Speakers

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Ivor Swartz

Ivor is a young and emerging leader and speaker in the fields of mentorship, leadership, motivation and storytelling around the country. He has a unique way of communicating simple truths to people and motivating them to be their unique self. He has a passion to see young people live better stories, and has been working with youth in schools, churches, prisons and camps since 2007.

Professor Mark Tomlinson

Professor Mark Tomlinson is the Co-Director of the Institute for Life Course Health Research in the Department of Global Health at Stellenbosch University

Lori Lake

Lori Lake is a Communication and Education Specialist at the Children's Institute, University of Cape Town, where she plays a central role in the production of the South African Child Gauge and their child rights and advocacy courses for health and allied professionals

PRESENTERS

Edith Kriel

Edith Kriel is a social worker who has specialized in working with traumatised children for the last 30 years. She developed the Teddy Bear Clinic into a multi-level service, initiated the Child Witness Project in the Western Cape and developed the Healing Project for children that have been sexually abused and co-authored the book ‘Voices of Hope- Healing stories for Africa’s children’. Edith often presents multiple multi-disciplinary workshops on a range of child trauma related topics. She initiated and developed the anatomical doll project in South Africa.

Marita Rademeyer

Marita is a clinical psychologist who has been working with children and families affected by trauma and abuse for the past 30 years. She has a special interest in managing inappropriate sexual behaviours in children as well as advocating on the harmful effects of pornography on children. She has helped children and their caregivers deal with the effects of child abuse and neglect, rape, violence and crime, HIV/AIDS, cancer, youth awaiting trial and clients with physical and mental disabilities.

Dr Joan van Niekerk

Joan is the former director of Childline SA as well as the Chairperson of the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC). She is the past president of International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN) and a member of a working group on child protection at the World Health Organisation etc.

She has been quoted once in the media as the most powerful woman in child protection in South Africa.

Dr Shaheda Omar

As the Clinical Director of Teddy Bear Foundation, Shaheda sits on the executive committee and is party to the strategic direction of the clinic. She is a leader that is respected throughout the organisation and in the field of abuse reactive children, both in the government and NGO sector. Shaheda’s vast spectrum of experience and knowledge are regularly called upon. As a person, Shaheda is a dedicated and a committed employee who always goes beyond the call of duty. For example, she will assist parents and victims on an emergency basis to schools in crisis at all hours. She is an excellent therapist and forensic investigator. Her insight into the psyche of child abuse is phenomenal, and she strives to share this knowledge and develop the staff at the Teddy Bear Foundation.

Danielle Moosajie

Is a social worker with a Masters in Social Policy and Management from UCT who has over 10 years experience working with children and families on the Cape Flats

Bongi Zuma

Bongi Zuma is a person with a disability and a mother of a son with a disability. She is a trained Community Rehabilitation Facilitator. Currently she is KNH national trainer and strong activist promoting the rights of children with disabilities

Sue Philpott

Trained initially as an occupational therapist, Sue gained personal experience of the link between disability and poverty when she lived and worked in an informal settlement outside Durban for 7 years

Elonie de Klerk

I feel fortunate to utilize my training, professional and personal experience to guide clients to freedom and healing from past traumas.

Lucy Breytenbach

I am Lucy Breytenbach, owner of Just Dogs Behaviour Services and founding director of Honeys Garden Medical Alert Dogs SA NPC PBO. I am British born and moved to Cape Town in 2010 to work with African Penguins rehabilitation at SANCCOB. I met my husband here and decided to stay and further my qualifications in dog behaviour via the Ethology Academy as dogs were always my passion. (sorry penguinos)

I started Just Dogs Behaviour as at the time general knowledge about dog behaviour and services were lacking in cape Town. I then found myself approached by a family to train a service dog and so researched and did a fundraiser to fly over an American trainer to teach me how to set up a service dog program for Diabetic alert dogs. From there we grew and grew and learnt how to train other types of service dogs with local support and connections including the guide dog association and the SA community.

Janet Bytheway

Janet has worked as a clinical psychologist, mediator, supervisor/ consultant, and teacher for 30 years. She is committed to working holistically and collaboratively with adults, children, and families and has a special interest in working with families in distress. She has presented on working with complex families at conferences and workshops both locally and abroad. She enjoys helping people make sense of their world.

Jean-Pierre Hartman

JP is a clinical psychologist working for the state at primary care level seeing children and adolescents. Previously he worked in a forensic psychiatric hospital. He is a very passionate certified Schema Therapy with a strong interest in other experiential therapies that go beyond talk-therapy which is essential for effective treatment of trauma.

Lauren October

Lauren October is a violence researcher particularly interested in gender, adolescents, and community safety. She has two undergraduate degrees in Psychology and International Studies respectively, and she graduated from the University of Stellenbosch with a master’s degree in Political Science. Her current areas of focus are masculinity, and the intersections of violence against women and children.

Luke Lamprecht

Luke is a Director at Fight with Insight, as well as an expert in the field of child protection, with an MSc in Child Neurodevelopment and a degree in Child & Youth Care Work

Marissa Jordaan

Marissa has 15 years’ experience rendering social work services within various contexts such as the school environment, child protection sector, victim empowerment sector, as well as within private practice.

Sheri Errington

is a Director at Fight with Insight and a Research Psychologist, specialising in social research on child and youth development.

Marlize Swanepoel

Marlize Swanepoel is a HPCSA-registered Drama Therapist, and the director and co-founder of sp(i)eel arts therapies collective. She is also a founding member of the national Arts in Health Community of Practice (CoP) and a guest lecturer in Arts Psychotherapies. She enjoys being in spaces of learning, unlearning and dancing and is passionate about developing community-based models of mental health care in a South African context.

Une Conradie

Uné Conradie is an Applied Drama Practitioner and co-director of sp(i)eel arts therapies collective. She has 17 years of experience in arts-based social development and psychosocial support as practitioner, programme developer and facilitator trainer. She counts herself among the very fortunate to have experienced the restorative powers of the creative arts and has a special interest in the potential of the arts to address complex trauma and build collective resilience. It is her hope and enduring pursuit to see a world where access to the creative arts and its potential to inform, transform and heal is available to everyone.

Clement Nkubizi

Clement Nkubizi is currently the Country Director at Help a Child Burundi and has exceptional skills in leading international organisations’ interventions in Africa with focus on developing strategic policies, fundraising, programme, staff and donor management. He has 11 years’ experience in Development, and Humanitarian sectors with International NGOs in Africa

Dr. Conor Hughes

Dr Conor Hughes has been a volunteer therapy dog handler since 2013. In 2016 she set up the first therapy dog visit to the Teddy Bear Foundation Court Preparation Programme.Since then she has been the driving force of a unique set of teaching and support interventions in this context, and has spoken many times to international audiences on this work.

Nicia de Nobrega

Nicia is the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager at the National Association of Child Care Workers (NACCW). She is also currently a doctoral candidate at the UCT Department of Psychology conducting research on the characteristics and pathways of child survivors of abuse and/or neglect in the South African child protection system.

Nicky Seymour

I am an Occupational Therapist with 20 years of experience in the international disability and development sector. My focus included developing health and social systems to increase support for people with disabilities at community-level in different regions of Africa

Alexa Matthews

Alexa is a social worker with a Master’s degree in Play Therapy who has worked in corporate and clinical settings, including her own private practice, in Mozambique, Gauteng and Cape Town.

Dr Neziswa Titi

Dr Neziswa Titi is based at the Children’s Institute of UCT, is a winner of the 200 Mail and Guardian
200 Young South Africans 2021 and serves in leadership roles in civil and academic societies
nationally and internationally. Her scholarship focuses on methodologies, and sexual violence
trauma interventions through decolonial, African-centred and child-centric theorising for
communities throughout the African Diaspora.

Karyn Stuart

Karyn is an HPCSA-registered music therapist and has over 13 years experience in the fields of trauma, paediatric palliative care, special needs and elderly care (dementia) both in the non-profit and private sector. Apart from owning a private practice from Blouberg, Karyn is completing her PhD in Music Therapy through the University of Melbourne and is a research supervisor for the masters in music therapy programme at the University of Pretoria.

Philippa Storie

The Global Intuitive Healer, my clients flow to me with ease looking for what I offer, healing in a gentle yet powerful way. It is my absolute passion and purpose to help as many wonderful people as I possibly can to heal and release what is no longer serving them. I do this with love because I struggled for many years with debilitating anxiety and now I am able to share the different tools and techniques on how to release the stuck energy in our bodies so that we can feel better.

YOUNG PEOPLE ADDRESS FOR THE PLENARY

Simamkele Ngqongwa

Simamkele is a grade 10 learner from Du Noon.
She was born as the youngest of three children. From a very young age she had to look out for herself. Her mother was always there, but “never there”. This however did not stop her from excelling at school.
“For a long time, I have not been waving but drowning. My voice was never heard, but now I make it my business to talk with fellow learners and help them to let their voices be heard.”

Craig Skeepers

Craig is a Grade 11 learner from Eersterivier, currently living in Belhar. He is the youngest of four siblings
who lived with their mother in an extremely challenging environment. Being at school was his safe
haven and he worked hard there. In 2020 he was removed from his mother and placed with a family in
Belhar where he still resides. He now excels academically and sees a bright future for himself. His wish is
to have his birth registered so that he can write matric next year and study further. He clings to the
words in Psalm 23 “The Lord is my shepherd; therefore, can I lack nothing…”

Mama of Ceremonies

Tozama Ngcongolo

Tozama is a Social Worker by profession. She is an enthusiastic, hard working woman of note. Tozama strives to do things in an orderly and professional way. She respects everyone – young and old. She chooses her words carefully when talking to people and when that is not reciprocated, she gets rubbed the wrong way. She hardly ever raises her voice and when you shout at her, you bring the worst out of her. She is very patient with people.

She prides herself as an eloquent public speaker / presenter especially to women and young people, an audience capturing facilitator and an entertaining Mama of Ceremonies.