New Life Centre

DSD-registered Child and Youth Care Centre (CYCC); court-placement facility (non-committal and committal orders); residential care and rehabilitation for girls **Programmes:** **1. Residential Care Programme** New Life Centre operates as a Child and Youth Care Facility providing residential care on both **non-committal** (voluntary placement) and **committal** (court order) bases for girls placed by the courts or referred by DSD. Children are housed in rooms by age group. Aims: a safe, clean, non-judgmental facility; meeting physical and basic needs; access to general medical care; family preservation and reunification services where possible; empowerment through self-reconstruction and self-actualisation; access to education, recreational activities, and spiritual guidance. **2. Therapeutic Programmes** Therapeutic programmes are administered to all resident girls, including individual treatment plans addressing trauma, disorders, and development of positive thinking and coping skills. Social work services include: - Individual one-on-one counselling (child-focused, with recognition of each child's uniqueness and circumstances) - Group work counselling (providing a nurturing environment for shared experience, support, and peer healing) - Family counselling (preparing families for reunification; reconstructing conflicting relationships) - Referral to specialised services based on presenting need **3. GBV and exploitation-specific support** New Life Centre specialises in girls who have experienced commercial sexual exploitation and trafficking — a population that requires trauma-informed, long-term residential care and rehabilitation that few South African services provide. The centre provides safety, stability, and therapeutic support as the foundation for education, skills development, and re-integration. **4. Education and skills development** Access to schooling and vocational skills training for residents; computer literacy; sewing; life skills. The organisation has tracked girls who have left the home and are now employed — their stories are described as "living evidence of the centre's success." **5. Community-based historical outreach (Hillbrow)** NLC also assisted mothers and individuals living on the streets of Hillbrow, supporting them in recovering IDs and birth certificates, and linking them with training and job placements. NLC worked with the City of Johannesburg transitioning people out of shelters. **Important note for referring survivors:** New Life Centre accepts referrals for girls via DSD social workers and SAPS; it is a child-focused residential service and not a direct walk-in crisis centre for adults. For adult GBV survivors: refer to dedicated adult services. For child placements: contact via the website (newlifecentre.org.za) or through SAPS FCS / DSD social worker referral.