Cause Index

Home-Start South Africa

CHANGING SOUTH AFRICA – ONE FAMILY AT A TIME

We would like to take this opportunity to introduce Home-Start South Africa to you.

Home-Start South Africa is an organisation that assists families in need. We will support any family who needs us; the only condition is that they have at least one child under school age.

Home-Start South Africa has been supporting families in Benoni and Daveyton for the past ten years. At Home-Start South Africa we believe that every child deserves the best start in life. We also understand that raising children can be difficult under normal circumstances. However, when adversity strikes it can be very hard. Whether it is through death of a family member, divorce, illness, children with behavioural problems or a multitude of reasons it makes a difficult life even harder. This is when families need a little extra help to get their children off to a good start, hence our name, so we match experienced volunteers with families to offer help and support. Our volunteers are all extensively trained by Home Start in accordance with strict international standards.

Our support is totally confidential and free to the family. What we do will vary from family to family and from place to place, but generally we:
• Visit families in their own homes or they visit our drop in centre where applicable
• Reassure parents that their problems are not unique
• Encourage families to enjoy themselves together
• Build on parents’ own strengths
• Listen
• Help out where and if possible
In the course of our work we come across many children who have been traumatised by abuse whether it is physical or sexual abuse and also traumatic life experiences. Often children can not verbalise the horrors that they have endured. Children express their feelings via play as it is sometimes very difficult for them to do this verbally.

Play Therapy is an excellent way to assist the child through the process so that healing may start to take place. We have a fully equipped Play Room and trained Play Mediators to facilitate this process. The trained Play Mediators will spend time with each child individually in the room. This may happen over a period of time with a number of sessions. Our Play Mediators are dedicated individuals and professionals who give up their time to assist children in need.

For further information please contact Home-Start South Africa.

The service that we offer is invaluable and can make a huge difference in the life of a child.

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