Phola raise awareness in schools
PHOLA facilitator Refilwe Lechobo said that they started off with two schools and they want to go to more schools
The 2023 mental health awareness week’s theme was teenage suicide prevention week.
Randburg-based organisation Phola Psychosocial visited H/S Die Adelaar and H/S Die Burger to raise awareness of teenage suicide.
Phola facilitator Refilwe Lechoba explained that this awareness is conducted every year and organised by the City of Joburg. In 2023, they aligned with Phola to facilitate in schools.
“It was suicide awareness week, City of Joburg decided to go into schools and do a talk with learners especially grades 10, 11, and 12 because these are the main ones that commit suicide due to teenage pressure. They came to Phola and desired us to do research, on teens’ mental health issues and partnered with us.”
PHOLA does interventions with children in schools. They do talks on suicide, bullying, and signs and give information about where learners can go for help.
“We shared case studies with learners whereby there had to pick up the signs of anxiety, post-traumatic disorder, and depression. Some kids go through that but do not know what it is. We also shared flyers with researched information on mental health disorders, relating to the case studies.”
Lechoba said that they looking forward to going to the other schools after this awareness working with the City of Joburg.
Phola facilitated and conducted assessments to check students’ depression scores and surveys on their attitudes.
“These scores will help identify learners who need mental help. We will then report back to the City of Joburg to say these kids need further intervention. We would then go back to the schools and do a Tree of Life (one of our methodologies) with the learners that will focus on bullying and suicide. This will happen after they have received a report from us based on the assessment we did.”
Lechoba told Randburg Sun that the campaign was a success and students are hungry for this information.
“We shared a lot of information with the students, I picked up that the learners were told we would stay behind and disclose with us afterward but we did not have time. So that shows that there is a need for us in the schools and the students need us.”
Refilwe Lechoba added that Phola raised awareness among the learners to reduce the number of deaths of teens in High schools by educating them on mental health disorders, signs and symptoms, tips on mental health issues, and where to get help.
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