THERAPY AND ASSESSMENT CENTRE

The Epworth Therapy and Assessment Centre is a Social Enterprise & programme arm of the Epworth Children’s Village and consists of a qualified team of psychologists (together with an intern programme) who provide psychological assessments services and therapy support to children, and their families, resident in the Epworth Children’s Village.

The Therapy and Assessment Centre also provides for the psychological needs of other community members and NPO’S which cannot afford these services privately. A large number of these are learners who require educational assessments for placement in special schooling.

Our Therapy Centre also provides assessment services to leaners referred to us by The Gauteng Department of Education. The majority of these learners are living in disadvantaged circumstances.

The Therapy and Assessment Centre’s income generating programmes fund the interventions for the children resident in the Epworth Children’s Village as well as the community members and NPO’S who cannot afford these services privately. This cross-subsidisation of funding enables the Therapy and Assessment Centre to provide low-cost psychological services to communities without financial means.

Our Therapy and Assessment Practice Manager is Michel’le Singh (Educational Psychologist.)

 

PROGRAMMES

PSYCHOLOGICAL SERVICES FOR CHILDREN IN RESIDENTIAL CARE

This is our flagship programme. Launched in 2003 it serves children in our care and contributes greatly towards fulfilling Epworth’s vision and Mission.

This programme provides psycho-social and educational intervention for the children who are placed in the Epworth Children’s Village, through the Children’s Court, and their families. This intervention is geared towards addressing the reasons why the children were removed from their families in order to enable reunification with their families and communities. This programme aims to address the children’s psychological, emotional, social, and educational needs and is complemented by a multidisciplinary reunification programme addressing their families’ needs.

Epworth has been able to successfully return 10 to 15 children a year to their families as a direct result of these services!

COMMUNITY SERVICES

We provide a full range of assessments, therapy and community work at local schools and welfare organisation sites as well as through a community resource centre based at the Epworth Children’s Village. These services are offered at an affordable rate which is based on 10% of the client’s total monthly household income, and a further reduced rate for unemployed clients.

We also undertake workshops and training at schools and sites for teachers, learners, and parents. These workshops include but are not limited to: Grade 8 orientation, substance abuse, teenage pregnancy, ADD/ADHD, anxiety, and learning disabilities.

The Therapy and Assessment Centre also undertakes bulk career and subject choice assessments at schools at a low-cost rate per learner.

School Outreach Programme – We provide therapy and assessment services and several schools around Germiston, Bedfordview & Boksburg

Arbor Primary School                                                    Buccleuch Primary School

Dinwiddie Primary School                                              Hurlyvale Primary School

Summerfields Primary School

And

Boksburg Child Welfare

 

PRIVATE PRACTICE

Based on the property of the Epworth Children’s Village, our Private Practice charges just below medical aid rates for the complete range of assessments and therapy.

The proceeds from these services go towards the therapeutic intervention for the children, and their families, resident in the Epworth Children’s Village and towards the low-cost services we offer to the community members who are unable to afford these services privately. Clients are referred through schools, word-of-mouth and through the Netcare Sunward Park Hospital.

Private Practice Therapists include:

Bernita Soares – Educational Psychologist

Hantie Smith – Educational Psychologist

Khanyisile Bujela – Counselling Psychologist

Michel’le Singh – Educational Psychologist

INTERNSHIP PROGRAMME

Intern Educational and Counselling Psychologists undertake their final year Master’s internship at the Therapy and Assessment Centre. The internship consists of individual therapy, group work and assessments at the Epworth Children’s Village, other welfare organisations and schools. Our internship is challenging and dynamic and interns are exposed to a variety of clients and cases which allow them to develop a skill set to work with any circumstance and client needs within their scope of practice.

In 2021 we welcome:

Emma Nel                                                  Kathryn Davies

Margot Steyn                                              Masego Morobane

Mpho Mofokeng                                           Siphiwe Sibiya

Zaakirah Loonat

We also accommodate Student Counsellors registered with the Health Professions Council of South Africa.

Supervisors for Intern Psychologists include:

Elmarie Moss-Dormehl – Educational Psychologist

Dr Tania Holz – Educational Psychologist

Shelley Bernhardt – Counselling Psychologist

**The Epworth Therapy and Assessment Centre is a Social Enterprise and a registered NPO. Any surplus generated through the income generating portions of the Epworth Therapy and Assessment Centre’s services, after the cross-subsidisation of services for the Psychological Services for Children in Residential Care and Community Services programmes, goes towards the running costs of the Epworth Children’s Village itself.

History of The Therapy and Assessment Centre

The Epworth Children’s Village is a non-profit organisation (NPO) and a children’s home that was started by the Methodist Church after the First World War to assist children and families who had been impacted by the war. As the need in the South African context shifted the ECV admitted children placed by the Children’s Court as they were deemed to be “in need of care” and at risk in their family environments as described in the Children’s Act (38 of 2005).

In 2003 the Board and management of the organisation realised that providing a safe, stable, caring environment was not enough to meet the children’s holistic needs. The children were struggling emotionally as a result of the abuse, trauma, rejection, loss, and abandonment they had experienced. These struggles were reflected in their behaviour and in their school performance. Many of the children still had contact with their families but the families had not received effective assistance to address their social problems and so there had been no change in their home environments. This meant that there was little possibility of the children being returned to functional, safe, and caring home environments.