SADAG observes Support Group Awareness Week
South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) is celebrating its third annual Support Group Awareness Week from January 23 to 27.
SADAG founder and director Zane Wilson has realised how stigmatised mental illness is in the country and how little help and support was available to sufferers and loved ones.
This follows her experience with years of undiagnosed panic disorder.
She decided to start a support group, which then became what is now known as The South African Depression and Anxiety Group. Fast forward 28 years, and now SADAG proudly hosts over 160 free support groups nationwide.
Awareness Week
Support Group Awareness Week is a time when SADAG reflects on and celebrates the importance of support groups.
“In a country where mental health resources are so limited, support groups offer a place of acceptance and understanding, free of stigma. During Support Group Awareness Week, we aim to create more public awareness about these much-needed free mental health aftercare resources and their positive impact on their members and communities,” said Krystle Kemp, SADAG support group coordinator.
Sharing experiences enables them to give each other mutual support, normalise experiences and collect practical information and ways of coping.
Kemp said group members offer each other emotional and practical support and reduce the sense of isolation that can be associated with mental illness and emotional struggles.
SADAG has many different support groups, including groups for depression, anxiety, and postnatal depression, family members and loved ones of children with ADHD, and bipolar disorder and support groups for loved ones living with a mental illness.
To find out more about their support groups, click HERE.
