The Ububele Education and Psychoanalytic Trust's Work Wins The Sigourney Award – 2024
/Work by Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust Earns International Recognition With The Sigourney Award-2024
Ububele’s work imparts psychoanalytically informed healthy parent-child attachment through low-cost, replicable models in South Africa and earns The Sigourney Award-2024
Seattle, WA – Nov. 12, 2024 – Each year, The Sigourney Award bestows international recognition and a substantial cash prize for outstanding work completed within the past 10 years that advances psychoanalytic thought worldwide. A prestigious panel of judges carefully reviewed applicants from 10 countries across the globe and today, Robin A. Deutsch, PhD and Analyst Co-Trustee of The Sigourney Award Trust, announces the not-for-profit Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust (Johannesburg, Republic of South Africa) as one of four international recipients presented the prestigious prize. The organization’s Executive Director Esther Chunga accepted the award on their behalf.
“The Ububele organization’s ingenious development of psychoanalytically informed interventions for highly vulnerable citizens supports Founder Mary Sigourney’s original intent to honor the application of psychoanalytic principles to better society,” says Dr. Deutsch.
The Ububele Educational and Psychotherapy Trust (Johannesburg, South Africa)
The Ububele Trust’s exceptional work expands the accessibility and efficacy of psychoanalytic treatment in South Africa, addressing the country’s traumatic past and current uncertainties, including major challenges to personal relationships and mental-health challenges related to poverty, unemployment, poor infrastructure, and other crises. The organization’s unique initiatives, centered on promoting healthy parent-child attachment, are low-cost, replicable models of psychoanalytically informed interventions including an emphasis on transference and appreciation for the influence of the unconscious.
Ububele’s approach is firmly rooted in the lived experiences of Johannesburg and Alexandra's community of over 500,000 people overburdened by harsh poverty, serious crime, corruption and the lesser recognized but lasting impact of apartheid. The Alexandra community’s critical mental health needs place a strain on mothers and caregivers who struggle to overcome historically deficient and discriminatory systems.
The organization most importantly trains intern psychologists and psychotherapists, and also extends capacity by educating social workers, nurses, lay counsellors (directly from the community), teachers and clinic staff. The education emphasizes the transference relationship and the necessity of working beyond the surface. This psychoanalytically informed psycho-emotional support gives children, young people and their caregivers the capability to succeed in life and break inter-generational cycles of emotional poverty and mental health despair. Specific programs include the Ububele Umdlezane Parent-Infant Programs focusing on the first thousand days of life and the Therapy and Assessment Clinic which conducts psychoeducational assessments and psychotherapy services. The Baby Mat Project offers post-partum parent-infant interventions to address anxieties, fantasies, and processes underlying parenting issues with therapeutic modalities including holding, containment, and engaging with the infant-mother as subject.
The Ububele Trust’s teachings reach a wide audience through professional lectures, media, and consultation with interventionists from across the world seeking to implement similar interventions in their settings, such as Pakistan. Their Home Visiting Project captured international attention when Rose Palmer, UK journalist and PhD student, produced the film 1001 Days (named for the critical infant development period) pertaining to infant mental health interventions in South Africa. The organization has also had a significant presence at the World Association for Infant Mental Health conference, the American Zero to Three Fellowship Program, and the International Developmental Pediatrics Association.
“It is an absolute honor for Ububele to be recognized with such a prestigious award. It is most affirming and validating of the work that we do and its undeniable importance as well as the relevance of psychoanalytic practice in marginalized communities,” says Esther Chunga, Executive Director for the not-for-profit.