26 Sep 2023

Care givers play a central role in the lives of the children with disabilities and their well-being is linked to that of their children, says District Performance Improvement Coordinator Mr Molebatsi Kemmonye.

Speaking during the wellness workshop for parents of children living with disability in Kanye last week, Mr Kemmonye said psychosocial support was  important for caregivers of children living with disabilities and the role of social workers in ensuring that the needs of caregivers are met to ensure their well-being.

He said failure to get psychosocial support needs would create problems such as emotional disorders resulting in impaired mental health and low self-confidence.

“The birth of a child in a family usually creates great excitement and expectations, it brings happiness and feeling of fulfillment among parents,”he said. “Before the birth of a child, parents have their own hopes to see the future of the new comer to their family. This may become muted with the birth of a baby with special needs.”

Mr Kemmonye said having a child with special needs born into a family and grow into adulthood was one of the most difficult and stressful experiences to a family and parental reactions usually include shock, depression, guilt, anger, sadness, loss of emotions and anxiety.

He told parents that their well-being was essential as it was important for the whole family.

“You are the most important person in your child’s life, championing their well-being needs every day, he added. “For this to be sustainable, it’s really important that you find ways to look after your own well-being needs too.”

Mr Kemmonye encouraged them to place focus on exercising and staying active as it was very easy to fall out of the habit when caring for someone else. Physical activity can help improve sleep, mood and help to manage stress and anxiety as well as being good for maintaining good health and physical well-being.

He urged parents to familiarise themselves with laws that protects them and their children and to use some of the online services for support. He also encouraged them to open up to fellow parents and help each other so as to reduce their stress levels and to seek support from those who have skills.

The counsellor for Keitsholofetse Psychosocial Support to Pregnant Women,  Ms Boitshepo Mosupiemang, said the aim of the workshop was to offer psycho-social support to parents of children living with disabilities by engaging and offering activities that help reduce stress.

The workshop also intended to offer psycho education and bring awareness about different organisations that offer services that can assist and aid people living with disabilities together with their caregivers.

Ms Mosupiemang said the workshop would inform and educate caregivers regarding issues surrounding the challenges that arise from taking care of people living with disabilities, educating and raising awareness on different coping skills, techniques and strategies to handle the challenges that comes with taking care of their children. “We hope to create therapeutic environment that would allow parents and caregivers to offload, open up and share their thoughts and emotions and we also anticipate to offer a relaxing and refreshing activities to our audience,” she said.

Keitsholofetse Psychosocial Support to Pregnant Women is a non-governmental organisation based in Kanye that advocates for mental health and child development by providing psycho social support to pregnant women and counselling to the general public.

Most of the parents expressed concern about the services that they get from social workers in their areas saying it was poor and it takes time for them to get assistance. They also decried that the community takes advantage of their children as most of them were sexually abused hence they were always keeping them indoors.

Parents pleaded the district commissioner’s office to assist them, especially with issues concerning safety and welfare of their children. ENDS