School of Hard Knocks uses sport to help young people cope with trauma

Sara-Jayne Makwala King spoke to Dr Jon Hunter-Parsonage, Chief Executive Officer at School of Hard Knocks.

Listen to their conversation in the audio clip below.

Young people in South Africa reportedly experience an average of eight adverse childhood events annually, compared to the global average of five in a lifetime. 

The School of Hard Knocks (SoHK) is helping the youth cope with trauma through sports and one-on-one counselling.

From pitch-side therapy sessions, mental health interventions, and teacher trauma awareness workshops, this award-winning Cape Town-based non-profit is tackling childhood trauma through rugby. 

Hunter-Parsonage says they train teams of trauma-aware young people to go into schools and to work for a year with groups of people in under-resourced schools to help them be better placed to deal with their trauma.

"...So as opposed to reacting to everything in a flight or fight- because we know when people are exposed to trauma repeatedly, they are not able to form attachments, and they make riskier decisions. We help people to move from a place where they are making decisions based on trauma to one where they are able to better regulate their trauma, show improved emotional intelligence coping skills and ultimately for better self-development, have a better sense of their own identity and to be better placed to form healthy attachments and we do this through touch rugby."

- Dr Jon Hunter-Parsonage, School of Hard Knocks CEO

"Our coaches, who are all young people from the same communities that our participants come from, we train them to be able to provide that pitch-side therapy, to create that safe space that they can build a relationship and try out healthy attachments."

- Dr Jon Hunter-Parsonage, School of Hard Knocks CEO

SoHK works with 600 children between the ages of 11 and 15 from low-income and under-resourced schools.

The programme is having a positive impact with 97% of participants reporting improved relationships, 83% finding solace in learned techniques to manage feelings of overwhelm, 80% having been able to make better decisions, and 79% having recognised improvements in gender equity awareness.

Scroll up to listen to the full conversation.