Community Keepers

Beautiful minds in every school

CK opens rooms on school premises manned by a professional therapist and a community member with lived experience. By investing in the social, emotional and mental well-being of learners and their caregivers we can create an environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging and everyone can thrive.

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Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Web presence

2008

Established

65K

Children

1

Countries

Target group

Other

Updated

February 2024

Imagine trying to learn the 7-times-table or read a book while riding on a high speed rollercoaster. This is what life feels like for many of our children. They wake up troubled by the struggles they face, they then have to make their way to school and try to concentrate in the classroom.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

We discovered that there was only one state social worker and one psychologist to service 45 schools and 32 000 children in the Cape Winelands. A common denominator that we found across all ages was that people ‘needed someone to talk to’. This was particularly evident among the youth.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

We provide c.a.r.e. which includes Counselling, crisis intervention, containment and check-ins, Anchoring workshops where participants get to build up their own toolbox of techniques, Referral pathways and resources, and we work together to build an Environment or culture of well-being.

How has it been spreading?

Established in 2008, we now partner with 79 schools and will add 13 more in 2024. Our long term goal has always been to partner with 100 schools by 2025.

If I want to try it, what should I do?

We base ourselves on school premises to remove barriers to access. Please contact us if you would like to arrange a site visit.

Media

In celebration of the exceptional contribution to SET and innovation including technology transfer, and education and training activities CK were recognised for their outstanding contribution to enhance resilience and promote mental health and wellbeing among South African learners, their parents, teachers and community through socio-emotional learning opportunities.

A learner from one of our partner primary schools had beautiful mugs printed as gifts for our Care Practitioner and Care Facilitator based at their school. The wording was: “Thank you for believing in me.” Behind every child who believes in themselves is a caring adult who believed first; and behind every successful organisation is a funder who believes in them.

Implementation steps

Our solution is scalable

"Those who feel love at home come to school to learn. Those who don’t, come to school to be loved. You cannot learn if you don’t feel loved because, for a child to be unloved is to be unsafe. If you want to improve the world, start by making people feel safer.” Please contact us to learn more