By Kgopotso Manamela | TRE Facilitator
With only the last training session left to go before our Community Health Workers will qualify as Trauma Releasing Excercises (TRE) facilitators, the benefits of TRE are becoming more apparent each day. Thank you for this opportunity that we can share our excitement with you, our GlobalGiving family!
Besides the many anticipated benefits our Community Health Workers will bring to people in the communities of Hoedspruit and Tzaneen in the Limpopo Province of South Africa, our patients here at Hlokomela Clinic are already reaping the fruits of having a fully trained TRE facilitator at Hlokomela, Kgopotso Manamela.
Sara* was sent to the Hlokomela Women’s Clinic by her employer. After obtaining her general medical history, Sonja Botha performed a breast, abdominal as well as pelvic ultrasound. All vital signs were taken and found to be in order. After the examination the conversation lead Sara to open up about some of the emotional challenges she was facing. It came to light that she has lost both her children, the first born child at 6 months. After the loss of her child she fell pregnant again and lost that child just before he graduated from kindergarten. Sara lost both of her children in very traumatic ways.
Sara had never been counselled after the loss of her children and it was clear that she needed help. You see, Sara hasn’t menstruated in 4 years, and she so desperately wants a child. Her body just did not want to co-operate. We referred her to the hospital for further medical examination but for her emotional well-being we knew we could help.
Hlokomela’s in-house TRE facilitator, Kgopotso Manamela, completed one TRE session with Sara right here at Hlokomela. Afterwards, Sara said that she felt less stressed and more relaxed overall. Kgopotso has committed to facilitating more sessions with Sara.
The story of Sara just reiterates the importance of a holistic approach when working with people. We could very easily have missed the hurt and pain this woman was going through had we focused only on the physical symptoms. I salute this amazing Hlokomela team for their compassion!
*Sara is a pseudonym used in this report to protect our patient’s true identity.
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By Brigitte Lieberherr | Project Leader
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