Do we have the will and the determination to humanise our educational institutions? Conference paper: Celebration of Teaching and Learning, 12 July 2017. Author: Jacques H. Botes

At present the world is experiencing a crisis with the outbreak of the current pandemic. But the world is also working endlessly to resolve the crisis. Strength-based and Crisis Intervention approaches focus on the human potential to endlessly develop; crisis is viewed as an opportunity for further development.

Jacques H. Botes, Maart 2020. Crisis On Call Nuusbrief, Februarie/ Maart 2020 (hello@crisisoncall.co.za) Baie dankie aan Crisis On Call wat hierdie verkorte en Afrikaanse weergawe verwerk en publiseer het. Ek glo, indien ons toenemend meer oor selfdood praat, spreek ons ook stigma, mites en onwaarhede aan. Hopelik, wanneer ons die stigmas aanspreek, sal toenemend meer persone in nood professionele dienste nader.

The word suicide is combined from the Latin “sui” which means “of oneself” and “caedere” referring to “to kill”. Today we prefer to use the term “successful completion of suicide”. Even the Afrikaans term “selfmoord” is no longer used, but rather “selfdood”. Significant efforts are made to rather emphasise suicide as a mental health issue than an “act” that needs to be condemned”.

The therapeutic space is one of those special situations where the whole person is unconditionally accepted and respected. My psychological approach to therapy is deeply nested in the Person-Centred Approach of Carl Rogers. Rogerian therapy aims to empower persons to discover for themselves as they truly are.

Recently a journalist asked me an opinion for the article she was writing. The question at first seemed easy: What makes a person successful? I opted for the textbook answers on motivation, behaviour, self-actualisation and needs. But then I started to wonder: What will really matter in determining success?

I have placed the full article of Arrive Alive for my students. The article by Adv Johan Jonck is comprehensive and address a wide range of aspects.More than 14,000 people died on the roads of South Africa in 2017. These are only the official road fatality numbers and do not refer to the tens of thousands who are mutilated, injured physically or left traumatised.

Bestuur onder die invloed van alkohol kan fataal wees of in konflik met die reg eindig. Alkohol het verder onproduktiewe fisiologiese uitwerkings op die voertuigbestuurder. Alkoholmisbruik raak die individu op bio-psigososiale vlakke, gesinne en die gemeenskap. Professionele rehabilitasie, behandeling en nasorg is daarop gemik om die persoon se lewensvreugde en gesondheid te herstel.

Most people do have the need to feel safe, accepted, experience life as meaningful and desires a sense of belonging. People want to trust others and be trusted; we engage in efforts to construct a world that is conducive for growth and further development. Humans present with the self-determination and personal power to grow, change and enhance the self in a self-actualising direction. We want to experience the environment as conducive to our inner empowering potential, self-determination and st...

Trauma is a natural reaction to abnormal circumstances, crisis and life events on which the person was not prepared for; as whole beings we react to these, sometimes, unbearable experiences. Trauma responses is viewed as the human ability to protect itself through self-protective stress responses by the brain and body to enhance our survival. Some misunderstanding about trauma exist, the focus should not only be on the incident itself, but also the resilience and potential to make sense, heal an...