June Update

Hello Supporters!

The last month has been filled with training opportunities! We have worked with three churches, two organizations, and another school to train staff in trauma-informed care. This has been intense work of teaching, processing, and collaboration on how to bring trauma-informed care into functioning spaces.

I am still counseling families, children, and individuals. Of course, there are no pictures of that time together, but many moments are filled with connection, processing, and healing within my office. I am honored to journey with people as they improve their mental health and walk with them on their spiritual path.

Teaching at Jubilee Community Church which has a diverse group of dedicated people to serving and loving their community. This group has foster parents, lay counselors, teen outreach leaders, and family members who want to love better. They asked the best questions and had the best discussions on incorporating trauma-informed care into our daily lives.

The teachers at Calling Academy, a high school for low-income students in Stellenbosch, are working out a trauma-informed discipline strategy that involves physical movement and connection.

Staff members vote (with stickers) on the policies they want to include at their school to support students’ mental health.

Teaching the teen girls of St. Paul's Church about mental health and how our faith holds a community that has love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, and self-control (Gal. 5).

Unfortunately, due to corruption in South Africa, there is often load-shedding. These are rolling blackouts that last for two hours. They can be from 2-8 hours per day, meaning that we must schedule our lives around having electricity. However, sometimes in the dark and quiet, there are special moments with friends that include puzzles by flashlight.

Amid hard work, South Africa's beauty reminds me of the vastness of God. That the God of the universe can hold the hard and the sad and the good and the hope.

Thank you for being on this journey with me!

Love from South Africa,

Autumn