October was Mental Health Awareness Month. The objective is to educate the public about mental health and to reduce the stigma and discrimination that people with mental illness are often subjected to. This was also mentioned by Chris Mgubanto (Principal of Nomzamo High School) and Craig Williams (the Capitec CSI representative), and this new space will further help to reduce this general stigma.
In a special ceremony at Nomzamo on 31 October, the principal, joined by learners, staff and honoured guests, officially launched the Counselling Room.
Two vibrant Nomzamo learners (Linamandla Malusi and Soyama Menziwe) delivered heartfelt speeches to welcome and thank everyone. They said โ€œmental Health is the foundation of academic successโ€ and โ€œthe establishment of this counselling room exemplifies the commitment towards our well-being.โ€
Learners and educators expressed their gratitude with songs of joy and beautiful words to thank the main sponsor, Capitec, the SSCC team and other sponsors for making this dream come true. The schoolโ€™s gardening team proudly created a lovely garden around this new space, enhancing its welcoming atmosphere.
The event was concluded with a beautiful prayer by former teacher Mrs Ncinitwa, who saw her dream come true.
This space, addressing the rising need for psycho-social support and well-being among students and teachers, is truly a God send, and a major milestone for Nomzamo High School. It provides a safe, private and comforting environment where learners can be honest about their emotions, confront challenges, and receive professional support from trained counsellors. Additionally, it will serve as a sick bay, giving unwell learners a peaceful place to rest and recover.
SSCC currently collaborates with two counsellors from our community, Adrรฉ Potgieter (therapeutic social worker and neuro-coach), and Abeedah Hendricks-Lalla (child-focused psychologist from Cedar Psychology). Their expertise and dedication to this project have been invaluable.
๐€ ๐‡๐ž๐š๐ซ๐ญ๐Ÿ๐ž๐ฅ๐ญ ๐“๐ก๐š๐ง๐ค๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐’๐ž๐ซ๐ฏ๐ข๐œ๐ž ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฏ๐ข๐๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ & ๐’๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ:
>Tannie Lona at Tile & Dรฉcor โ€“ generous donation and installation of curtains in the counselling room
>Edward & the Shortz Solar Solutions team โ€“ for powering the space with electricity.
>Renier & the Blue Fox Plumbers team โ€“ for providing running water in the room.
โ€œ๐ถ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘™๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘†๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘†๐‘โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘  ๐‘๐‘ข๐‘–๐‘™๐‘‘๐‘  ๐‘Ž ๐‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘š๐‘š๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘ฆ. ๐ผ๐‘ก ๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘œ๐‘ค๐‘  ๐‘ข๐‘  ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘๐‘œ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘ก๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘™๐‘ฆ ๐‘–๐‘š๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘ก ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘–๐‘™๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘›, ๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ , ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘“๐‘Ž๐‘š๐‘–๐‘™๐‘–๐‘’๐‘ . ๐ต๐‘ฆ ๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘โ„Ž๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘™๐‘’๐‘›๐‘”๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘™๐‘–๐‘˜๐‘’ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ ๐‘œ๐‘ข๐‘Ÿ๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘ โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก๐‘Ž๐‘”๐‘’๐‘  ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘Ž๐‘‘๐‘’๐‘š๐‘–๐‘ ๐‘ ๐‘ข๐‘๐‘๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ๐‘ก, ๐‘ค๐‘’ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘ก๐‘’ ๐‘Ž ๐‘๐‘’๐‘ก๐‘ก๐‘’๐‘Ÿ ๐‘™๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘Ÿ๐‘›๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ฃ๐‘–๐‘Ÿ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘š๐‘’๐‘›๐‘ก ๐‘“๐‘œ๐‘Ÿ ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ๐‘ฆ๐‘œ๐‘›๐‘’.โ€ (๐‘…๐‘’๐‘›๐‘–๐‘’๐‘Ÿ)
>Remhoogte Nursery โ€“ for donating some beautiful plants and flowers towards beautifying the garden
โ€œ๐ต๐‘’โ„Ž๐‘œ๐‘™๐‘‘, ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ ๐‘๐‘Ÿ๐‘–๐‘›๐‘” ๐‘–๐‘ก โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘กโ„Ž ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™๐‘–๐‘›๐‘”; ๐ผ ๐‘ค๐‘–๐‘™๐‘™ โ„Ž๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘Ÿ๐‘’๐‘ฃ๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘™ ๐‘ก๐‘œ ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’๐‘š ๐‘กโ„Ž๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘ข๐‘›๐‘‘๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘œ๐‘“ ๐‘๐‘’๐‘Ž๐‘๐‘’ ๐‘Ž๐‘›๐‘‘ ๐‘ก๐‘Ÿ๐‘ข๐‘กโ„Ž.โ€ (๐ฝ๐‘’๐‘Ÿ. 33:6 ๐‘๐พ๐ฝ๐‘‰)