Community Keepers (CK), a non-profit organisation that provides free professional mental health services to children and youth in marginalised communities of SA, has a vision to partner with 100 schools, reaching 100 000 learners and their caregivers by 2030.
And to support that vision it recently opened two new CK offices, sponsored by Remgro, at Devon Valley Primary School and St Vincent Roman Catholic Primary School outside Stellenbosch.
“This brings our total number of partner schools to 31 (6 initiated by Remgro) and our annual reach to 30 000 learners and their caregivers (educators/parents/guardians),”said Meriel Bartlett, media and marketing executive at CK.
“When visiting the school premises, setting up our therapy rooms, it’s been a pleasure talking to and seeing all the friendly children’s faces. The curiosity of the children is priceless. It was a privilege to invite them to come and have a look at the space and explain to them what this space would be used for.
Community Keepers has a multidisciplinary team of social workers, psychologists and mental health first aiders. “We take a whole-school approach which sees us include learners, teachers and parents. On average 10% of learners in a school enrol for therapy in a year (average of five weekly sessions); during Covid we saw this rise to 24-30%.”
Providing therapeutic interventions is a priority, but CK also has a strong focus on prevention and early intervention.
As CK patron and radio personality Sherlin Barends says, the group works hard to destigmatise help-seeking behaviour.
“Our plan is to open four more new sites this year, closing the year with 35 partner schools,” Bartlett says.
“Schools are welcome to join our waiting list; we require a letter from their principal outlining the need, the agreement from the SGB or SBST and confirmation that they have dedicated space available that can be converted into a counselling room.”
