Phola was set up in 2015 by Ncazelo Ncube-Mlilo, a renowned Psychosocial Specialist whose work in trauma is known and used in many countries in the world including UK, Australia, and USA (see www.dulwichcentre.com or www.phola.org). The organisation was established to address the psychosocial and mental health problems associated with violence, crime, substance abuse, child abuse, gender-based violence, hardships and trauma.
The organisation’s overall aim is to help women to develop interest in aspects of their lives and history which they have not been interested in. To support them to develop ideas and goals about where they want their lives to go, helping them to recognise traces of other stories in their lives that contradict the problem story.
Our WVLSA project aims to achieve the following:
- Improved psychosocial wellbeing amongst women and girls who have survived GBV.
- To provide referral services through our network of partners
- To establish community-based services so that women are not isolated in their experiences of GBV and other hardships. This will involve both in-person and online platforms that bring women with shared experiences together to provide support to each other.
- To provide dignity packs 100 unemployed women who have been hard hit by the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.