The "Parenting Worx" Programme
The Parenting Worx Programme is our flagship programme which is currently being presented in Zwelihle and Stanford. This is a comprehensive holistic parenting, life skills and “early childhood development” programme that was jointly developed with Stellenbosch University.
The programme runs throughout the year with full day sessions every 2 weeks in each centre and we average about 200 families at any time although it varies as we encourage them to get seasonal work.
We mainly target mothers and fathers with children between the ages of 1 and 5, from the Zwelihle and De Kop communities, however most of our members are single parents. In the morning sessions the focus is on all aspects of parenting and life skills with a wide range of topics, including Family Planning, diet and nutrition, domestic violence, career planning, sex and sexuality, HIV/AIDS and STD’s, substance abuse, alcohol, personal hygiene, housework and health, to mention a few.
During these sessions the HRT Social Carers look after the children. In the afternoons the sessions focus on a wide range of “early childhood development” skills and practices including cognitive, emotional and social development.
We also have sessions for young and first time mothers including teenage parents.
In addition we have micro-business hand craft sessions which includes knitting, sewing, crocheting, baking and gardening. Most of the PW members are unemployed so we encourage them to make and sell hand crafted articles and vegetables.
We also have extramural activities to encourage social bonding which includes netball, African Dance and choirs.
Fatherhood Programme.
Our “Fathers” programme runs in parallel to the other sessions on the same days in both areas throughout the year. We focus on men related issues like domestic violence, alcohol and drug abuse, gangs, rape, crime and jobs. We also have woodworking groups, where we teach them how to make wardrobes, cupboards and kitchen units. This programme also includes regular outreach camps for the men where they are encouraged to participate in team events and discussions pertaining to male issues.
Counselling and Administration.
We offer a comprehensive psycho-social counselling service to families at risk as required. We also focus on administrative processes every Friday which includes admission reports, assessment reports and termination reports as well as formal referrals to appropriate authorities like police, law enforcement, hospitals, child welfare, Home Affairs and Municipal departments.
Groupwork is done by appointment once a week in both Centres controlled by our Social Worker and Auxiliary Social Worker.