A Safe Space to Talk, Listen and Heal
Sometimes the hardest part of dealing with a difficult experience is having nowhere safe to talk about it. Girls and young women may carry stress, fear, grief, trauma, relationship challenges or experiences of violence without feeling comfortable enough to ask for help.
Tubonge, meaning "let's talk", creates regular spaces where girls and young women can have honest conversations about mental health and wellbeing without fear of judgment.
Through monthly safe-space sessions, including school-based conversations and virtual dialogues, Tubonge encourages participants to speak openly, listen to one another and learn practical ways of understanding and caring for their mental wellbeing.
The Challenge We Are Addressing
Mental health challenges can affect anyone, but girls and young women may face additional pressures related to relationships, education, family expectations, violence, discrimination and social stigma.
Experiences of gender-based violence can make these challenges even more difficult. Survivors may struggle with fear, isolation, shame or emotional distress while also worrying about whether they will be believed or supported.
Tubonge responds by creating spaces where conversations about mental health are treated with care and where participants can connect with psychosocial support when they need it.
What We Do
Tubonge brings mental health conversations closer to girls and young women through recurring sessions and supportive conversations.
Regular sessions where girls and young women can talk openly about what they are experiencing.
Bringing mental health conversations into environments where young people already learn and interact.
Creating additional opportunities for young women to connect and participate in conversations beyond physical meetings.
Providing supportive care and connecting participants with appropriate support when needed.
Creating compassionate spaces for survivors of gender-based violence to access psychosocial support.
Encouraging participants to listen, support and learn from one another.
Making It Easier to Say "I'm Not Okay"
Many young people grow up learning to keep difficult emotions to themselves. Tubonge challenges that silence by making mental health a conversation rather than something that has to be hidden.
The sessions provide room for participants to share experiences, ask questions and hear different perspectives. The emphasis is on creating respectful environments where participants can express themselves without being dismissed or judged.
Sometimes support begins with simply having someone willing to listen. Tubonge creates spaces where girls and young women know that their voices matter.
Supporting Survivors with Compassion
Gender-based violence can have lasting emotional and psychological effects. Tubonge incorporates psychosocial support for survivors and creates opportunities for conversations around safety, wellbeing and recovery.
The program recognizes that every survivor's experience is different. Support therefore begins with listening, respecting individual experiences and helping participants identify appropriate sources of assistance and care.
Building Mental Health Awareness
Tubonge also helps make mental health easier to understand. Conversations can address emotional wellbeing, stress, relationships, coping and the importance of seeking support when challenges become difficult to manage alone.
By making these conversations more visible and accessible, Tubonge contributes to a culture where asking for help is understood as a sign of self-awareness rather than weakness.
From Conversation to Connection
Tubonge is not simply about talking. It is about creating connections that can help participants feel less isolated and more comfortable seeking support.
Through school-based sessions, community conversations and virtual dialogues, the program creates multiple entry points for girls and young women to engage with mental health support.
How Tubonge Works
Give participants space to express what they are carrying.
Encourage open and respectful conversations around mental health and wellbeing.
Build supportive peer relationships and reduce isolation.
Connect participants with psychosocial care and appropriate support when needed.
The Impact We Seek
Tubonge aims to make mental health conversations more accessible to girls and young women while reducing the isolation that can accompany difficult experiences.
Through regular safe spaces, participants have opportunities to build awareness of their mental wellbeing, learn from one another and become more comfortable seeking support.
For survivors of gender-based violence, the program provides an additional space for compassionate psychosocial support as they navigate their experiences.
Safe-space conversations
Mental health sessions
Dialogues and conversations
Support for participants and GBV survivors
Tubonge in Action
Meaningful conversations happen when people feel safe enough to participate. These photographs capture some of the conversations, gatherings and community activities that reflect Great Ladies' approach to creating spaces for young women to connect and engage.
Why Tubonge Matters
Mental health is part of overall wellbeing, yet conversations about it can still be surrounded by stigma. Young people may know they are struggling but not know where to turn or feel comfortable asking for help.
Creating regular, welcoming spaces for conversation can help change that. When girls and young women are given opportunities to talk, listen and connect, they can begin to recognize that they do not have to carry every challenge alone.
Tubonge is built around that simple idea: sometimes a safe conversation can be the beginning of finding support.
Support Mental Health Conversations
Your support can help Great Ladies create more safe spaces, reach more girls and young women and strengthen access to mental health and psychosocial support.
Donate
Help us create safe spaces and expand mental health support.
Volunteer
Contribute your time, skills or experience to our work.
Partner
Collaborate with us to expand mental health support for young people.
Advocate
Help normalize conversations about mental health and emotional wellbeing.
Let's create more spaces where girls and young women can speak openly, be heard and find the support they need.
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