College of Human Sciences

Unisa Social Work staff lend a helping hand to Pinetown Welfare Society

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The Department of Social Work answered a call for help to provide Social Workers of the Pinetown Highway Child and Family Welfare Society (NGO) and members of the National Council of Child Welfare in South Africa, who were working with flood victims during the KwaZulu-Natal floods in May 2022, with a critical debriefing session.

From left: M Khumalo, Department of Social Work; Dr Ann Petty, Department of Social Work; Dr Joyce Myeza, KZN Regional Director; Dr Shriefa Hendricks, Counselling and Career Development KZN Regional Office; Bongi Thusi, Counselling and Career Development KZN Regional Office; Andrew Spaumer, Department of Social Work.

According to the Chair of the Department of Social Work, Dr Rembuluwani Mbedzi, the mission of Pinetown Highway Child and Family Welfare Society is to protect and assist children, families and communities during periods of hardship and crisis. "Several communities serviced by these organisations were hard-hit areas affected by the floods."

He elaborated that the staff was under excessive pressure as field workers had already experienced increased demand for their services during the Covid-19 pandemic and the July 2021 civil unrest in the province. In addition, Mbedzi said the team was suffering from indirect trauma. As a result, Unisa's Department of Social Work was requested to assist by offering trauma debriefing and professional training to empower them to deliver trauma debriefing services.

Andrew Spaumer from the Department of Social Work delivered clothing donations to PHCFWS.

An intervention team was assembled, consisting of academic staff members of the Department of Social Work and the Counselling and Career Development Unit from the KwaZulu Natal Regional (KZN) Campus. Twenty-seven staff members attended the day-long critical incident debriefing session. The Regional Director of Unisa KZN, Dr Joyce Myeza, commended the staff for continuing to deliver services to the Highway communities under unprecedented conditions. However, she acknowledged that field workers had been exposed to physical, mental and emotional risks.

The Department of Social Work also donated a truckload of clothes to the Pinetown Highway Child and Family Welfare Society. The clothes were collected by the Department of Social Work staff members, the Willow Minor Christian Centre (Tshwane) and EL-Bethel Christian Fellowship (Tshwane). The donations were for displaced people living in community centres who had lost all their possessions during the floods.

The organisation's Director, Sibongile Mynathi, thanked the Unisa team for satisfactorily addressing the Pinetown Child and Family Welfare Society team's traumatic experience with the recent disasters. She further complimented the university on the well-prepared and practical intervention session. The staff also expressed how the session would enable them to better focus on their response to the disasters, manage their stress and refocus on delivering effective services to their clients and the communities they serve.  

The Department of Social Work staff with Unisa alumni who attended the training.

Additionally, planning is underway to offer a course on trauma debriefing to social workers and auxiliary workers from the Pinetown Highway Child and Family Welfare Society, the Department of Social Development, Christian Social Services, Sibusisiwe Child and Family Welfare Society as well as KwaDabeka Health Clinic. Two trauma debriefing experts in the Department of Social Work are preparing to train the field workers from these organisations. Sixty field workers from the Pinetown Highway District will benefit from the training.

Small group discussions

*By Nnana Jege, Communications and Marketing Specialist, College of Human Sciences.

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Publish date: 2022-08-30 00:00:00.0

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