::Welcome to the website of SA Federation for Mental Health ::

GENERAL INFORMATION

It has been noted that as a national organisation our most important role is to capacitate our constituencies with skills thereby ensuring the services they deliver are of a high standard.

Self- advocacy training’s focus is to empower service users with skills and knowledge about their rights to be able to advocate for themselves, be involved in decision making and ensure that social integration becomes easy.

The Homes Training Trust (HTT) provides training programmes that provide skills and knowledge to parents and care workers working with persons with intellectual disability. The objective of the HTT is to increase job opportunities of care workers as well as contributing to the development and physical health of persons with intellectual disabilities..

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PROJECTS

Self-advocacy project
With this project we aim to develop the capacity of consumers so that they can actively participate in the governance of SAFMH through a consumer network.

With this project we aim to develop capacity of consumers with regards to their right to be able to advocate for themselves, contribute to the governance of SA Federation for Mental Health.

This is achieved through establishing a National Advocacy group that will be a strong voice to influence policies within the organisation and the country.

Homes Training Trust
Capacitating service providers, like caregivers working with persons with intellectual disability in the community as well as in the residential care facilities, to promote development and uphold human rights when caring or working with them.

Two courses are currently provided by the Homes Training Trust. These provide care-givers with the necessary skills to work with persons suffering from intellectual disability through the understanding and promotion of development, which will lead to independence and, ultimately, integration into society.

The Basic Course: (50 hours) Empowering caregivers with knowledge on intellectual disability, its causes, types, associated ailments/disabilities and the management thereof. Aimed at physical, cognitive, social and financial development.
The Care and Habilitation Course: (32 days) Empowering caregivers by teaching them skills in understanding project management and understanding and being able to deal with a child in a deprivation circle. It also provides skills for attending to the physical, psychological/emotional, cognitive and social needs, as well as integration into society, work place and school. A professional for that particular sphere like the Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapist, Speech Therapist, Nurse, Social worker, Psychologist, Human Resource personnel as well as early childhood teacher attends to each need.

These two courses are in the process of accreditation.

Capacitating communities
This project aims to capacitate communities to take ownership of services for people with mental disability through:

Empowering caregivers in the community on the Mental Health Care Act 2002 by organising workshops on issues like the Review Boards, the role of the police, who else can assist a mental health user other than the relatives, what needs to be done to get a non voluntary mental health user admitted, etc.
Empowering the community through the caregivers on the importance of assisting the mental health user as well as the family to identify early sings of relapse and how to cope and support the person in the community to be independent again. Caregivers who have done Home Based Care through the local clinics are targeted for training
Empower the police with skills on how to treat a person with psychiatric illness when requested to assist by the community or family member. Workshops are organised and presented at the National Office of S.A. Federation for Mental Health.

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