Welcome To Uphazamiseko Iwengqondo.

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Uphazamiseko Iwengqondo Survey

Survey Brief. (1)

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Click Link Below to View Capstone Project

The Journey of Creating Uphazamiseko Iwengqondo

I started the research process for my capstone project by focusing on recent media on the topic, this lead me to realizing that there was a void of South African mediated content about the topic. Most of the research I stumbled across were based on Eurocentric perspectives on mental health awareness. The few media pieces I engaged intrigued and subsequently inspired me; garnered impactful engaging and creative portrayals and perspectives on the South African mental health illnesses plight. The work that clinical psychologist Dr Cino Shearer is doing in the Eastern Cape focusing on the education of mental health within POC/ disenfranchised communities inspired me to create media that would resonate and reach all of the socio-economic community spectrum. To Find A SOUL A HOME AFDA produced short film, creatively explored the tragic real-life story about result of lack of education and stigma of mental health issues within black communities, dually spoke to my love for the arts and excited me to produce work that destigmatise mental health issues. As an aspiring media practitioner I felt there was great work to be in regards to the production of mental health awareness South African media. The first media content I produced was the Q&A RUMENTAL HEALTH video, I discovered despite my generations’ openness to discussing this topic we greatly lacked the regulated platforms to learn-teach about mental health wellness. The generational relationship with mental health was another very important outcome of the conversation with the campus students, I understood that students often feel disconnected from their parents because they are unable to have open conversations about their mental health and therefore are often subject to dealing with negative mental health themselves. The second thing I learned from my interview with the Thobile Ncane from the Counselling&Wellness Center was just how influential/ impactful the immediate environment one inhibits is to the state of their mental wellness. The social stressors people are subject to often a directly reflected in the ability to deteriorate their mental stability. Thobile Ncane contextualized the prevalent social issues within the Eastern Cape, particularly the Rhodes University student context highlight that family financial stress coupled with academic pressure this leads to a cycle of feelings of anxiety about their present and future. The anxiety and/ or depression is often what leads to the unhealthy coping mechanisms such as substance abuse; unhealthy eating habits all of which are can cause long-term damage because they go undetected by caregivers because students are away from home. Cultural and social backgrounds became very early in my research as the reason for the overarching lack of awareness of mental health.

Black communities although not monolithic share the common hesitancy to engage in conversations about mental health. This fact was equally informed by my own experiences as a black woman who has dealt with various mental health issues and the patterned history of suppressing emotional conversations. Choosing African Journalism (Development) approach for my Arc was a monumental decision for my capstone project, because revisiting the contextual history of African communities gave me a new perspective on this topic. I was able to derive from a point of compassion by conscientising the effects of the systematic traumas opposed on black people; this connected the reasoning that avoiding emotional topics can be considered a coping mechanism which is entrenched in the African (black) identity.