Community Keepers

12/09/2025

For us at Community Keepers, this day marks the start of our preparation for October, Mental Health Month. It is a time for conversation, learning and care. A reminder that we all have a role to play in creating safe spaces where wellbeing can grow.

If you or someone you know is struggling, please remember you are not alone. Support is available.

11/09/2025

Su***de Prevention Day 💛

10/09/2025

World Su***de Prevention Day

World Su***de Prevention Day is a moment to raise awareness, break the silence and stand together with compassion and understanding for anyone who may be struggling.

Let today remind us that every small act of kindness, every honest conversation and every listening ear can make a difference. Together, we can build communities rooted in care, resilience and hope.

10/09/2025

10/09/2025

Walking in Their Shoes at Ikaya Primary

Recently, we spent a meaningful day with the educators of Ikaya Primary during our “Walk in Your Shoes” workshop. Each educator wore two different shoes. This simple but powerful activity helped to tangibly reflect what it might feel like to walk in someone else’s shoes - or to live their experience.

The feedback was deeply encouraging. We’re hopeful that the insight gained will ripple through the school, strengthening connection between learners and educators and deepen understanding in the classroom.

08/09/2025

Together Growing in Accountability

Building a positive school culture starts by taking small steps, together.

At one of our schools, a new Grade 3 teacher noticed bullying in her class and reached out to Community Keepers.

Our Care Practitioners and Care Facilitators at the school ran a bullying-awareness workshop for the learners, but we didn’t just talk about bullying. We invited the learners to be part of the solution. Together, they created new class rules, with real consequences they all agreed on.

When learners are given the opportunity to shape their environment, they grow in confidence, ownership and empathy. This is how we build safe, supportive classrooms: by placing young voices at the centre.

02/09/2025

Empowered To Speak Up, Equipped To Stay Safe

“Now I understand that it’s okay to speak up if something feels wrong.” These words from a learner at one of the schools we work with are at the heart of what we strive for. They remind us of the vital role awareness plays in prevention and early intervention.

Campaigns like Child Protection Week are not just symbolic gestures. They are important educational tools that can influence a learner’s sense of agency and safety. Through our child protection work, learners are finding their voices, realising their worth and knowing they are never alone.

Awareness leads to action. Action leads to safety. Safety leads to healing. That’s why visibility of support services within schools is so important. Every child deserves to know that help is within reach.

01/09/2025

A Place Where Learners Can Breathe and Be Themselves

At Community Keepers, we create spaces where children can simply be.

One Grade 2 learner told us, “I enjoy coming to Community Keepers because I can play freely and I can say what bothers me.” For him, that freedom has replaced anger with calm and helped him connect with his classmates.

Another Grade 4 learner, carrying the weight of past trauma, shared that her interactions with Community Keepers have helped her “feel whole again.”

These moments remind us that healing begins with feeling safe, seen, heard and supported. And that is exactly what we are committed to creating in every school we serve.

31/08/2025

We are very proud to share that one of our Educational Psychologists, Amanda van der Vyver-Anderson, has been invited by Generation Mental Health to present at the 2025 Building Voices, Bridging Futures: Youth Innovation in Mental Health Conference, in September. Amanda will speak on "Mental Health First Aid: Empowering School Wellbeing through Task-Shifting".

Amanda has pioneered our important work in welcoming young people from the local community into our teams; training them in mental health first aid and guiding their journeys. After a successful pilot project, the National Treasury's Jobs Fund partnered with us for catalytic growth to expand this initiative across the country - addressing mental health needs in schools and creating jobs for unemployed youth.

This year, these young people graduated as Social Auxiliary Workers and are investing in the lives of their younger peers. We think it is important to not only identify local young talent but to equip young people to serve their own communities. A recent study by Stellenbosch University noted with concern that “50% of teachers considered leaving the profession due to stress from managing students' psychosocial issues” - having on-site access to CK supportive services eases this burden on educators.

Please join us...
https://www.generationmentalhealth.org/2025-conference

29/08/2025

Together, We Can Reach More Learners

Every day, children walk into classrooms carrying worries that make it hard to learn. With your support, we create spaces where they feel safe, heard and ready to grow.

But many more learners still need that support.

If you believe in building school communities where wellbeing comes first, please consider making a donation. Your generosity makes a real, lasting difference.

Donate today: https://communitykeepers.org/donate/

26/08/2025

Standing With Our Learners in Their Darkest Moments

This past month, a rise in referrals for suicidal thoughts, self-harm and overwhelming anxiety at one of our schools showed just how heavy life feels for many of our young people. And how necessary an urgent and compassionate response is.

In those moments, our offices become more than just rooms. They become places of safety, reflection and hope. Bringing students into a new, neutral space created room for emotional reflection and safety, free from the expectations and sometimes complicated emotions of the classroom.

Together, our Care Facilitators and Care Practitioners build survival toolboxes with learners, giving them small but powerful ways to cope. And we’ll keep walking beside them, expanding these sessions as they grow older and advance in their schooling. Because no learner should ever feel alone in their struggles.

26/08/2025

Good morning Stellenbosch

Would you like to join our team ?

We have a vacancy for a Care Facilitator to work in a partner primary school outside Stellenbosch.

Key responsibilities will include:
Administration.
First contact for conversations with visitors to the CK office.
Build and maintaining relationships with learners, educators and parents.
Assist with life skills programmes for learners, educators and parents.

Criteria:
Grade 12 or equivalent.
Applicants must live in the local community.
Fluent in English and, isiXhosa (fluent in Afrikaans is an added advantage).

We train first and then recruit. Shortlisted candidates will complete online training with an assignment. Successful candidates will then attend training in person. The final selection will offer two applicants a permanent position.

Please follow this link to apply
Ck.jobjack.co.za