Anele Siswana, a clinical Psychologist and lecturer in the Department of Psychology at the University of Johannesburg (UJ) has been announced as the winner of the Titanium Young Achievers Award at the 20th Board of Healthcare Funders (BHF) Conference. The awards recognise and celebrate excellence in the public and private healthcare sectors in southern Africa.
The announcement was made at a prestigious ceremony in Cape Town on Monday 22, July 2019. The occasion brought together the world’s leading healthcare role-players, and provided decision-makers with in-depth insight into key healthcare issues.
This year, the awards seek to recognise and honour professionals and organisations that drive change by creating affordable, accessible and sustainable healthcare throughout the Southern Africa region.
“This award affirms the passion I have for community advocacy and awareness around wellness and mental health services. In South Africa, mental health is a serious social and health problem that requires multiple interventions from different stakeholders, including the state, private health institutions and institutions of higher learning. I believe an integrative health system is what is needed in our society,” says Mr Siswana.
“I am passionate about my role of working with the queer community, the lesbian, gay, transgender/transsexual, intersexual and other queer (LGBTIAQ+) identities. My main role is centred on advocating for access to mental health care services and to raise awareness against all forms of discrimination and homophobia in the workplace,” Mr Siswana added.
The young psychologist is passionate about bringing health education to young people in platforms that are easily accessible, such as social media. Anele features as a regular guest clinical psychologist and a commentator on various social media and emo-entertainment platforms, including radio and TV.
Anele is the founder of Indigo Wellness and Consulting Services and he offers a range of psycho-social services ranging from individual, couples and family therapy. In 2016, he established a mental health initiative that uses both digital media and live discussions to facilitate dialogues about health issues, specifically (LGBTIAQ+) dialogues within communities and churches, mental health issues, HIV/Aids, social justice and other issues affecting students.
Anele’s previous awards and honors:
- 2012 – named among the top students for Golden Key International for Academic Excellence and Leadership. Awarded by the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) now named as Nelson Mandela University (NMU).
- 2013 – 2014: First recipient of the prestigious Canon Collins Scholarship (The Scholars Scholar Award) to pursue his masters of arts (MA) in clinical psychology at Rhodes University.
- 2017: named among the top 200 young South Africans in 2017, in the Health category of the Mail and Guardian. This publication recognises up and coming talent in South Africa.
- 2017: named in the Top 100 of South African young achievers. This was featured in Young Independents special issue of the Independent Newspapers. This supplement profiles young people who have done great work or produced cutting-edge innovation in their fields.
- 2019: announced as the winner of the 2019 best American Men’s Studies Association (AMSA) best essay prize at the AMSA annual conference on June 12th, 2019 in Canda, Brandon University. This prize was awarded for the best student paper titled “Layers of Woundedness in Inxeba: Masculinities Disrupted,”Brief bio
Anele specialises on ulwaluko kwaXhosa (Xhosa Male Initiation) and Queer African masculinities within tradition. Anele practices as clinical psychologist in part-time private practice. In his practice, he heals and works at multiple levels that acknowledge and integrate both western-euro ways of knowing and practice (psych) and African epistemologies. This allows him to operate from a space of indigenous practices and epistemological justice. Anele is also a media personality, he features as a regular guest clinical psychologist and a commentator on various social media and emo-entertainment platforms (Radio and TV).
The 5th Titanium Awards will continue to drive standards and service delivery which in the long term will help build a more effective healthcare industry overall.
