Counselling Services
Overview
POWA provides face-to-face, group and telephonic counselling and referrals at our six branch offices as well as counselling through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to women who have experienced violence. Our offices are strategically located in economically disadvantaged communities and the Johannesburg inner city for easy to access services.
A 24-hour first responder service is provided by various organisations, including POWA, at Nthabiseng Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, where the POWA Soweto office is based. In August 2020, the organisation also began operating at the Masakhane TCC at Thembisa Hospital.
Situated across South Africa, TCCs deliver a one-stop service – including medical, legal and counselling services – for survivors of sexual and domestic violence so they don’t face additional victimisation by being referred from one service to another. Organisations providing services at all TCCs across South Africa are the Department of Health (DOH), the NPA and the SAPS.
POWA social workers and social auxiliary workers based at the Nthabiseng and Masakhane TCCs provide containment and counselling to abused women on a 24-hour basis. Containment, which is done by social auxiliary workers, includes calming traumatised survivors down before they undergo counselling with social workers and informing them of the medical procedure they will go through.
In addition to these TCCs, POWA social workers, social auxiliary workers and volunteers also began working in Victim Friendly Rooms (VFRs) at the Olifantsfontein, Rabasotho, Thembisa South and Kempton Park Police Stations on the East Rand in October 2020.
A VFR is a dedicated room in a police station to provide a space for victims of crime to make their statements in a private, non-threatening environment and to calm the victim down.
POWA volunteers working in these stations are responsible for providing immediate practical support to gender-based violence (GBV) survivors including writing down their names and contact details, detailing their experiences of abuse, providing information regarding available support services and referring them to the relevant service providers. Volunteers then link them to social auxiliary workers to provide them with containment services, make counselling appointments with social workers.
Through counselling, women are able to gain hope, knowledge and strength to live with their abusive experiences.
POWA provides face-to-face, group and telephonic counselling and referrals at our six branch offices as well as counselling through Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to women who have experienced violence. Our offices are strategically located in economically disadvantaged communities and the Johannesburg inner city for easy to access services.
A 24-hour first responder service is provided by various organisations, including POWA, at Nthabiseng Thuthuzela Care Centre (TCC) at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, where the POWA Soweto office is based. In August 2020, the organisation also began operating at the Masakhane TCC at Thembisa Hospital.
Situated across South Africa, TCCs deliver a one-stop service – including medical, legal and counselling services – for survivors of sexual and domestic violence so they don’t face additional victimisation by being referred from one service to another. Organisations providing services at all TCCs across South Africa are the Department of Health (DOH), the NPA and the SAPS.
POWA social workers and social auxiliary workers based at the Nthabiseng and Masakhane TCCs provide containment and counselling to abused women on a 24-hour basis. Containment, which is done by social auxiliary workers, includes calming traumatised survivors down before they undergo counselling with social workers and informing them of the medical procedure they will go through.
In addition to these TCCs, POWA social workers, social auxiliary workers and volunteers also began working in Victim Friendly Rooms (VFRs) at the Olifantsfontein, Rabasotho, Thembisa South and Kempton Park Police Stations on the East Rand in October 2020.
A VFR is a dedicated room in a police station to provide a space for victims of crime to make their statements in a private, non-threatening environment and to calm the victim down.
POWA volunteers working in these stations are responsible for providing immediate practical support to gender-based violence (GBV) survivors including writing down their names and contact details, detailing their experiences of abuse, providing information regarding available support services and referring them to the relevant service providers. Volunteers then link them to social auxiliary workers to provide them with containment services, make counselling appointments with social workers.
Through counselling, women are able to gain hope, knowledge and strength to live with their abusive experiences.