Building Mental Health Resilience in SA Schools: The Work of Community Keepers
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Mental and emotional health in South African schools has reached a crisis point — with rising trauma, behavioural issues, and alarming reports of depression and suicide among learners. In this urgent episode of The Social Impact Show, Sam Marshall is joined by Gerrit Lindeque, CEO of Community Keepers, a pioneering nonprofit working at the frontline of psychosocial support in schools.
Since 2009, Community Keepers has created safe spaces for learners to unpack trauma, find emotional relief, and build resilience — not through slogans, but through strategic, sustainable interventions. From reducing learner-to-social-worker ratios from 1:23,000 to 1:440, to launching South Africa’s first care facilitator model, the organisation is redefining what proactive mental health support looks like in under-resourced communities.
🎙️ Highlights from this episode:
What “okayness” means — and why mental health needs a language shift
How the first responder model is building youth-led change from within communities
Why resilience shouldn’t be the only expectation placed on struggling learners
How teachers, parents, and schools are supported systemically
Why social innovation in mental health must be locally rooted to succeed
🎧 This is not just a conversation — it’s a call to action.
Visit www.communitykeepers.org to access free mental health resources or learn how to support this groundbreaking work.
Since 2009, Community Keepers has created safe spaces for learners to unpack trauma, find emotional relief, and build resilience — not through slogans, but through strategic, sustainable interventions. From reducing learner-to-social-worker ratios from 1:23,000 to 1:440, to launching South Africa’s first care facilitator model, the organisation is redefining what proactive mental health support looks like in under-resourced communities.
🎙️ Highlights from this episode:
What “okayness” means — and why mental health needs a language shift
How the first responder model is building youth-led change from within communities
Why resilience shouldn’t be the only expectation placed on struggling learners
How teachers, parents, and schools are supported systemically
Why social innovation in mental health must be locally rooted to succeed
🎧 This is not just a conversation — it’s a call to action.
Visit www.communitykeepers.org to access free mental health resources or learn how to support this groundbreaking work.