Many of the parents we chat to feel overwhelmed regarding their children’s screen habits. We are very happy to partner with a great organisation who provides not only tools to help you guide your child’s online habit, but also assists with conversations around what is healthy and acceptable. Please feel free to see for yourself – The all-in-one digital wellness solution for you and your family. TechBear Online gives you the tools to help develop healthy digital habits on all your devices. Protect against exposure to pornography and other harmful content, control time spent on devices, improve online privacy, and …
Author: Andrea Nettel
Apprenticeship @ TFCC
Testimonial from Christiane Viljoen: My journey in psychology started back in 2017 when I began my studies. Throughout my undergraduate and postgraduate studies, it became clear that the psychology syllabus, although extremely informative and educational, lacked a great deal of “real world” application. Over the course of my studies, I was provided with the theory of psychology; ranging from its founders up until the present day, however, I had not been taught how to use it. This is where something like The Family Counselling Centre Apprenticeship Program comes into play. The apprenticeship program fills the gaps that tertiary education cannot. …
When Faith Rises
This is my personal story. It is a journey filled with loss yet also with hope. I wholeheartedly believe my journey has prepared me for the work I now do as the Director of “The Family Counselling Centre”. I hope it speaks of hope more than of despair and that you are encouraged by it. Blessings Andrea
Trauma Debrief
One of the ways The Family Counselling Centre (TFCC) provides professional mental health services to those in need is by providing crisis interventions; such as trauma debriefs with employees and staff, families, and groups. Trauma is something we are frequently exposed to, either directly or indirectly. Trauma is an emotional response to a terrible event like an accident, crime or natural disaster. Trauma sets in immediately after the event, with shock and denial being typical. Longer term reactions include unpredictable emotions, flashbacks, strained relationships and even physical symptoms like headaches or nausea. While these feelings are normal, some people may …
Staff Workshops
Valley Development Projects (VDP) and its staff is one of the projects that The Family Counselling Centre (TFCC) supports by providing workshops and debrief sessions at highly reduced fees. VDP uses an integrated development approach to combat a number of social issues, alleviate poverty and address the imbalances of the past; based on the vision of “a healthy, self-reliant community with sufficient resources for people who are confident to make their own informed choices in a constantly changing environment”. This recent staff development workshop was held by Andrea Nettel in June 2021. The topic of this workshop was “Facing Obstacles …
COVID -19
The Crisis! A worldwide phenomenon towards introspection. We cannot stop this virus because science does not have the weapons to fight it. It is novel – we are in completely uncharted waters. The uncertainty of the unknown, the absolute helplessness, combined with the health risks and the added risk to life create the conditions for the perfect storm. We feel it swelling up inside of each one of us and around us. Building momentum and gathering speed especially via well-meaning social media. Thankfully it is not as deadly a virus as we have seen in the past, but it is …
Lifting The Veil
Anxiety, Depression & Mental Health Despite the stormy weather we had a good turnout for our “Let’s Get Talking” event on Tuesday 30th July 2019. Participants found the evening interesting and informative. The majority felt that the environment was relaxed, comfortable, compassionate and safe. We had a healthy discussion about a difficult topic, and everyone contributed. Thank you to all who made the effort to come out, it was truly wonderful and humbling. During the introductions it became clear that everyone in the room has had their own experiences with anxiety and depression. The evening therefore focused mainly on anxiety …
Self-Care & Stress Relief @ The Safe House
The Safe House and The Family Counselling Centre “The Safe House” and its staff is one of the projects that we at The Family Counselling Centre (TFCC) support. The Safe House (TSH) is a place of safety for women and children who have been a victim of domestic abuse. It is situated in the middle of our “deep south” valley, in a secret location to ensure the safety of its residents. TFCC provides pro bono debriefing sessions when needed and individual counselling sessions for staff members. We also offer staff development for the housemothers, the social worker and the admin …
Tackling Tough Times – Communication made easy
We communicate all the time. Every minute of our waking day we are communicating something to someone somehow. How do we do that? Most people answer by saying “we talk and use words”, they are correct to a point. Communication, however, is so much more than just using words. At our September “Let’s get Talking” event at Sandi’s bistro participants uncovered what supports communication and why communication breaks down. Here now some comments from some of our participants. “My husband and I joined a welcoming and informal group to discuss how we communicate with each other, especially when times are tough. Andrea took some …
SOCIAL MEDIA: GOOD, BAD OR UGLY?
Young and old talking about Social Media The consensus seems to be that Social Media might be a wonderful tool however there is this underlying fear of what seemes to be vast unknown dangers. Participants between the ages of 16 and sixty joined us in our last, “Let’s Get Talking”, discussion. Despite the age range it became obvious that everyone had struggles with healthy integration of social media. Questions like … “What are the benefits of putting our life story online?” “How to manage teenage users?” “Social Media wastes a lot of time and at the same time can be …