Community Art Counselling & Training

Lefika La Phodiso is Africa’s first organisation offering community art counselling training. Aptly named, Lefika La Phodiso means the rock of holding and healing.

More About Us

Lefika La Phodiso

“I come to Lefika because it is the only place I feel safe.”

– Lefika La Phodiso child

“Art therapy offers an alternate language of communication, inhabiting the space between images and text.”

– Hayley Berman (founder)

Lefika La Phodiso is an NGO that offers community art counselling and training, as well as a variety of arts-based programmes for children. Lefika La Phodiso means the rock of holding and healing. Through therapeutic, creative counselling, in a safe environment, healing can begin.

What we do

Programmes for children

Open Studio: Community Art Counselling

Open Studio operates every weekday and when funding permits on Saturdays, as well as during school holidays.

Open Studio: Art Skills

Our weekly art skills sessions aim to give the children the artistic skills they need in order to express themselves and develop their artistic potential.

Open Studio: Drama Therapy

Through the use of role-playing and storytelling, drama therapy allows the children to work through their traumatic experiences in a therapeutic and empowering environment.

Open Studio: Drama Club

Drama Club is aimed at teenagers. It builds confidence, enhances concentration skills and facilitates communication.

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Other programmes

Nutrition Programme

At Lefika La Phodiso, all children attending our programmes are served a nutritious meal. Due to the generosity of sponsors, we also give the children food parcels to take home.

Interns

Lefika La Phodiso has an ongoing partnership with Wits Drama for Life, SACAP (South African College of Applied Psychology) and the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The interns participate in the Open Studio after school programmes, as well as giving individual counselling and therapy sessions.

Volunteers

Volunteers play a pivotal role in our organisation, and all our volunteers are trained and supervised.

Parent / caregiver group

Our parent and caregiver groups meet once a month. These sessions provide a valuable bridge and learning for both the parents / caregivers and community art counsellors.

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Latest News

What Lefika means to me - Victor Mhlaba

My name is Victor, I live in Hillbrow but I am from Kwa-Zulu Natal from my mother’s side. I am 16 years of age. I am very artistic, that’s what I do, you know? I am also talented and I am a kind person. I am a child in Lefika La Phodiso. I understand that […]

What Lefika means to me: Kamal Naran

My name is Kamal Naran, I am 39 years old and based in Johannesburg. I enjoy anything art related, especially visual art. I believe in putting good out into the world, so I like to operate from the perspective that what I do is adding good to the world. I like sharing knowledge, and I […]

When was Lefika born?

Creative group work is the medicine we use. The magic is in the relationships we cultivate, the quality of attunement, recognition and holding we provide. By Hayley Berman

Our Impact

“Lefika has been sustained by a passion, belief, and commitment to providing safe enough spaces for children and adults within a traumatised South Africa. The integrity and ethos have been handed down in each iteration of Lefika’s history and the teams that hold the organisation.”