Mental health programme empowers young women

BEFORE it is too late to turn back from the repercussions of bullying, learners at Mowat Park High School were involved in an anti-bullying campaign.

Seventy-five Grade 9 learners were part of Inner-Connect’s inaugural programme on Thursday, September 2.

Centered around issues pertaining to mental health, the project puts learners in a safe space to talk their issues through. Grade 9 learner, Khwezi Khanyile said she doubted the programme at first.

“I thought how can talking to people help resolve my problems. But now, I see a big difference because of the grudges I had been holding for a very long time.”

“I found that there was no point in doing that because it only affects me. I finally let go of the things I was holding onto in the past.”

“Inner-connect showed me that one needs to focus on one’s growth and at the same time, doing that should not affect other people. We talk about doing things that make us look forward to the future that we will look back and be proud of. We could not be more grateful to have such a platform,” she said.

With consent from their parents, the learners were excused from class for the day, taking to the school’s field to have the gathering in compliance with Covid-19 regulations.

They started off with a march around the school to raise awareness among other learners.

Teacher, Amy Cockman said the programme trained unemployed youth, some of which are former learners at the school, furthering women’s empowerment.

She said as it is a first of its kind, they are learning the programme as they go and its successes will assist learners from other schools.

“We’re proud of the programme but soon it’ll be exam time and it will have to step aside for a while but we’re grateful to even have it.”

“We’re amazed at the things that are coming out from it so far – the opening up and comfortability with each other as the learners share their experiences.”

“Since we’re an all-girl school, it is often thought that there is a sisterhood among the learners but it does not work that way. That sisterhood has to be forged and this is what the programme is doing,” she said.

Facilitator, Khulani Chiliza said their mission as Inner-Connect is to address mental health issues and break the stigma associated with them.

He said a common misconception about mental health is that it is often thought that someone is sick or mentally disturbed.

“We are a campaign that seeks to assist learners in understanding mental health. We then look at the elements that are likely to cause ill health.”

“There are three pillars that we use – running the activities, identifying issues, and then referring the learner to the school’s counsellor. We do this to avoid having the learners running from pillar to post when seeking help,” he said.

The anti-bullying campaign, he said, was the result of a three-day workshop with the learners. He said they realised that bullying was a common factor in their shared stories.

“The conversations we had about the spheres of mental health include acceptance, purpose, and self-understanding. The topic of bullying kept coming up and we then realised why they had been so reserved, it was a means of protecting themselves,” he said.

The project began in October 2020 at the school and is exclusively open to Grade 9s only.

Inner-Connect is a Denmark non-profit organisation established to empower young women through awareness on mental health and create more focus on their strengths and qualities in society.

They work with young women internationally, educate them on how mental health and empowerment go hand-in-hand and how they can influence the empowerment of their communities.

For more, like their Facebook page @innerconnectnpo.