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Trauma
Unresolved trauma has been shown to negatively impact mental health in children, adolescents and adults worldwide. Trauma, a significantly stressful event experienced directly or indirectly by an individual or group of individuals, includes and is not limited to injury, sexual assault, physical attack, neglect and or emotional abuse, natural or man-made disasters, life threatening illness, witnessing death and or violence, learning that a loved one has a serious illness, and learning of the death of a loved-one. Children and adolescents are the most vulnerable to the long lasting effects of trauma resulting in social-emotional and behavioral issues later in life.
Effects of Trauma
Trauma that goes unresolved has the potential to develop into Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and has been shown to affect lower brain centers responsible for self-regulation, memory and learning. Consequently, children with unresolved trauma are more likely demonstrate aggression, suffer from depression and anxiety, perform poorly in school and abuse drugs and alcohol.
Why South Africa
South Africa is an exquisitely beautiful country where a myriad of cultures blend and eleven official languages are embraced. Despite its cultural appeal, South Africa also remains a complex country where violence, infectious disease, poverty, unemployment, and lack of mental healthcare are prevalent. |
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With 57% of the population living below the poverty line and a 24% unemployment rate, it is a daily struggle to meet basic needs in South Africa. The rates of violence and exposure to trauma in South Africa are astonishing.Nationwide surveys show that at least five million adolescents and adults have been exposed to one or more violent events in their lifetime, 80% of which experienced at least one traumatic event had one or more symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
*See more on A Need for Public Mental Health
In South Africa inpatient facilities with for-profit status are more likely than outpatient facilities to provide mental health services, while few mental health facilities with nonprofit status exist. As of 1998, South Africa lacked a formal mental health policy for children, and although there were approximately 1500 clinical psychologists in South Africa, less than 20% of these were practicing in the public sector (Milne & Robertson 1998). Due the extreme lack of mental health services for children, adolescents, and families of underserved regions in South Africa, Awaken Africa’s mission is to increase access to public mental health care.
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