counselling Archives - Rape Crisis

Storytelling: How the #SurvivorSeries was Born

Counselling, GBV / Gender based violence, Road To Recovery, Speak Out

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM). SAAM is observed to raise awareness and provide education about sexual assault prevention. For the 21st annual SAAM, we launched the #SurvivorSeries on our social media channels. The video series was created during what we dubbed our ‘Storytelling Circles’ – where survivors and members of our organisation got the opportunity to share their very personal survivor journeys.

Storytelling is central to our work at Rape Crisis. Everyday survivors invite us into their lives to walk their journeys of recovery and personhood in our counselling programme. The ‘Storytelling Circles’ were an expansion of that – a group setting of support and empowerment that nurtured a courageously unfiltered expression of the intricacies of the rape (and sexual violence) survivor journey.

Three (3) beautiful women allowed us an unfettered look into their journeys. We allowed each storyteller to speak as freely as they pleased, and the result is an electrically unbridled video series that gets to the heart of the experiences of rape survivors in South Africa. The Circles were led by a storytelling coach, Philippa Namutebi Kabali-Kagwa, who highlights and unpacks the value of storytelling as a medium in the introduction video (that you can watch below).

The #SurvivorSeries is comprised of five (5) videos – including a courageous first-hand survivor account, a second-hand account of a rape survivor’s experience with the police, as well as a Rape Crisis Volunteer’s experiences touching the lives of survivors at our community workshops. What you will hear will be sensitive, sometimes challenging and may be triggering. The videos all have a trigger warning at the beginning – if what you hear does trigger you, please do not hesitate to contact our 24-hour counselling helpline 021 447-9762.

Overview – Phillippa on the power of storytelling

Kath – On the immeasurable value of storytelling at Rape Crisis

Fumana – On what a family member did to her when she was 8 years old

Nomvula – On how a Rape Crisis workshop helped a rape survivor with the police

Nosipho – On her journey touching the lives of rape survivors as a Rape Crisis workshop facilitator

Former Rape Crisis Director, Kath Dey: “At Rape Crisis we believe in the principle of empowerment. Rape essentially takes away a person’s power, and it takes away all choice and agency that they have in that particular moment. There are many things that are traumatic about rape, but that helplessness and inability to have any impact over what is happening is a very powerful part of it.

“Everything that we do at Rape Crisis is designed to undo that. And to renew the possibility of having power, of having choice, of having agency – of being able to have impact on your world and on your life.”

The #SurvivorSeries was filmed by the Msizi Agency.

Written by

Sino Mdunjeni

Digital Officer

30th April 2021/by Sino

Dealing with recovering from trauma during COVID-19 lockdown

Counselling, Road To Recovery

The possibility of a lock down was on everyone’s lips even before the declaration was made. Along with this came uncertainty and anxiety about the future and high levels of anxiety about how one should respond to feel safe from harm. Conflicting stories and opinions and panic buying seemed to be compressed into a few days that simultaneously felt like they lasted for an age. Anxiety felt as contagious as the virus we had all been warned about.

2nd April 2020/by Sino

Principles of Empowerment

Road To Recovery

At Rape Crisis, we have developed a counselling approach that empowers survivors and encourages them to be active participants in their respective paths to recovery. Our counsellors are trusted allies and empathic witnesses to our survivors and their stories.

28th May 2019/by Sino

A new Rape Crisis campaign hits close to home.

Advocacy, Road To Recovery

It is estimated that 40% of South African women will be raped in their lifetime and only 8.6% of rape perpetrators are convicted. Unfortunately, most people believe these rapes only occur in dark alleyways by hooded strangers. Rape Crisis’ new campaign reveals that the truth is a lot closer to home. 68% of rape survivors […]

21st February 2019/0 Comments/by rapecrisisblog

The Journey of a Counsellor

Road To Recovery

By Robyn Raymond

On paper, it’s relatively easy to counsel. Rape Crisis and other counselling courses teach that the main components of effective counselling include active listening, observational skills, body language, counsellor self-awareness and empathy. All of these skills allow for the opening up of a field of healing – a space where the client is the central focus and as a counsellor, you become a facilitator of healing in this safe space.

The difficult part of counselling comes in the form of having to manage your responses to the pain people offer you to hold for them. The number one question I am asked is ‘that must be so heavy. How do you deal with that?’ well, Rape Crisis had us trudge through our own hurts, our histories, our responses and our triggers, to essentially build a protective barrier. This boundary acts and looks like a stronger version of ourselves so that we are solid when the bricks of another’s identity try to intercept our foundational truth. Those bricks are heavy, and they tend to fly in from nowhere, unannounced.

15th August 2017/by Sino

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