cannot work in isolation. To contribute to community psychoeducation and upliftment, students were required to create pamphlets for parents, teachers, and other professionals that were informative and accessible. Students were also tasked to translate these informational pamphlets into another South African language to promote inclusive practices. Through these translations, students confronted the reality that psychological knowledge and practices are often framed through Western lenses and language. Their reflections revealed an awareness of the urgent need to make health care resources culturally and linguistically accessible. This exercise encouraged them to grapple with the tension between Western diagnostic frameworks and African cultural practices. For example, students said the following: People who participate in traditional practices like ‘ukuthwasa’, in which they are spiritually called to become traditional healers, may exhibit symptoms like those of psychosis. Hallucinations, insomnia, altered states of consciousness, and fainting are some of the symptoms that may occur during these times. Symptoms aligned with schizophrenia, as in the DSM5-TR, may be culturally understood to be ufufunyana - possession of an evil spirit. This exercise thus tapped into creativity within the students, who produced high-quality and informative pamphlets and went beyond that to develop other tools that promoted inclusion. The students used this opportunity of psychopathology symposia to showcase their creative intervention designs. Some designs include multilingual pamphlets, a visual brain activator, Fuzz-E Friend Pillow, and bibliotherapy story books. Below are some pictures of the designs. The ‘Fuzz-E Friend’ is a comfort toy to manage a child’s anxiety and also serves as a sensory tool The ‘Visual Brain Activator’ is designed to explain cognitive processes to a child Bibliotherapy text on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), along with translated brochures Brochures for persons with visual impairment using braille and QR codes Most of the intervention tools students created for the symposia have been donated as resources to the Centre of Neurodiversity at the Soweto Campus, University of Johannesburg. These tools could be used as part of the Centre’s commitment to provide psychoeducation and interventions to the surrounding communities. Evidently, the format of the symposia has afforded students the space to grow from academics to responsive and inclusive practitioners. 35 A Journey of Innovation
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