Mental Health Counseling Program at TWB
As a social enterprise we have the privilege to meet market demand with local supply while we create jobs for strong women, as well as foster healthy lives from a holistic level.
What does mental health mean to you—what value does it hold in your daily life and functioning? For most, mental health isn’t just a piece of the puzzle, but something that affects the whole of their being. When mental illness becomes a part of your story, it can permeate all other aspects of your life and health.
In a country and context where trauma has affected many, fostering mental health and healing is of great importance to the success of the individual as well as the collective. However, in the context of the lives of the women that work at The Women’s Bakery, mental health hasn’t been a luxury they have the privilege to explore.
Not anymore.
About 9 months ago, we started a Mental Health Counseling Program with the women in our Kigali Bakery as a pilot program. We knew this could be a valuable space to process, learn, heal and grow, but we didn’t know how the women would take to the service. As we planned for the program, it was important to us that we hire someone who could both speak Kinyarwanda, and also relate and understand their culture and lifestyle. We hired a Rwandan certified female counselor, Specioza, and started our first day of counseling in October 2017.
Each day of counseling is spent with individual sessions in the morning, a group lunch session where topics such as conflict resolution, marriage and family, and professionalism are discussed. Then an afternoon of individual sessions. The women almost immediately took to the programming, and have really enjoyed their time with Specioza. We have seen improvement in conflict resolution within the bakery, as well as heard personal stories of healing and reconciliation among friends, families, and marriages. We have also recently started inviting the husbands of the women to participate in the individual sessions.
As our next step, we launched the service in the other two TWB managed bakeries—Ndera and Kagina. Another very experienced Rwandan female counselor has been working with these women. While the uptake has been slower, we are excited to see how the women make this program their own.
Our future goals and plans with the program are to continue to see it iterate based on the needs of each bakery, as well as hone in on the true impact of the service. While we are a business, we are also a family and the individual needs of each woman we work with matters to us deeply.
As a social enterprise we have the privilege to meet market demand with local supply while we create jobs for strong women, as well as foster healthy lives from a holistic level.
Baking More Than Bread
The Women’s Bakery truly bakes more than just bread, it builds and encourages women to empower themselves, and helps them realize that they’ve always had the power to do so.
by Nalani Tiscareno, TWB Summer Intern
A student at Texas A&M, I had a serious misconception about what it meant to go to college. I was convinced that college was going to be the easiest, most fun, most liberating time of my life. Although college has been many of those things, there is a more difficult side to it that no one often tells you about.
There comes a time, somewhere in the middle of the experience, where you may go through a phase of self-realization, where you question things you once knew to be true, including yourself.
I was in the middle of that phase when The Women’s Bakery came into my life. I was questioning my decision to further my education, not knowing if I had made the right choice. Then, I attended an event held by the TWB Texas A&M Chapter, and I realized why I had decided to go to university. I was so moved by the stories about women coming together to build a community of empowered individuals. I gained immense perspective by learning about the women involved with TWB. Their will to do pursue opportunity and do the best for themselves and their family greatly inspired me.
Quickly, I fell in love with everything that The Women’s Bakery stands for. After hearing the speech that Heather gave, I knew why I had decided to go to college. I was empowering myself. I knew I needed to get involved and help spread the word about the wonderful things that this organization is doing and so, that’s how my summer internship got started.
I had the amazing opportunity to represent The Women’s Bakery at Hope Farmer’s Market in Austin, Texas. Every weekend, I set up a booth and sell sweet potato bread dry bread mixes, as well as zucchini, carrot, and sweet potato muffins. It was an amazing summer, as I got to spend time in my favorite city, as well as advocate such an incredible cause.
The Women’s Bakery was widely accepted in Austin, and I was moved by how much everyone was wanting to get involved and learn about the cause. Every Saturday I baked TWB bread and then on Sunday, made my way from College Station to Austin.
It was definitely challenging at times. The challenges gave me a knew found respect for the women involved in the program. They bake and sell bread every day, and yet somehow make it happen. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to get the word out about what The Women’s Bakery stands for. I hope that I was able to inspire someone, just as I was inspired.
I am a woman, who in seeking self-empowerment in the form of education and The Women’s Bakery, could realize my worth, and my will to move forward in life.
The Women’s Bakery truly bakes more than just bread, it builds and encourages women to empower themselves, and helps them realize that they’ve always had the power to do so.
