How Thabiso Mailula is Making a Difference in Healthcare

Thabiso Mailula has been nominated for NLP in Healthcare Award for his work at the Talisman Foundation, supporting individuals with mental health and addiction problems. He has now been selected as a finalist by the independent judging panel.

For the past 7 years Thabiso has worked at the Talisman Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is a psychosocial rehabilitation for people with mental health conditions such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar mood disorder and personality disorders and addiction problems. The foundation aims to support people to achieve their potential and strive towards reintegration in to their communities. They focus on personal, social and occupational rehabilitation with the aim for people to achieve personal goals such as studying, employment, independence and quality of life. The foundation has a strong emphasis on relapse prevention.

Thabiso decided to study NLP as he felt his psychology degree was not enough to make the level impact he aimed for. His role was to prepare the clients for life outside the rehabilitation centre and educating their families and employers on how to reasonably accommodate people with mental health problems.

Being a psychosocial facilitator at the Talisman Foundation, Thabiso delivered sessions in both group and one on one settings, utilising the key concepts of NLP to support them to adopt more resourceful states and outlooks. He encouraged clients to share their goals and celebrate their achievements quarterly, with their loved ones present, with the goal of helping family members understand and support their progress in their rehabilitation and life as a whole.

As evidenced from the testimonials supplied alongside the nomination form, the clients Thabiso has worked with, made incredible progress, with some deciding to finish their studies in school, some doing internships to earn income and prepare for work, some finding employment so that they could be financially independent, some starting their own companies as entrepreneurs, some getting the courage to share their personal success stories to create awareness about their diagnosis and others being successfully discharged to live independently in the community.

It is clear from the nomination, that during Thabiso’ s time at the Talisman Foundation, he made an incredible and lasting impact on the clients he supported, their families, his colleagues, the students he supervised and the community at large.

The NLP Awards shortlists have been put together from nominations by an independent judging panel. The NLP Awards will be presented at a Gala Dinner on Saturday 19th May at the NLP International Conference. More details of the categories and finalists can be found here.