13 Oct 2022

UNGWA Africa, a local social enterprise programme,  is calling on public member to register for a mental health mentoring webinar to be conducted on Tuesday via zoom.

The mental health session will be offered by UNGWA Africa resident mental health expert, who will lead discussion on stress, anxiety, depression, bullying and suicide, among other topics.

UNGWA Africa founder, Ms Gomolemo Madikgetla told BOPA in an interview that those interested in taking part could contact UNGWA Africa through the organisation’s Facebook page.

She said her company offered free online mental health mentorship programme to address social ills troubling today’s society.

The programme, which is accessible to all public members, is meant to help build resilience for people  to withstand the COVID-19 pandemic aftermaths.

 “We are capacitating women and youth.

We do have other groups in the programme, but we prioritise those two as the critical demographics in the current environment,” she said.

Ms Madikgetla said mental health was a priority as people had struggled during the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted on their mental health.

She said balancing the new normal caused by the pandemic and the need to reset and achieve goals had been challenging.

“Everybody has a mandate to be an achiever and in so doing we run the risk of people getting burnt out and experiencing other complication,” she said.

Furthermore, Ms Madikgetla said apart from offering mental a health programme, UNGWA Africa had been offering various mentorship programmes, adding that they had mentors from various fields such as educators, scientists, authors, academics, government employees and students.

She added that they had  recently entered into partnership with ImpactHER and Grow With Google, which aimed at capacitating communities through the digital space.

Moreover, she said UNGWA Africa was currently running a four-week virtual digital bootcamp to develop the community digital skills, also offered free of charge

The bootcamp is meant to ensure that no one was left behind on the digital space, adding that the internet should be used to bridge the socio-economic gap.

The bootcamp, she said, included topics such as how to use social media and how to create digital marketing strategies, among others.

She assured participants that they would be certified upon completing the course. ENDs