University of Cape Town

Rhulani Beji-Chauke is an AMARI MPhil alumni from Zimbabwe. She did her Master of Philosophy in Public Mental Health with the University of Cape Town (UCT). She obtained a BSc Honours in Psychology from the Women’s University in Africa (Zimbabwe) before going on to work in experiential learning for three years. In this capacity she facilitated programs for both children and adolescents amongst other age groups. Rhulani has been working on the Friendship Bench project since the scale-up of the program where she has mainly been involved in the training and supervision of lay health workers.

Her main research interests are in depression, adolescents, HIV and creative arts therapies. Her MPhil thesis investigated the barriers and facilitators that adolescents with common mental disorders experience in retention to the Friendship Bench intervention. The findings from her research provided information for formative work on the Friendship Bench package for adolescents.