Professionalsocial work services

Phakama Ndamase is a qualified and experienced social worker whose career is grounded in compassion, professionalism, and a deep commitment to improving the well-being of individuals, families, and communities.

She began her professional journey in 2007 at the Pietermaritzburg Child and Youth Care Centre. In this role, she supported and managed Child Care Workers through counselling, performance management, and rehabilitative interventions. She also facilitated group programmes for children experiencing challenges such as substance abuse, low self-esteem, bereavement, academic difficulties, teenage pregnancy, and the need for age-appropriate sexual health education.

Later in 2007, Phakama joined the Child and Family Welfare Society of Pietermaritzburg, where she worked until 2013. She gained extensive experience in statutory social work and family reunification services. Her responsibilities included attending court proceedings, managing child-protection cases, and counselling parents experiencing parenting difficulties, abusive behavioural patterns, and other family-related challenges.

This work exposed her to some of South Africa’s most complex social challenges, including poverty, HIV/AIDS, sexual and physical abuse, neglect, substance abuse, and family breakdown. These experiences strengthened her understanding of community needs and shaped her compassionate, person-centred approach to social work.

In 2013, Phakama established her private practice and began working with ICAS, an employee wellness organisation serving government departments and the corporate sector. Through this partnership, she has supported employees experiencing workplace and personal challenges, including:

• Workplace conflict and employee–manager relationship difficulties
• Stress, anxiety, and poor work performance
• Family and marital difficulties
• Grief and bereavement
• Substance abuse
• Financial challenges
• HIV/AIDS, cancer, and other chronic illnesses
• Trauma following robberies, accidents, workplace incidents, and employee deaths

Phakama provides individual counselling, group interventions, workplace wellness presentations, trauma support, and critical-incident debriefing. Her interventions help individuals regain emotional stability, strengthen coping skills, and improve their functioning in their personal and professional lives.

Since 2014, she has also provided hospital-based social work services at Medical Towers Hospital in Isipingo, Durban. Doctors refer patients to her for psychosocial support relating to stress, substance abuse, relationship difficulties, financial concerns, chronic illness, and child-welfare matters.

Her corporate wellness experience includes providing counselling and wellness services to employees at organisations such as Unilever and Tongaat Hulett. She has also facilitated wellness talks and debriefing sessions following traumatic workplace events.

In addition to her clinical and workplace experience, Phakama serves as a social work supervisor at the University of South Africa. She has had the privilege of mentoring second-, third-, and fourth-year social work students through workshops and small-group supervision. This role enables her to share her practical experience while helping to develop confident, ethical, and compassionate future professionals.

Phakama is passionate about providing accessible support through face-to-face and telephonic counselling. She believes in creating a safe, respectful, and non-judgemental space where individuals can express themselves, develop healthy coping strategies, and work towards meaningful change.

For Phakama, social work is more than a profession—it is a calling. Her purpose is to serve, empower, and uplift others while supporting their emotional, social, family, and workplace well-being.

Phakama Ndamase
Social Worker