Building resilience and support structures for teens impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Frieda Kakololo
The COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating implications for everyone, but amongst the most affected by the pandemic were school-going children who lost their normal routine, learning opportunities, social circles and in some cases their support structures. For some, school was their safe space, but because of the multiple lockdowns, they had to stay home, which is not always the safest option for children.
A 2019 survey by Namibia’s Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare showed that nearly two out of five females (39.6%) and males (45.0%) aged 18-24 years experienced physical, sexual, or emotional abuse in childhood.
This clearly shows us that the rate of violence among children is already unacceptably high, and the pandemic just increased children’s exposure to violence. According to the American Journal of Emergency Medicine, domestic violence cases have risen from 25% to 33% globally in 2020.
The pandemic affected the whole world simultaneously, and for the first time, we were divided with no knowledge of what the future held. Breadwinners lost their jobs, and businesses closed down. The insecurity and uncertainty of rising food costs, cleaning products, sanitary products and fuel costs brought a lot of stress upon families, so mental health was pushed to the side as the focus was on surviving by making sure there was a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Many learners didn't have access to the outside world because of a lack of technology and electricity, so they were left behind even when their peers continued with online lessons. Covid-19 shined a light on the technology availability gap with many educational professionals fearing that if the highly infectious virus was not mitigated that it would result in higher poverty rates as children who defied the odds of not having school clothes, water and electricity at home and having to walk long distances but still made it to school would inevitably drop-out. The ministry of education recorded that 25 235 pupils across the country had not returned to school and could not be traced by the end of 2020.
During the multiple lockdowns, there was an increase in self-harm cases, depression and anxiety disorders, reports of risky sexual practices, and unwanted teenage pregnancies with more than 3 300 schoolgirls falling pregnant during the Covid-19-imposed lockdown from March to July.
The learners also had to deal with the losses of some of their teachers, family members and neighbours, not being able to say goodbye to their loved ones who died of the virus and having to stand (14 meters) away while men and women in white protective suits that cover them from head to toe bury their loved ones took away the chance for them to grieve in a culturally familiar way.
The psychosocial support programme
In response to this, Educate for Africa set out to help learners by introducing a psychosocial support program for youth at Combretum Trust School (CTS) and Physically Active Youth (PAY), which would help learners between the ages of 12-17 in coping with the adverse effects of this period and in ongoing self-management individually and with the support of peers.
EforA hired a counsellor and life skills facilitator to oversee the program at CTS and PAY. The consultants have professional backgrounds and experience in counselling and working therapeutically with individuals in various contexts such as gender-based violence, life skills training, and physical education training. The psychosocial support program took the form of individual and group counselling sessions.
The introductory phase consisted of weekly life skills workshops which were educational and interactive to lay the foundation of safe spaces for the learners. The topics discussed during this period were chosen collaboratively with the learners and the selected topics were; managing stress, coping skills, confidence, fear of failure, relationships, communication, and conflict management.
The second phase looked into more sensitive matters as the learners were more comfortable with each other and the consultants, during this stage, the learners opened up more, with many not shying away from sharing their personal experiences.
The third phase was structured on teaching the learners coping skills and peer support so that the program's positive effects could still be felt long after the 12-week program ended. At the end of the third stage, learners demonstrated increased knowledge of mental health, personal development, and self-help mechanisms by answering and offering advice to their peers.
Impact
The program aimed to improve the lives of the learners right now and set them up with healthy coping methods for life. At the beginning of the program, the learners were shy and even sceptical because of preconceived notions about mental health and talking about their feelings and experiences out of fear of being judged or being deemed weak by their peers, but towards the end of the program, the facilitator's had seen significant progress in the learners individually and as part of a group.
However, after six months of the programme, the learners now have better-coping skills; they can manage stress better because their social skills and handling of situations has improved; this has also positively affected their relationships with their peers and family members.
‘’What I liked about the program was getting to know about my friends and others' emotions and getting to express my feelings also’’
says program participant, Penny, aged 16. Her peers also shared this sentiment as they thanked the consultants for helping them stating that they didn't know how much they needed the extra support until they got it.
When I asked the learners ‘What was one thing that EforA did differently from the support system at school that benefited them?’’ Their answer was the check-in and check-out routine used in each session and the feedback system, which gave them ownership and agency in the process. The consultants always started the sessions with a check-in where one would say their name and how they were feeling and do the same at the end.
They also got to fill out feedback forms at the end of the sessions in which they would rate the individual sessions out of five and say one thing they like about the session and one thing they would change. It has been proven that feedback-informed therapy reduces dropout rates and improves participants' outcomes and their sense of well-being.
Bianca Salamon, one of the facilitators, said that the programme aims to help the learners to ‘’better be able to self-manage their emotional wellbeing and mental health and be able to seek further support for themselves or a friend if needed. Additionally, learners would have a sense of their own values, what mattered to them and the direction they would want to go in.”
The program also aimed to share age-appropriate information that is evidence-based and free from religion or cultural beliefs, so that the children's conclusions would not be biased. The sessions are held to be open, non-judgemental and encouraging dialogue. Bianca added that the idea for this is to support the learners to be “more confident in using their voices and expressing their opinions, thoughts and feelings, as well as being young people who listened well and respected the feelings, experiences and opinions of others, including where those differed from their own. Lastly, learners would be further equipped with practical skills for their day-to-day and future challenges, such as time management and goal setting or in making decisions about subject choice and ultimately career path’’.
The program also has a sports element which at the time of publishing of this article is ongoing. The physical activity helps the learners by providing a physical release of stress, and a rush of endorphins and helps to teach coping skills, communication and resilience through sports. This aspect also seeks to further strengthen the learner's relationships with each other, improve teamwork, instill leadership qualities and shared responsibility amongst the learners.
Improved mental health increases self-esteem, improves relationships, reduces suicide and self-harm cases and results in greater productivity for individuals. The mental well-being of a population is also essential for a country’s sustainability, long-term growth and development.
This is why Educate for Africa is dedicated to addressing all aspects that will improve the efficiency and sustainability of education in Africa. EforA is planning on scaling up the project to more schools in Namibia.