03/11/2024
We all possess in us an assumption that we will know how to act, until som**hing happens to us 🇱🇸:
As treating psychologists, we have a responsibility to not only provide services but to also teach.
Just until recently, mental health wasn’t a thing in Basotho culture hence we are not expecting a red carpet and reclining chairs with distilled coffee.
What we are saying is,
🌻Basotho ba heso, to assume that psychotherapy is about ‘Forgiving yourself’ and paying M500 per hour to ‘Just have someone listen to you’ is to take to heart what you have seen on Television.
✨We are fully aware that you are strong and can solve your own challenges, until you have a child that smashes their head against a wall and requires for things to be in a certain order, always. One that screams, covers their ears, kicks and spits. To say ‘ona le phoofolo’ is relieving because what is else can be wrong with lo mtwana?
⚡️We can comprehend that a stranger cannot solve your problems. Until your dopamines and serotonins drop so low that lebanta la Ntate oa hao la leather le maballo ka garageng seem like the only way to quiet the consistent deep state of sadness. One that you don’t even know na e bakoa ke eng?
💫We know that you survived as a 12 year old taking care of yourself and your siblings, while mom and dad passed away. We also know Attachment is guided by hormones and failure of it to positively take shape during childhood might have influenced your personality structure, much to your unawareness maybe. Otla sokola bophelong, o sukulise batho ba bang Tlou e kholo.
🌙 Trust that we know ‘Lefu ke ngoetsi ea malapa ohle’ until you lose your parents, siblings, friends and the heaviness of death lingers. Yes, we will mourn with you and move on. You might despise that friends will rush to end the call, because they have listened many a times to how you miss uMama. It can be normal grief, it can be Prolonged Grief Disorder. How will you know, if not to consult with a professional?
🌼We know mom and dad will cease to recognize you and their grandchildren. They will grow utterly forgetful. Theirs as mental functioning will reset to infancy & childhood. You will lose your patience with them. You will lack understanding as to why this is happening. Western practices are such that the grannies will be taken to elderly people homes. Hana oena otlo etsa joang Motaung a motle when you are not well versed in Neurodegenerative diseases. Maybe oka atamela someone with professional training oa bona akere? Ke itse maybe 🤔.
🌺Until oba le ngoana a rekisang thepa ea ntlo to satisfy a crystal m**h graving, You really don’t know ngoaneso na otla iphumana o entseng ha ngoana a koenne ele lenomoro hahao ale phaphathehisa 🏃🏾♂️🏃🏾♀️. Maybe a Cognitive Behavioral approach can benefit you and yours in terms of Behavioral Re-construction. Empa hao lumele nthong tsena tsa counseling mntase oena akere?
🌸We also provide treatment interventions by way of treatment planning, we allocate worksheets & homework, we help individuals understand things about themselves and/or mental functioning, that they may lack comprehension of. Where needed, we adopt dual treatment plans (medications and talk therapy), etc.
📷Or, maybe that’s just me and how I do my work which I love and will incessantly advocate for.
I am Makamohelo oa Counseling Psychologist. In 2023, I founded Leseli Mental & Behavioral Health to uplift mental health in Lesotho. I am an international affiliate of the American Psychological Association (APA).
🇱🇸🇺🇸
