Accessing services for mental health in South Africa can be a challenge, for those with the necessary financial resources and for those without. Healthcare professionals are more scarce than the demand for healthcare services, both in public and private sectors. Beyond access, the quality of services provided can often be un-contextualised or not ideal to the social contexts that those accessing the services require. Makhanda, a microcosm for the general state of South Africa’s healthcare landscape, is no different. Initiatives that address the contextualised needs of our communities are much needed and appreciated. Cue the Rhodes University initiative - the ADC Counselling Centre. The ADC Counselling Hub is based in the Assumption Development Centre in Joza, a location in Makhanda East. The Hub is a centre for psychological services that offers free, walk-in solution-focussed therapy, referral services and psychoeducational workshops.
The 2022 Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Award for Community Engagement winning project was piloted in 2022 and has since been available for the Makhanda community. The Hub targets youth in the region but offers its services to all ages. The ADC Counselling Hub is a classic example of a collaborative partnership between community-based organisations and higher education institutions. Rhodes University through its Psychology Department and Student Counselling Centre, and the community-based Assumption Development Centre (ADC) collaborated to make this happen and the impact of such partnerships is apparent - psychological services are more accessible. Rhodes University's Community Engagement (RUCE) office has also been key in supporting the project and facilitating relationship building between stakeholders.
The ADC works on a socio-economic development model that is targeted at entrepreneurial skills, altering the lack of youth unemployment rate, providing second chance matric services, training and coaching small business development. The centre noticed a need for psychosocial support for their members, many of whom are youth and post-matriculant students as well as budding entrepreneurs.
The ADC Counselling Hub’s two-tier model
The interns and trainee psychologists provide the ADC and Makhanda communities with therapeutic services, career assessments, and give people and students information about psychological resources to enhance mental health and well-being. They run one-on-one and group sessions and allow walk-ins to access the ADC Counselling Hub.
Group support and psychoeducational workshops
Intern psychologists from the Student Counselling Centre are available in the mornings and afternoons offering group support and psychoeducational workshops in addition to one-on-one services. They work on rotation, for a period of three months, from February to December.
Walk-in solution-focussed therapy and referrals
Trainee psychologists from the Psychology Clinic are available in the afternoons to offer free, solution-focussed therapy and referrals.
In 2022, the Hub ran educational workshops with after-school organisations in the area, including iKamva Youth based in Nombulelo, and Inkululeko based in Ntsika Secondary School. These workshops focussed on Grades 11 and 12 of the various schools within the organisations.
"The ADC Counselling Hub is about psychology not only being accessible in private offices or at the university itself, but also where our communities can access it, as well as to break stigmas surrounding mental health" said Ms Simonse, an intern at the Hub in 2022.
The Hub offered learners of the different public schools in Makhanda tools for managing stress and anxiety, particularly during exam periods. The Hub also created spaces for young people to safely share their feelings, grief, challenges and aspirations, as we re-adjust as individuals and communities,
Similar workshops were also held with ADC interns deployed in different organisations as part of their involvement in the ADC programme. This involved previously unemployed youth. The ADC Hub engaged with the group to help develop self-confidence in the workplace, advice on how to present themselves in workplaces, career guidance, and how to manage stress and work related-anxiety.
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