As a senior social worker in the COSUP program I am entrusted with the responsibility to serve members of our community that are most marginalised to improve their experience of interacting with health care facilities and access to care. My experience is working with people who use drugs (PWUD), people who inject drugs (PWID) and the homeless population in Tshwane. As part of the COSUP management team one of my roles is to drive the implementation of psychosocial interventions across the 16 COSUP sites. These interventions include individual and group work counselling. Educating and empowering (PWUD) to improve their health within a community setting. I work closely with stakeholders such as primary health care facilities and community-based organisations to co-ordinate care and improve referral systems for the improved health of (PWUD) in the city of Tshwane (COT). This experience has expanded my view on the interaction between the social context and the health of individuals in a community. This inspired my passion for learning what role social work could further play in public health towards the improved health of our communities. Thus, I pursued a Master of Public Health Degree (MPH) at the University of Pretoria. My research area was on "The experiences of women who use drugs when accessing OST at the COSUP". I draw my inspiration from my continued hope to motivate my three daughters to know that it is possible to work with tenacity towards your full potential while inspiring change in others.

Position: Social Worker
Academic / Support: Academic Department
Faculty/Department: Health Sciences
Building: Hw Snyman (north)
Office Number: 7-5

• Contact: (012) 420-3111
• Email: [email protected]