve 3 800 children in 25 schools. We believe that there is tremendous opportunity for the kind of holistic support that Community Keepers offers.” Craig Paxton, Executive Director, Axium Education

 

Funeka demonstrates how you could use ‘boxing’ movements as a technique to help calm an angry child

Follow this link to find out more about our Mental Health First Aid project

Follow this link to register on our database to be trained in Mental Health First Aid

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Amanda is an Educational Psychologist and joined CK in 2017. She heads up our Mental Health First Aid project.
Funeka is a Care Facilitator and joined CK in 2020, initially as a Life Guidance Facilitator. She is trained in Mental Health First Aid.
#EasternCape #Lusikisiki #MentalHealthFirstAid #SocialWork #Willowvale