ABOUT US

• Working in line with the medical model and adhering to the “Mental Disorders Act”.
• Clinics operated from our premises.
• Services in the disability sector were very limited and in 1954 we serviced a very extensive area : Uitenhage – Grahamstown – Graaff-Reinette – Bedford – Cradock – Jansenville – Knysna – George – Mossel Bay + Oudshoorn.
• Advocacy around the right to education saw Merryvale Occupation Centre for “defective children” opening their doors in 1960.
• Psychiatric Hospitals (known as Institutions for the Feeble Minded) serving “non-europeans” were overcrowded and patients awaiting admission were detained in police cells – this was another advocacy issue tackled.
• 1962 Saw Happydale open their doors – PE Mental Health and the parents of children with ID were pioneers of Special Schooling in EC.
• 1963 saw the Organisation expanding to a staff of 8 White social workers and 4 Xhosa speaking social workers – services were expanded to Uitenhage one day weekly.
• One of the very few Organisations providing services across the colour divide – advocacy issues were many. Another tackled was the lack of parity in awarding of Disability grants, where white persons received R24.50 monthly, Coloured persons R11.75 and Black persons R3.52

• More emphasis placed on psycho-social rehabilitation and “RECOVERY” – the battle against stigma prevailed.
• In 1972 EDH opened a ward for children with severe mental disabilities.
• Services remained disintegrated with Fort England Hospital providing a service for white patients and Tower Hospital providing a service for Black patients.
• In 1975 Dept of Education took over Merryvale Special School.
• In 1976 PEMH was proud to open the doors of Luthando Luvuyo – the first Special School servicing persons from the disadvantaged township areas.
• In 1977 – there was a big shift to services providing rehabilitation in the community.
• In 1978 PEMH remained the only referral and treatment Centre for non-white persons in the Eastern Cape.
• The 1980’s saw a more multi-disciplinary approach to service provision and PEMH worked closely with EDH – attending ward rounds.
• 1983 Saw greater focus on promotion of mental health – and the iconic poster “Give your brain a breather” was first distributed.
• 1985 Saw PEMH restructure their services to: Education and Prevention programmes / Social Work programmes and Projects.
• In 1988 Community Psychiatric Services moved from PEMH premises to their own space at Mercantile Hospital.
• Services were again restructured into: Primary prevention services / Psycho-social Rehabilitation services / Services to persons with a mental handicap and services to persons with emotional and relationship problems.
• Social clubs started in 1987 evolved into Capricorn – providing a day programme for adults with mental disability in North End.
• In 1989 Herberg – the sister to Capricorn – was established in Salsoneville.
• In 1990 Ithemba Special Day Care Centre opened their doors at Dora Nginza Hospital – initially catering for 10 children.

• 1991 Saw the Organisation adjusting and positioning itself for a “new South Africa”.
• Frustrations saw an increase in aggressive, threatening and violent behaviour at offices and clinics.
• Services changed to focus on facilitating individual and group adjustment to change.
• Advocacy work saw a shift from mental health and racially determined issues to general mental health and human issues.
• 1992 Saw 2 regional branches establish themselves: Anna Huis in Somerset East and the Grahamstown branch.
• In 1993 we adopted the slogan “Mental Health is our Nations Wealth”
• Rural development programmes gained momentum in Somerset East, Cradock and Bedford.
• 1996 Saw the establishment of Nomzamo Special Day Care Centre in Cradock and Thembani in Bedford.
• Children’s Feeding Trust came on board – sponsoring food for desperate households and projects accommodating children with special needs.
• In 1997 – Govnt facilities focussed on de-institutionalisation – we had to assist with the re-integration into the communities.
• 1998 Saw a focus shift to enhancing the capacity of service users.
• We moved our offices from North End to the old Aurora in Cotswold.
• By 2000 – the social work staff complement had grown to 25.
• Work programmes were adjusted to include a greater reach into rural areas. We participated in DOR (Disability Outreach Programs) together with APD, Rehab in EL and the Blindworkers Ass – services were extended to Umtata and Queenstown.
• In 2002 our services again transformed to Services for children / Services for Adults and Outreach and joint services.
• We saw the introduction of the neighbourhood units – educational playgroups for children unable to access a special day care centre.
• A renewed focus on sustainability and income generation through service provision, saw us providing the social work programs at Hunterscraig Private Mental Hospital.
• Group homes transformed from residential care facilities to short term, rehabilitation step-sown facilities.
• In 2003 Capricorn moved from North End to their new premises in Walmer.
• We saw a shift in advocacy work to self advocacy initiatives with service users establishing themselves as a consumer lobby group focussed on policing rights.
• In 2005 our services struggled with a very high turnover of staff – seeing social work listed as a scarce skill.

• 2006 Saw a shift in focus to more developmental services across the continuum of care: awareness + prevention / early intervention and statutory + aftercare services
• 2008 Saw a renewed focus on the right to social integration
• PE Mental Health emerged as a specialist Organisation assisting in capacitising emerging or struggling Organisations – we worked closely with Ncedolwethu in Walmer and Msicindane in King Williamstown
• Advocacy initiatives shifted to include “inclusive education”
• EAP services were introduced as an income generation stream – with all efforts focussed on sustainability./
• 2009 Saw advocacy initiatives broaden to include the Right to Employment and access to learnerships

• 2014 Saw a shift in service rendering – where social work services were merged to provide a generic service using a 3-tiered approach: Developmental Care Facilities / Social Work Intervention Services and Skills Training and Prevention Services
• WE started in earnest with an income generation arm – gaining in reputation for our seminars, workshops and trainings.
• In 2015 we assisted with the review of the White Paper for Social Welfare
• Our expertise in debriefing was in demand as we saw the violence in the Northern Areas escalating with gang related activities.
• 2016 Saw us introduced to ABCD and started us on a journey that led to us repositioning our services and partnering with our learning partners with a focus more on community development and recognition of their assets
• 2017 Saw the Esidemeni tradgedy where over 100 persons transferred from State facilities to NGO’s in the community, lost their lives. This put the spotlight back on quality of care and the rights of persons with mental disability
• Loss of subsidized posts from Dept Social Development saw us lose half of our social work team and forced us to restructure – we stand proud today with the innovative programmes that include our learning partners and that are very ABCD inspired – we have rebranded our programmes under the banner of “Khathala” – meaning “Dare to Care” – and we doJ

Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) is an approach that appreciates the strengths, potentials and capacities that communities inherently have and how to unlock these. The term ABCD was coined by Kretzmann and McKnight (1993) who researched self organised communities and the critical success factors. They found that efforts are more effective and longer-lasting when community members dedicated their time and talents to creating the changes they desired (and not focusing on what is lacking).

Asset Based Community Development offers an alternative to the conventional needs based approach. The needs based approach creates mental ‘problem maps’ and offers a skewed view of the community and can have a devastating impact on the psychology of local residents. Alternatively, asset based development rests on an understanding that sustainable development comes from within.

The approach focuses attention on the strengths and capacities that communities already have and builds from there. The intention is to surface hidden “gifts”, grow a common vision and an appreciation from which to move forward.

Our transformation journey started in 2016 at a time when the organisation experienced a change in leadership.

Hungry for rebirth of our 80-year-old organisation, we are proud that ABCD has supported our transformative development and formed the basis for our 5-year strategic plan. Harnessing a pool of contributions amongst staff, board and learning partners our new strategic vision encapsulates capabilities and community-driven partnerships within communities.

This has enabled us to address welfare, needs-based, and impairment by channelling a shift toward wellness, resilience, community-driven soltions and sustainability.

All our projects must be:

• Strengths (asset-based)
• Community-driven
• Low-cost (sustainable)
• Innovative

The 6 principles we use to build our Transformative Agenda:

1. Integration
2. Recognition of Potential
3. Outreach
4. Developmental Approach
5. Unlocking Assets
6. Excellence & Innovation