Your skills and expertise are valuable to us
Last year was a traumatic year for thousands of people, many of which who are struggling to cope with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Callers struggled with Loss of Jobs, Financial Turmoil, Stress, Trauma, Depression, Anxiety and more. Our daily calls have gone up from an average of 600 to over 2 500 calls a day. As many of our callers have no funds, no jobs, no family or no medical aid, we have a huge need for one-on-one psychotherapy sessions free of charge.
We currently have over 200 trained volunteers who assist with caller demand 24 hours a day, 365 days a year on over 30 helplines. We continue to work in Schools, Clinics, Police Stations, Community Centres, Churches, and other NGOs. SADAG’s counselling containers in Diepsloot and Ivory Park have become even more critical to the people who live in these communities.
As the world has been forced to be adaptable during the pandemic, we are giving you more ways to make a difference in the current state of mental health services in South Africa. You can now choose how you would want to support SADAG by choosing one, or more, of the following ways to become a SADAG Professional member:
Option 1 – Pro-bono Sessions for two patients a year
Instead of requesting a membership fee, we would like to make an appeal for a donation of your pro-bono services. It is very concerning that many of our callers desperately need professional therapy sessions, however with the strained financial circumstances and the focus of Covid-19, there is little or no help available for them. It is for this reason that we request you to see two patients a year, for three pro-bono sessions and you will be registered as a full member with SADAG in our referral guide.
Your pro-bono offering can be at your discretion – please tell us how you would wish to take on your two pro-bono patients for the year, and if you prefer face to face or online and we will personally call you to make the bookings.
Option 2 – Annual Membership Fee
If you feel that the pro-bono session option is not for you, you can choose to pay the annual membership fee of R500. Your donation matters enormously to us – Without your support, we would not be able to assist thousands of people who require our help, recommendations and referrals to mental health help on a daily basis. SADAG has the Mental Health Matters Journal, which is published every two months which is distributed FREE to over 4 000 professionals in the Mental Health and General Medical field. Every issue covers various and gives insight on new treatment techniques or insights that are being used worldwide. As a professional member of SADAG, you would have the opportunity to write articles for this incredible publication on a topic of your choosing and act as a guest expert speaker on for the various media/press requests that we receive on a daily basis.
Over and above the personal exposure you will receive as a SADAG Professional Member, you will be given the opportunity to present on our various webinars, or participating in our Facebook Friday conversations which reaches up to 15 000 people every week.
Become a SADAG professional Member in 2022 by clicking here: https://forms.gle/UDiF4vQzSPYu8VaYA
By filling in a Professional Membership Form, SADAG will:
- Add you to our referral guide for referrals for our callers, some of which can afford private care, or through medical schemes.
- Send you brochures & practical self-help handouts for mental healthcare users and patients as you request them
- Send your details to local Support Groups and ensure you have the list of groups countrywide
- Add you to our mailing list to receive our monthly newsletter which includes reminders about mental health awareness days, events, workshops and more.
- Free Subscription to the MHMJ journals
Please indicate on the form how you would be interested in helping SADAG with pro-bono work, media interviews, journal articles, webinars, Facebook Fridays and which you are willing to do talks at local Support Group meetings.
Should you have any questions or queries, please email Fatima on fatima@sadag.org
Your assistance matters enormously to us and we greatly value your contribution. Please help us and help make a difference in South Africa which is in need of better mental healthcare for all!
We look forward to hearing from you.