Mental health for underprivileged communities

For around a decade a small handful of us have been taking basic mental health care into South African communities. We’ve donated our time, and in most cases funded all of our efforts ourselves. Now we need your help.

In South Africa unemployment among people younger than 35 is at a staggering 40%. Poverty is rife, as is violent crime, violence against women and children, and drug and alcohol abuse. It all stems from a general sense of hopelessness within communities.

The government is unable to provide more than the most basic primary healthcare. Mental health care isn’t even on the radar. Yet the need is enormous.

In our work over the past 10 years we’ve seen an alarming increase in untenable depression and anxiety, levels of anger and frustration, and a stratospheric sense of hopelessness.

However, in the communities we’ve been able to reach, much of this negative spirit among young people has started to shift. Instead of looking for work, they are creating jobs for themselves and others. They are becoming focused, their thinking is turning towards solutions instead of circumstantial problems, and they are becoming valuable leaders within these distraught communities. These changes are incremental, one step at a time, but at least we’re not losing generations of young people to apathy and despair.

Thing is, the need for this kind of work FAR exceeds our available time. So, we’re initiating a “train the trainer“ program. Over the next 12 months we’re going to train a hundred trainers, each one empowered to train more trainers, to increase our reach into communities.

We’re launching the pilot soon, but we DESPERATELY need a laptop computer and an overhead projector for our workshops. The total cost will run to around $1000.

Your help and thoughts around this project will change lives!