The Ki to a healthier society through affordable therapy

The rate of suicide, divorce, addiction, and depression has accelerated in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, and community members are in dire need of support.

A group of Jewish mental-health professionals have responded by creating The Ki, which offers affordable and accessible therapy to the Johannesburg Jewish community.

“Ki is an acronym of kochav yam, which means starfish in Hebrew,” says The Ki director and psychotherapist, Maria Beider. “It’s a nod towards the starfish story, which is a family legacy of mine. My uncle, Professor David Baum [the head of the Royal College of Paediatrics in the United Kingdom] used to tell it. It evokes hope and the belief that although we can’t change the whole world, we can make a difference one person at a time.

“At The Ki, we believe that we take turns at being starfish, and our aim is to empower individuals so that they can, in turn, make a difference to their families and community.”

The classic starfish story tells how an old man walked the beach at dawn and noticed a young boy picking up starfish and putting them into the sea. He asked the boy why he was doing this. The boy answered that the stranded starfish would die if left until the morning sun.

“But the beach goes on for miles and there are thousands of starfish,” countered the old man. “How can your efforts make any difference?”

The young boy looked at the starfish in his hand, and placed it safely into the waves. “It makes a difference to this one,” he said.

The organisation was founded by Beider. “It was my vision and dream to make an impact in promoting mental health. I founded it together with two amazing colleagues, Lara Noik and Tova Goldstein, who are experienced social workers in the community,” she says.

In terms of financing, “We have some very generous individuals who have helped us to fund it so far. It’s an ongoing process of raising funds as we grow and our name becomes more established. We’re also looking at a long-term model, incorporating self-generating funds,” says Beider. “We have had an overwhelming response in our first three months which has been validating and has indicated the real need for this service.”

All three recognise the gap that needs to be filled. “We each saw in our private practices and our everyday lives that people weren’t coping, whether they were feeling anxious or depressed or had marital issues and couldn’t always afford to invest in their own therapy. People see therapy as a luxury or not necessary. We see it as a basic need for self-care, the same way we would go to the doctor if we broke our leg. Therapy gives us a space to process and heal, and plays an important part in helping to build healthy individuals, families, and a healthy community,” says Beider.

“Most people need to invest in therapy at some point in their lives,” she says. “This isn’t true just for the Johannesburg Jewish community, but we’re here, this is our community, and we see people suffering on a daily basis. The COVID-19 pandemic has, of course, exacerbated problems for people. There’s a lot of financial stress, plus we’re living in South Africa with the backdrop of poverty, crime, and violence.”

Furthermore, “Research and anecdotal evidence indicate a substantial rise in mental-health challenges over the past few years, here in South Africa and worldwide,” says Beider. “We’re certainly seeing this trend in the Jewish community. Recently, Discovery Health revealed that psychology visits per 1 000 lives were 16.2% higher than they were in 2019. And that’s obviously for people who can afford a medical aid. A lot of people have only a hospital plan, which doesn’t cover therapy.

“Though we see therapy as a preventative measure, we don’t want people necessarily coming to us only to prevent family disintegration or a mental-health crisis,” she says. “It’s a shift in our understanding of therapy. Rather, come to us in the hope that with the right intervention, we can help individuals, couples, and families to actualise their innate resilience and live their best possible lives. Our goal isn’t to prevent disaster, but rather to help grow healthy individuals, couples, and families.”

The Ki has more than 20 esteemed therapists on board including social workers, psychologists, and counsellors. They offer a wide array of different modalities and specialties, such as trauma, play therapy, parental guidance, couple’s counselling, self-harm, eating disorders, and grief work.”

It’s specifically aimed at “what we call the middle-market niche of people who want to heal and make changes in their lives but can’t necessarily afford therapy at market costs,” says Beider. “They are often the ones who fall through the cracks because they are neither in need of social services nor have access to the funds necessary to access therapeutic services.”

The organisation works with other communal bodies. “We’re already partnering with organisations like the Shoshana Foundation, Ohrsom, Ohr Somayach, Koleinu SA, and Natan, amongst others. The Ki offers these organisations a referral source [for therapy] as well as the potential for psycho-educational intervention, training, and therapeutic groups, which we hope to bring into fruition this year.”

It’s ultimate goal is early intervention and prevention. “To make it more of a habit for people to seek therapy and get help early, before their unhealthy patterns become entrenched and start to affect marriages and children,” says Beider. “A lot has to do with psycho-education and understanding trauma.”

To the community, Beider says, “We want to partner with you. We want to create an emotionally healthy society. Please contact us on our discreet WhatsApp line, 082 660 1666. Or support us by giving us a donation. See more information on our website, www.theki.co.za”.