Ros Koch opened her home to a woman in need of sanctuary and safe space to heal; it was during this time she learned how few resources there were for mental health support in her community.
Cape Town, South Africa (20 April 2021) – Ros Koch opened her home to a woman in need of a safe space filled with support and care. It was during this time that she learned how her community lacked counsellors with specialised mental health training.
“I’m just a regular person, living an ordinary life, until one day found myself naively offering to give a ’safe space’ to someone from my community who’d tried to commit suicide. She was someone who, at the time, was in a very dark and dangerous place in her life, someone who needed urgent help and specialised support.
Of course, it didn’t take me long to realise that I was woefully ill-equipped to provide this kind of help. Nor did it take me long to find out that there is very little support of this nature for those struggling with mental health issues in our community, especially those for whom seeking help is not only frowned upon but also, often, a financial impossibility.”
Ros was set a challenge by a friend to swim from Robben Island to the Mainland and use it to raise awareness and funds for this cause. Ros, as she mentioned, is just a regular person with no extreme athletic skills. Swimming, let alone in open, icy wild waters, was never something she imagined she could do.
“I figured, if someone could face their fears and pull through from ‘the brink’, I could maybe try and face my (relatively small) fears (e.g. being eaten by sharks, frozen by cold water, exhausted by long-distance…etc) and, in doing so, get more people talking about mental health in our local community, and even raise funds (via a local NGO called Her Voice) to help people who need it access professional help (rather than well-meaning-but-ill-equipped people like myself).”
So she set out to do the ‘Freedom Swim’ challenge. Ros started a crowdfund on JustGiving with the hope of raising £500 (around R9,000), and she went well beyond that amount, raising over £700 (around R14,000). This money will be donated to Her Voice.
The Freedom Swim is 8km from Robben Island to Big Bay, through freezing waters that sometimes find themselves filled with sharks or the odd jellyfish. Ros plans to do the swim as soon as the weather permits it.
“I just want people to talk about mental health more… not just because mental health counts just as much as physical health but also because there is so much stigma attached to the former. I know that people can be in life-threatening situations all because no one would talk about these issues.
Just last week someone in the very same community committed suicide who perhaps might have been saved if only his friends and family knew (i) about his mental illness and (ii) if they did, how his mental illness was not a curse / incurable / ‘off limits’ but that something that could be diagnosed and treated without bringing shame to him nor his family.”
Her Voice
The funds raised will be directed to Her Voice, an organisation that supports women and new mothers in Kayamandi and Cloetesville in Stellenbosch.
Her Voice was founded in 2015 with the goal of supporting new mothers and filling the gaps for young teens finding their feet. By providing support, these women are able to find their voices, pursue their dreams and achieve more than they imagined possible.
The organisation provides several opportunities for the women from these communities to thrive. From skills workshops and personal support to medical help and leadership development. There are many avenues of support through this organisation, each one changing a life. If you would like to learn more about Her Voice, you can find out more via their website here.
“This funding will go towards training and equipping for our staff and leaders, and compensation for social workers, counselors and psychologists.” – Her Voice
If you would like to support Ros and her mental health cause, you can donate via JustGiving here or directly to Her Voice using the details below.
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