Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health
ISSN: 1728-0583 (Print) 1728-0591 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcmh20
The Tiga programme Nicola Lester To cite this article: Nicola Lester (2008) The Tiga programme, Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 20:1, 57-59 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2989/JCAMH.2008.20.1.8.493
Published online: 12 Nov 2009.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 8
View related articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rcmh20 Download by: [Nanyang Technological University]
Date: 12 June 2016, At: 17:03
Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2008, 20(1): 57–59 Printed in South Africa — All rights reserved
Copyright © NISC Pty Ltd
JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH EISSN 1728–0591 DOI: 10.2989/JCAMH.2008.20.1.8.493
Letter The Tiga programme
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 17:03 12 June 2016
The concept The Tiga programme (named after the primary school where the programme first began) is designed to provide mass psychosocial support to South African township schoolchildren who have been affected by some form of psychological trauma; for instance, victims of rape, abuse, violence and bereavement. The crucial component of the programme is enabling members of the local community to act as lay counsellors and assist these children in the recovery process within the school context. The lay counsellors will be trained in trauma counselling as well as creative therapies as a means of cultivating trust and hope in the children through games, art, puppetry, songs and story-telling. On a weekly basis these counsellors will attend primary schools across six townships in the province of Mpumalanga and provide therapy to victims of trauma through the establishment of a range of supportive activities. These will include opportunities for one-to-one and group counselling sessions and art therapy, play and drama work after school hours. The work of Tiga is not just restricted to the provision of psychosocial support within schools. The programme has adopted a three-tiered approach to the rehabilitation of children affected by trauma. The first tier provides specific support and interventions for children exhibiting symptoms of a post-traumatic stress reaction. These children will have been identified and referred by staff to the lay counsellor, a plan of care will be put in place and the children will be encouraged to participate in the school-based support sessions to manage the symptoms of trauma. The second tier is directed at the prevention of mental health disorders in children. The lay counsellors will also be expected to implement mental health promotion and prevention work and encompass this into mainstream education curriculum. In addition, their role will include providing mental health education to school staff, parents and the wider population; thus helping to increase community awareness of psychosocial issues and strengthen the support for mental health services. This tier has the potential to empower and consolidate community groups such as teachers, women and youth; assisting them to lobby for action and change within their environment. The final tier of Tiga targets those with severe and enduring mental health needs which cannot be managed within the school. Through their work as lay counsellors the volunteers will act as a link bridging the school and the local community with more formal mental health services, such as those provided by the social work department, the local hospital and educational psychologists based some way from the remote township areas in the local city. The aim of this tier is to provide a comprehensive and accessible network of mental health services and professionals to meet a range of different needs regardless of the child’s place of residence. Tiga is based on the idea that support can be brought to the children in their own communities building on existing skills and using a local volunteer workforce. The full scope of the Tiga programme addresses psychosocial recovery, mental health education and awareness and the social mobilisation of the local population. This holistic approach focuses on many of the basic rights of children as expressed in the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child; for example, the right to play, which is reinforced by the use of creative activities as therapy and the right to health and psychosocial care.
58
Letter — Lester
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 17:03 12 June 2016
Background The Tiga Miracle Programme began in August 2003 when I was working as a volunteer teaching assistant in Tiga Primary School in a remote township. During one of my life skills classes I had asked the children to divide their page into two with the headings ‘things that make me happy’ and ‘things that make me sad’. After the children had completed the activity the answers were written up onto the blackboard. As I had expected, in the column of things that make me happy, answers such as having money, doing well at school and getting presents were called out; when it came to the column of things that make me sad one girl put up her hand and said that it made her feel sad when her dad raped her. Another young boy said that he felt sad when both of his parents died of the AIDS virus. A third admitted that she felt sad when someone touched her in her private places. To my horror the other children nodded in agreement as the answers were written onto the blackboard. It was here that I first became aware of the huge amount of need for trauma counselling and emotional support amongst this population. Child abuse in particular was everywhere I looked, on the child whose bare arms and legs were covered with bruises, on the girls who fell asleep at their desks, finally feeling safe from groping hands, and on the children who were volatile and aggressive in the middle of classroom, angry and hurt at what life had given them. Meeting local needs Currently in the province of Mpumalanga there are few provisions in place to meet the mental health needs of children and adolescents. Where services are available, families in township settlements find it difficult to access these facilities. In addition, there is a limited knowledge amongst the local population as to how to identify and manage mental health problems in children, and they are subsequently misdiagnosed and mistreated. South African township communities are characterised by poverty and violence; contributing to high levels of rape, abuse, neglect and bereavement being encountered by children and adolescents. The effects of this environment severely impact on the mental health, social and cognitive development and level of academic attainment, further increasing the chances of poverty and unemployment amongst this population. High levels of stigma are also afforded to victims of sexual assault and those bereaved by HIV/AIDS; resulting in hundreds of children affected by trauma with sparse resources and little motivation to prevent or manage their distress. Although there are several NGOs operating within this area, there continues to be a gap in meeting the mental health needs of this population. Childline Mpumalanga, located in one of the main cities, is some distance away from the township settlements and they currently have no capacity to provide outreach work to these communities, despite recognising that there is a definite need for this. Childline has only been established for one year and staff are aware that it currently lacks exposure within the township schools, contributing to low numbers of referrals despite reports of the urgent and immediate need for psychosocial support to be provided within these schools. Similarly, the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa (PPASA) is recognised nationally as a high profile and innovative organisation focusing on sexual awareness among children and adolescents. PPASA volunteers encounter many children with psychological needs, but they are unable to work with them. As PPASA is well known for its ability to mobilise an effective local volunteer workforce and have an existing presence within the schools as well as good rapport with both teachers and children, recruiting PPASA volunteers who have completed their voluntary period would not only bridge the current gap but also provide a reputable and trusted volunteer workforce to carry forward the work of Tiga. Innovative features Tiga differs somewhat from Western models of psychosocial intervention as rather than focusing efforts on accessing external professionals to provide treatment, training is instead given to
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 17:03 12 June 2016
Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2008, 20(1): 57–59
59
members of the local community so that they themselves can instigate management and prevention strategies within the school setting. The stigma that is attached to both mental ill-health and some of the causes of trauma such as sexual abuse, rape and HIV/AIDS is also considered in the design of the programme by employing creative techniques which are familiar and non-threatening to the children and their wider communities. Moreover, the programme does not rely on children disclosing incidences of trauma in order for them to receive care and attention; instead any child exhibiting emotional or behavioural difficulties will have the opportunity to engage in these therapeutic activities. Fear of reprisal from the perpetrator of abuse often prevents children from disclosing incidents and seeking assistance. The lay counsellors will however be able to work with children in managing some of the symptoms of trauma even in the absence of a disclosure. Managing the mental health needs of children and the training and education of the local population in managing these needs is something of a novelty in these communities. Most non-governmental and indeed governmental work centres around the prevention and care of those suffering from HIV/AIDS and the provision of food or material possessions, rather than targeting psychological and emotional needs. The future The Open University (OU) has been working in partnership with the Tiga programme since 2004 as part of its global strategy to contribute towards the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. The Open University, based in the UK and ranked as one of the top teaching institutions in the country, is renowned for being the world’s first successful distance teaching university. Initially established in the 1960s, today the university provides a variety of courses to hundreds of thousands of students across the globe. As a major priority for the Tiga Programme is to secure funding to enable the implementation of a five-year project with the intention of reaching a further 25 schools across the province of Mpumalanga, the OU is working to secure sufficient money to enable the training of local volunteers to work as lay counsellors within schools as well as support an awareness-raising campaign in collaboration with a range of government and non-government departments. The OU is also looking at the possibility of transforming Tiga programme materials into an online learning format which would be available free of charge on the internet via the OU’s Open Content Initiative. This initiative would enable state of the art learning support and collaboration tools to connect students and educators. In addition, there is the potential of creating a research programme, supported by professors and research fellows in the OU’s International Development Centre, to highlight and provide insights into some of the complex issues related to the welfare of disadvantaged communities.
Nicola Lester Founder and consultant for the Tiga programme e-mail: [email protected]
ISSN: 1728-0583 (Print) 1728-0591 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rcmh20
The Tiga programme Nicola Lester To cite this article: Nicola Lester (2008) The Tiga programme, Journal of Child & Adolescent Mental Health, 20:1, 57-59 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.2989/JCAMH.2008.20.1.8.493
Published online: 12 Nov 2009.
Submit your article to this journal
Article views: 8
View related articles
Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rcmh20 Download by: [Nanyang Technological University]
Date: 12 June 2016, At: 17:03
Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2008, 20(1): 57–59 Printed in South Africa — All rights reserved
Copyright © NISC Pty Ltd
JOURNAL OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH EISSN 1728–0591 DOI: 10.2989/JCAMH.2008.20.1.8.493
Letter The Tiga programme
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 17:03 12 June 2016
The concept The Tiga programme (named after the primary school where the programme first began) is designed to provide mass psychosocial support to South African township schoolchildren who have been affected by some form of psychological trauma; for instance, victims of rape, abuse, violence and bereavement. The crucial component of the programme is enabling members of the local community to act as lay counsellors and assist these children in the recovery process within the school context. The lay counsellors will be trained in trauma counselling as well as creative therapies as a means of cultivating trust and hope in the children through games, art, puppetry, songs and story-telling. On a weekly basis these counsellors will attend primary schools across six townships in the province of Mpumalanga and provide therapy to victims of trauma through the establishment of a range of supportive activities. These will include opportunities for one-to-one and group counselling sessions and art therapy, play and drama work after school hours. The work of Tiga is not just restricted to the provision of psychosocial support within schools. The programme has adopted a three-tiered approach to the rehabilitation of children affected by trauma. The first tier provides specific support and interventions for children exhibiting symptoms of a post-traumatic stress reaction. These children will have been identified and referred by staff to the lay counsellor, a plan of care will be put in place and the children will be encouraged to participate in the school-based support sessions to manage the symptoms of trauma. The second tier is directed at the prevention of mental health disorders in children. The lay counsellors will also be expected to implement mental health promotion and prevention work and encompass this into mainstream education curriculum. In addition, their role will include providing mental health education to school staff, parents and the wider population; thus helping to increase community awareness of psychosocial issues and strengthen the support for mental health services. This tier has the potential to empower and consolidate community groups such as teachers, women and youth; assisting them to lobby for action and change within their environment. The final tier of Tiga targets those with severe and enduring mental health needs which cannot be managed within the school. Through their work as lay counsellors the volunteers will act as a link bridging the school and the local community with more formal mental health services, such as those provided by the social work department, the local hospital and educational psychologists based some way from the remote township areas in the local city. The aim of this tier is to provide a comprehensive and accessible network of mental health services and professionals to meet a range of different needs regardless of the child’s place of residence. Tiga is based on the idea that support can be brought to the children in their own communities building on existing skills and using a local volunteer workforce. The full scope of the Tiga programme addresses psychosocial recovery, mental health education and awareness and the social mobilisation of the local population. This holistic approach focuses on many of the basic rights of children as expressed in the United Nation’s Convention on the Rights of the Child; for example, the right to play, which is reinforced by the use of creative activities as therapy and the right to health and psychosocial care.
58
Letter — Lester
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 17:03 12 June 2016
Background The Tiga Miracle Programme began in August 2003 when I was working as a volunteer teaching assistant in Tiga Primary School in a remote township. During one of my life skills classes I had asked the children to divide their page into two with the headings ‘things that make me happy’ and ‘things that make me sad’. After the children had completed the activity the answers were written up onto the blackboard. As I had expected, in the column of things that make me happy, answers such as having money, doing well at school and getting presents were called out; when it came to the column of things that make me sad one girl put up her hand and said that it made her feel sad when her dad raped her. Another young boy said that he felt sad when both of his parents died of the AIDS virus. A third admitted that she felt sad when someone touched her in her private places. To my horror the other children nodded in agreement as the answers were written onto the blackboard. It was here that I first became aware of the huge amount of need for trauma counselling and emotional support amongst this population. Child abuse in particular was everywhere I looked, on the child whose bare arms and legs were covered with bruises, on the girls who fell asleep at their desks, finally feeling safe from groping hands, and on the children who were volatile and aggressive in the middle of classroom, angry and hurt at what life had given them. Meeting local needs Currently in the province of Mpumalanga there are few provisions in place to meet the mental health needs of children and adolescents. Where services are available, families in township settlements find it difficult to access these facilities. In addition, there is a limited knowledge amongst the local population as to how to identify and manage mental health problems in children, and they are subsequently misdiagnosed and mistreated. South African township communities are characterised by poverty and violence; contributing to high levels of rape, abuse, neglect and bereavement being encountered by children and adolescents. The effects of this environment severely impact on the mental health, social and cognitive development and level of academic attainment, further increasing the chances of poverty and unemployment amongst this population. High levels of stigma are also afforded to victims of sexual assault and those bereaved by HIV/AIDS; resulting in hundreds of children affected by trauma with sparse resources and little motivation to prevent or manage their distress. Although there are several NGOs operating within this area, there continues to be a gap in meeting the mental health needs of this population. Childline Mpumalanga, located in one of the main cities, is some distance away from the township settlements and they currently have no capacity to provide outreach work to these communities, despite recognising that there is a definite need for this. Childline has only been established for one year and staff are aware that it currently lacks exposure within the township schools, contributing to low numbers of referrals despite reports of the urgent and immediate need for psychosocial support to be provided within these schools. Similarly, the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa (PPASA) is recognised nationally as a high profile and innovative organisation focusing on sexual awareness among children and adolescents. PPASA volunteers encounter many children with psychological needs, but they are unable to work with them. As PPASA is well known for its ability to mobilise an effective local volunteer workforce and have an existing presence within the schools as well as good rapport with both teachers and children, recruiting PPASA volunteers who have completed their voluntary period would not only bridge the current gap but also provide a reputable and trusted volunteer workforce to carry forward the work of Tiga. Innovative features Tiga differs somewhat from Western models of psychosocial intervention as rather than focusing efforts on accessing external professionals to provide treatment, training is instead given to
Downloaded by [Nanyang Technological University] at 17:03 12 June 2016
Journal of Child and Adolescent Mental Health 2008, 20(1): 57–59
59
members of the local community so that they themselves can instigate management and prevention strategies within the school setting. The stigma that is attached to both mental ill-health and some of the causes of trauma such as sexual abuse, rape and HIV/AIDS is also considered in the design of the programme by employing creative techniques which are familiar and non-threatening to the children and their wider communities. Moreover, the programme does not rely on children disclosing incidences of trauma in order for them to receive care and attention; instead any child exhibiting emotional or behavioural difficulties will have the opportunity to engage in these therapeutic activities. Fear of reprisal from the perpetrator of abuse often prevents children from disclosing incidents and seeking assistance. The lay counsellors will however be able to work with children in managing some of the symptoms of trauma even in the absence of a disclosure. Managing the mental health needs of children and the training and education of the local population in managing these needs is something of a novelty in these communities. Most non-governmental and indeed governmental work centres around the prevention and care of those suffering from HIV/AIDS and the provision of food or material possessions, rather than targeting psychological and emotional needs. The future The Open University (OU) has been working in partnership with the Tiga programme since 2004 as part of its global strategy to contribute towards the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals. The Open University, based in the UK and ranked as one of the top teaching institutions in the country, is renowned for being the world’s first successful distance teaching university. Initially established in the 1960s, today the university provides a variety of courses to hundreds of thousands of students across the globe. As a major priority for the Tiga Programme is to secure funding to enable the implementation of a five-year project with the intention of reaching a further 25 schools across the province of Mpumalanga, the OU is working to secure sufficient money to enable the training of local volunteers to work as lay counsellors within schools as well as support an awareness-raising campaign in collaboration with a range of government and non-government departments. The OU is also looking at the possibility of transforming Tiga programme materials into an online learning format which would be available free of charge on the internet via the OU’s Open Content Initiative. This initiative would enable state of the art learning support and collaboration tools to connect students and educators. In addition, there is the potential of creating a research programme, supported by professors and research fellows in the OU’s International Development Centre, to highlight and provide insights into some of the complex issues related to the welfare of disadvantaged communities.
Nicola Lester Founder and consultant for the Tiga programme e-mail: [email protected]
