Every Donation Helps
ABOUT US
Our association commit and act e.V. brings psychotherapeutic support to communities in need and especially people with a history of trauma in Sierra Leone, as well as Uganda and Liberia.
War, poverty, abuse and the recent Ebola epidemic have significantly affected the Sierra Leonean people. Through trauma and loss people can lose their sense of meaning, lose their feeling of identity or place in the world and develop ongoing depressive, anxiety and relational problems. Our NGO focuses on building hope,giving individuals and communities psychotherapeutic strategies to better enable them to cope with their current difficulties and focus on a valued life direction.
The goal of commit and act is to build a sense of trust again in the people we work with. To help individuals find the courage to rebuild their lives according to their own vision and values. Our local professional therapists counsel individuals and community groups. Additionally, commit and act trains psychosocial helpers in effective methods of psychotherapy and support them through regular supervision to help educate other regions in need of health promotion, health education or psychological support.
Awards and Recognition
In 2014/15 our work changed drastically in response to the Ebola Crisis. Our team has now been honoured to receive a total of four awards in recognition of our work, from the Bo District Ebola Taskforce, Bo District Council, Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender & Children’s Affairs, and the ‘Women for Change’ umbrella body for grass roots women’s empowerment groups:
An Award of Merit 2015 respectively went to
- Hannah Bockarie, Director of our clinic, for her outstanding and excellent performance in social mobilization activities
- Beate Ebert, chair of our board, for her distinguished and outstanding leadership role in the Ebola Emergency in Bo District
- ‘Kids Against Ebola’, an initiative that provides for children orphaned by the Ebola virus
- ‘commit and act foundation’ as a whole for the significant, distinguished and excellent performance of every member of their organisation
From our team, we would likte to thank you so much to all of you for your donations, kind words and generous hearts. Our Leonean brothers and sisters were sustained during the Ebola crisis knowing that they have the support of a caring international community. We could not have done this work without you.
What others say about us
Below is some of the media content that has been created about our work.
Steven C Hayes, co-founder of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy describes how we use ACT to prevent Ebola infections. The wonderful piece for the Huffington Post Online is titled Kissing the Banana Trunk.
The Psychologist, the journal of the British Psychological Society has reported on our approach to Ebola prevention in great detail here.
Julia Broska, from humanitarian aid NGO Welthungerhilfe was interested in our approach and interviewed director Hannah Bockarie. You can find a transcript, and the video of the interview in Julia’s blog here.
Hannah Bockarie is a Sierra Leonan teacher, educated at Makeni Teachers College and has earned a BA in Social work. Hannah is also a trained psychosocial counselor, certified by the International Rescue Committee and Medecins Sans Frontieres Belgium, Sierra Leone. Hannah is The Founder and Country Director of commit and act foundation Sierra Leone.
In her previous role as social worker, she has led a shelter for girls who experienced violence for the international youth charity Don Bosco, Freetown. She is a very experienced caregiver and engaged in the education and supervision of her colleagues. Hannah brings expertise in representing different mental health programs in her country and has been consulted by the WHO on mental health efforts in the region.
Hannah co-ordinates the activities of the organization, leading core staff. She organizes the training workshops, and leads clinical supervision for local therapists and psychosocial counsellors. In recognition of her courageous and successful work the Ministry of Health and Sanitation in Sierra Leone declared Hannah the leader of the psychosocial aspect of Ebola prevention in Bo District and she also received series of awards as the best Psychosocial Counsellor.
Along with friends and colleagues she founded commit and act in 2010 and travels to Sierra Leone once a year, to provide workshops for local therapists and social workers. As first chairperson of commit and act, Beate coordinates the ongoing development of this foundation, focusing specifically on fundraising and supporting the psychosocial centre in Sierra Leone.
Jennifer has led training workshops in Sierra Leone and uses her years of practise to coordinate the clinical supervision meetings for Sierra Leonean practitioners.
She is a member of a number of associate groups. She also has vast experience as a Behaviour Analyst and Positive Behaviour Support practitioner in the National Health Service and Local Education Authority, having worked for Oxfordshire County Council as county wide Senior Behaviour Analyst. She has also worked for Kingston Clinical Commissioning Group and the world renowned South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. This unique experience allows her to impart her expert knowledge across health and education settings in delivering high quality individualised positive behaviour support plans.
This career progression means Georgiana has a deep understanding of the role of all stakeholders involved in managing behaviours that challenge, enabling her to provide meaningful, practical, effective advice and support. In her time at the NHS working in both community and in-patient settings, Georgiana was often the sole PBS practitioner and supported teams and systems to implement PBS in ensuring person centred care.
Georgiana is an experienced trainer able to deliver impactful sessions imparting vital information in a clear accessible way. She is dedicated to empowering schools, LEAs and NHS or health based services to take control of challenging situations creating positive outcomes in a cost-effective manner.
In 2011 Georgiana founded All Behaviour Consultancy to combine her knowledge, skills and network of professionals in providing solutions for schools, LEAs and NHS or health based services dealing with children and young people requiring expert behavioural support. The Consultancy offers behavioural assessments and interventions for children and young people with Autism and other developmental disabilities who exhibit behaviours that challenge.
The holistic approach involves: Individual Education Plan and Person Centred planning, training and support for professionals including frontline teaching and health care staff, ongoing benchmarking to measure progress, and preparing and attending planning and review meetings.
When she is not at work Georgiana enjoys spending quality time with her family (husband, daughter and son) travelling and going to the woods. Georgiana enjoys practicing photography, dancing, listening to music and socialising with her friends and extended family.
Georgiana is available to provide consultation in West and Central London, Surrey, Sussex, Kent and internationally.