Cape Town - Khayelitsha residents in need of mental health services can now access it at their doorstep – thanks to the launch of a mobile counselling clinic aimed at destigmatising mental illness.
Last week, the colourful kombi, popularly known as Cara-cara (a slang for Caravelle) was publicly unveiled – almost a year after it started offering counselling to the township’s residents, mainly the youth and their parents.
A brainchild of a Khayelitsha psychology graduate and a registered counsellor, Banetsi Andreas Mphunga, the clinic was aimed at catering for the township’s residents who are under severe strain of substance abuse, gangsterism and other social ills such as crime, domestic and sexual violence
Launched under the banner of the Township Parents and Children Counselling Centre – a counselling office that is run by Mphunga in partnership with the South African College of Applied Psychology (Sacap) – the mobile clinic, which is freely available, is also expected to alleviate some of the stigma associated with visiting a psychologist at a clinic.
Mphunga said he would also use the clinic to mentor other psychology students who were interested in doing community work.
Apart from mental health services being out of reach in poorer communities, Mphunga said the stigma attached when visiting a psychologist held many young people back from accessing this crucial service.
In an environment fraught with trauma and abuse, seeking clinical help during life’s struggles was often impossible due to the scarcity of mental health resources and the cost attached, particularly for the young and unemployed. The clinic’s aim was to break down these barriers to treatment and normalise seeking professional help in tough and shocking times.
“Mental illness is still stigmatised in the townships. It’s associated with being crazy or weak. We’ve made the kombi colourful to make it attractive even to young children. We want everyone in our community to view mental illness as something normal that can affect anyone from any background,” he said.
With the financial support from Sacap, Mphunga has since transformed the kombi into a comfortable and colourful unit – taking psychology services to homes, schools and churches.
“The clinic belongs to the Khayelitsha community. I want to bring psychology here, and hopefully inspire other young people to become psychologists so that they may too change circumstances of their own community,” he said.
Lance Katz, chief executive of Sacap, said the mobile clinic was the first project the college’s newly established foundation had invested in.
Katz said mental well-being was the springboard for learning, thinking and communication skills, as well as for emotional growth, resilience and self-esteem.
By investing in such as project, the college was trying to take mental healthcare to the grassroots.
“The reality is that mental health services are not available where the need is greatest. So a project like this where psychologists work on the ground and go to where people are is one of the projects we are looking for. We hope to use the mobile clinic to place some of our graduates where they can get further training,” he said.
Mphunga said his long-term goal was to have a fleet of healing mini-buses throughout the country where vulnerable youths can seek health services in a judgement-free space.
Cape Argus