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Head Office: 21 William Street, Gqeberha

ILIZWI

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THE VOICE

ILIZWI

Community Based Social Work Support Services.

We partner with persons who have a mental disability and their families through developmental and therapeutic support and rehabilitation programmes, encouraging improved coping in the community and improved management of the disability.

GREEN DOOR PROJECT

The Green Door is where members of the community can knock to seek help and be referred to the relevant resources. Aimed at assisting persons living with a Mental Illness in their communities, 25 Wellness Ambassadors are trained to assist at community level, supervised by a Social Worker. We do the following in the community:

  • Community Awareness Talks together with the Social Worker on Mental Illness and our services
  • Basic Counselling
  • Resource Mapping to be knowledgeable on where to refer members in the community who seek help
  • Monthly meetings with the Social Worker
  • Liase with Social Worker on any assistance needed at community level

COUNSELLING

Problem-solving and support is achieved through intensive individual and/or family counselling and crisis intervention.

Intake services are operational in Cotswold, Motherwell, Zwide, and New Brighton, with the aim of making our services more accessible to the general public.

PRIZE GROUPS

Community based rehabilitation (CBR) groups for persons diagnosed with Schizophrenia and their family, where we provide training / educational sessions – encouraging improved insight and coping skills for optimal management of their disability.

PRIZE Groups run in Zwide and Motherwell. These support groups are specifically for persons diagnosed with Schizophrenia and their care givers every Wednesday, and are very helpful, especially in these areas:

  • coping with mental illness 
  • being heard through sharing feelings
  • feeling supported and cared for

RISE PROGRAMME

Resilience through Initiatives of Support and Education.

The RISE Programme supports learners in High Schools in coping with depression and anxiety.

With this programme we invest in the mental health of learners in mainstream schools. Wellness sessions focus on building resilience and improving coping skills to better enable them to navigate the stressors plaguing the teens in our community and seeing the statistics of teen suicide increase.

The programme further identifies leadership potential through these processes and provides further training to develop peer influencers who continue as wellness ambassadors at their schools.

How it works:

  • Social Workers run 4 sessions in each of the 4 schools selected on 4 topics e.g. Understanding Mental Health, Teen Suicide etc.
  • Pupils selected by the school are trained in a 2-day workshop to be Peer Influencers.
  • Peer influencers help refer learners who need psychosocial support to the IMH social workers. 
  • Social Workers meet up with the Peer influencers monthly through snack chats to check on their progress and what support they need.
  • The Peer Influencers do a Wellness Day in their schools on Mental Health.
  • Peer influencers become Agents of Change as they motivate and inspire other peers on good mental well being.

We are currently working with 4 schools in the Locations and Northern Areas: Bethelsdorp High, Sanctor High, Sophakama High, and Ithembelihle Tech.

Watch our Facebook page as we showcase more on this programme and what the Learners achieve.

BRAVE PROGRAMME

For children with intellectual and/or psychosocial disability and their families. The BRAVE programme has been uniquely designed to ensure opportunities for children with mental disabilities to reach their full potential.

TEEN BUZZ SUPPORT GROUP

A support group for adolescents or teenagers (ages 13 to 18 years) going through emotional anxiety and not coping at school and at home. Sessions happen online.

How to register: 

  • WhatsApp your name and that you would like to join support group to +27 71 412 4254.

Sessions run every Wednesday twice a month from 16h00 to 17h00.

LIFE SKILLS TRAINING SESSIONS

Upskilling and building resilience of youth with intellectual disability through life skills and educational workshops aiming for improved coping capacity and improved levels of self sufficiency.

PSYCHOSOCIAL SUPPORT GROUP

Our support groups for persons living with psychosocial disabilities and their care givers.  These are done weekly at Hillside and Walmer. We are also exploring doing online support group sessions online via WhatsApp or Facebook.

PSYCHOSOCIAL REHABILITATION CENTRES

Our support groups for persons living with psychosocial disabilities and their care givers. These are done weekly at Hillside and Walmer. We are also exploring the option of doing online support group sessions via WhatsApp or Facebook.

Each Centre hosts 10 live-in persons with a psychosocial disability for a period of 2 years after which the person is re-integrated into the community. We also host Open Days at these centres to keep the community well informed, as well as to attract donors and more stakeholders.

Our 2 year Rehabilitation Program involves:

  • Skills for Daily Living
  • Arts and Crafts
  • Exercise
  • Job placement
  • Family preservation services
  • Counselling
  • Group therapy
  • Vocational Training Skills
  • Support Group Sessions

AWARENESS INITIATIVES

Stigma remains the greatest challenge faced by persons with a mental disability and so we try to address the myths and misconceptions whenever we can. We encourage persons with mental disability to use their VOICE to tell their story to effect CHANGE. We celebrate nationally.

Find out more about our Awareness Campaigns by clicking here.

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” Ghandi

ILIZWI HIGHLIGHTS

BRAVELY SUPPORTING AZIZIPHO TO ENSURE SHE REACHES HER FULL POTENTIAL

Azizipho was referred to the Social Workers at Indlela Mental Health by the Department of Education, who requested assistance getting her special school placement, as she was 8 years old and not coping in mainstream school. Azizipho, already feeling isolated in her current school, hated going there as she was bullied and often made fun of by her peers. The Social Worker immediately enrolled Azizipho in our Brave Programme. She ensured that Azizipho was assessed by a Psychologist and got a report which diagnosed an intellectual disability. Working with Azizpho’s mom, the family learnt how to support her child better. Placement was found at Menziwa Educare Centre for children with special needs where, according to her new teacher and facilitator, Azizipho is progressing very well and has fully adjusted. Her mother is very grateful to IMH for stepping in when they did and for giving her relevant information with readily available resources to best support her child. They now feel they can see a bright future ahead for her.

TRAINING VOLUNTEERS TO BE WELLNESS AMBASSADORS WITHIN THEIR COMMUNITIES

This initiative was introduced with the pilot starting in April 2023. The project aimed to mobilise communities to actively engage in advocating for wellness and ensure accessible support towards optimal mental health and wellness. We planned to use assets from within the communities and recruit 25 volunteers to be capacitated to become Mental Health Ambassadors within their communities. To date, we have successfully secured 18 motivated Volunteers from the communities of West End, Salt Lake, Arcadia, Missionvale, New Brighton, and Motherwell. A meet and greet meeting held in September 2023 determined that many of the volunteers were persons with a lived experience, who would like to make a difference in their communities and stop stigma to promote social integration. On the 7th of December 2023, the team kicked off the first in a series of training workshops which included Basic Counselling, ABCD, and resource mapping. This marked the start of their journey to create the change they wanted to see in their communities. Each volunteer also painted their door green to brand their home as a beacon within the community for mental health support.

6 Wellness Ambassadors have been trained to participate in the Green Door Project and be a resource to those in their community who need support with mental health issues. A further 10 Volunteers (Wellness Ambassadors) from the Northern Areas, Zwide, and New Brighton, have been trained on different mental illnesses, available services and resources, basic counselling, and basic advocacy

With the support of the Social Workers, they are now equipped to be an accessible and much-needed support person to those in the community affected by mental health problems. This community-based response now able to provide basic psychological first aid is a first for communities in Gqeberha who have access to so few accessible resources for their mental health needs.