The Society (FAMSA - Families South Africa) is very much family orientated, serving to help resolve family problems and disintegration. It is one of a chain of Centres throughout South Africa. The Centre is not very big, thus you'll have opportunity to learn a lot about all the areas of counselling and social work that they deal with.

PLACEMENT OVERVIEW

Location: Knysna, on the Garden Route Start dates: Available all year round (except between 15 December and 15 January), you choose your start date Duration: From 2 weeks to 6 months, subject to visa requirements Requirements: You should be studying, or be qualified in, Social Work, Psychiatry, Psychology or Counselling, or a related subject. Minimum age 21. Compensation: Unpaid Price: £995 for 2 weeks, ranging to £2,995 for 12 weeks. Full Price List and other Currencies      What's included: ►Arranging the internship, ►Full pre-departure support and assistance, ►Payment Protection insurance ►Accommodation ►Food ►Meeting you at the nearest airport/station ►Transfer to your accommodation ►Transport to and from your project ►In-country team support and backup ►24-hr emergency support ►Certificate of Completion. What's not included: Flights, travel insurance, cost of visa, return transfer to the airport.

Counsel families and adults in the beautiful coastal resort town of Knysna. Any person from any type of background could need assistance and counselling, regardless of background. The counsellors help people from Knysna’s more wealthy areas as well as from the very large disadvantaged township surrounding the town. The FAMSA (Families South Africa) Centre's counselling programmes include a wide range of methods and techniques by which clients are helped : Resolve personal and inter-personal problems Select and adopt more constructive attitudes and skills of relating Enhance their functioning in significant relationships and other interpersonal transactions The Centre's motto is ‘We believe in every person’s potential to solve their own problems. We give support and guidelines for optimal functioning.’ They have centres all around South Africa and in Knysna they are supported by the Department of Social Development, the Knysna Municipality, the Lotto and various members of the public and businesses. The services provided by the Centre can be split up into five areas: Counselling, Trauma support, Training, Parenting support and Various programmes that they run. All counselling is done by appointment only and takes place in the office at the Centre. The appointments last for an hour each. If you're qualified and have experience, the Centre would be delighted to have you as there is a massive shortage of qualified Psychologists, Counsellors and Social Workers in South Africa, so your assistance would be very valuable indeed! Back to Top

You could assist in some or all of the following services:

Counselling
You could assist with many areas of counselling, from marriage preparation and enrichment, relationships, individual, family, re-marriage and divorce counselling and mediation. Due to the nature of the work, counsellors themselves have to undergo compulsory counselling and regular evaluations.

Trauma Support
This can take place either at the FAMSA offices or at the local police station. FAMSA provides a 24 hour/7 days a week trauma counselling programme to victims of crime and violence for the South African Police Force at the local police stations. Other forms of trauma support you might be asked to assist with are sickness, accident, rape, death/loss, family violence and abuse, and HIV/AIDS counselling.

Training
FAMSA offers various forms of training that you can get involved with, from basic counselling skills, debriefing, group work training, stress management, life skills, personal growth and domestic violence. These are aimed at local volunteers to give them the tools to be able to assist with counselling

Parenting support
Counselling is often given to parents to help them deal with difficult behaviour in children, assisting them with effective parenting skills training and addressing specific problems in groups and individuals. Please note that only adults are counselled, but children can be referred to Child Psychologists in the area, if needed.

Programmes
FAMSA runs various different programmes giving support and assistance to groups and individuals. These include the Life Skills Programme and the “Women in Need’ programme. These are programmes for men and women which are aimed at starting up support groups that can self-sustain victims of domestic violence to enable the victims to generate an income and thus become self-supporting. This can be in the form of a cooking or sewing group, for example.

There is also a Prison Programme that has been set up where counsellors go into the Knysna prison and offer group counselling and assistance. They try to impart life skills and information to the prisoners, thus assisting in rehabilitating and empowering them.

A Parole Counselling Programme is also being set up to assist ex-prisoners who are re-entering society. It is aimed at helping them to enter the job market and thus hopefully staying away from a life of crime.

A TYPICAL DAY:
The description given is of a typical day.

ADDITIONAL ACTIVITIES YOU CAN DO WHILE ON THIS PROJECT:

• 5-DAY OR 7-DAY SAFARI from Cape Town up the renowned Garden Route: taking in Dolphin and Whale Spotting, visits to many tourist attractions, such as a visit to a brewery(!), the Bloukrantz Bungy Jump (reportedly the highest in the world), and a guided tour of the Cango Caves.

• 1 WEEK WHALES, SHARKS AND DOLPHINS Project: This is an extraordinary and exciting project in a beautiful location, surrounded by white beaches and blue ocean. And two hours from the world's third favourite city - Cape Town. What more could anyone want?