Jeffreys Bay Trauma Support Centre
Specialist community trauma support centre; traumatologist-led; free services; VEP-aligned; volunteer-staffed with trained personnel **Cost:** Free — all services provided at no charge**is_24hr:** Emergency line 076 708 6100 is answered 24/7. Office hours Mon–Fri 08:00–17:00. **GBV-relevant services:** 1. **Trauma Counselling** (individual) — identifying and coming to terms with feelings and emotions during and after trauma; rape, domestic violence, assault, robbery, crime; recovery of sense of control and mastery; provided by the centre's Traumatologist 2. **General Counselling** — children and families coping with life stresses; community counselling 3. **Crisis Intervention and Victim Assistance** — immediate emotional support, advocacy, and crisis intervention at point of incident or SAPS presentation; available 24/7 via emergency line 4. **Court Accompaniment** — accompanying survivors through the court process 5. **Trauma Debriefing** — for all emergency personnel and for crime victims; evaluation and referral for further debriefing where needed 6. **Play Therapy** — for children and adolescents using art, clay, toys, drawings, and games; child sexual abuse, GBV exposure, domestic violence; available to children who cannot verbally express trauma 7. **School Support Groups** — visiting schools; supporting children subjected to trauma; building protective boundaries; preventing reoccurrence; school awareness about sexual abuse and personal safety 8. **Training and Workshops** (Kouga–Koukamma district) — GBV awareness, forms of abuse, human trafficking, working with abuse survivors, general counselling skills, positive self-image, emotional intelligence. Aimed at educating communities, breaking silence, zero tolerance for abuse, community solution-building 9. **Trauma Assist** — SAPS-linked callout service for community trauma incidents (robbery, house breakings, assaults, DV, attempted suicides) 24/7 to stabilise and ensure safety 10. **Referrals** to psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, and other specialist professionals when needed
Contact & Location
- Maryke
- Neptune Close, Shop 7, Jeffreys Bay Central (opposite SAP) or Shop 12, Neptune Terrace, Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape (confirm current unit on arrival)
Opening Hours
Opening hours not available. Contact the organisation directly.
About
The model: free, trauma-led, SAPS-partnered, 24/7
The centre operates a simple model that is also a challenging one to sustain: all services are free, provided by trained volunteers under a Traumatologist, in close daily working relationship with the local police, available to anyone in the Jeffreys Bay and Kouga–Koukamma area. Referrals come from SAPS, from hospitals, from schools, from families, and from self-referral.
The emergency line — 076 708 6100 — is not only for office hours. Emergency calls are answered 24/7. For a survivor of sexual assault or DV in Jeffreys Bay at 2 AM, this line is a critical resource.
Trauma counselling and the Traumatologist
At the centre of the service is individual trauma counselling, provided by the centre's Traumatologist (a specialist counsellor qualified in trauma care). Trauma counselling is not the same as ordinary counselling — it works specifically with the body and mind's response to overwhelming, terrifying events. For a rape survivor, a woman who has been beaten, a person who witnessed violence, the work of trauma counselling is to help them:
- Identify and name what they are feeling
- Understand that their responses are normal reactions to abnormal events
- Regain a sense of control and mastery over their own life
- Make meaning of what happened
- Return, over time, to their former capacity for living
Where the centre's Traumatologist determines that specialist support is needed — a psychologist, psychiatrist, or social worker — referrals are made promptly.
Play therapy for children
The centre explicitly provides play therapy for children and adolescents — recognising that children who have been sexually abused, or who have lived in households with domestic violence, cannot always express their experience in words. Using games, toys, clay, drawings, and paint, play therapy creates a space for children to communicate what is happening to them at their own pace, without interrogation. This is a critical service in a context where children are often the silent witnesses — and sometimes the direct victims — of GBV.
School visits reinforce this: J-Bay Trauma Support Centre visits local schools to educate children about their rights, body autonomy, and personal safety, empowering them to protect themselves and speak up.
24/7 Trauma Assist
In close working relationship with SAPS Jeffreys Bay, the centre's Trauma Assist service responds to community incidents around the clock — robberies, house breakings, assaults, domestic violence, attempted suicides. The role is to stabilise everyone affected — survivors, witnesses, first responders — and ensure that no one is left alone in acute trauma without support.
Training and community upliftment
The centre delivers training across the Kouga–Koukamma district because it understands that individual counselling alone will not end GBV and abuse. Training topics include: GBV (theory and response), different forms of abuse, human trafficking, how to understand and work with people who have been abused, general counselling and communication skills, positive self-image, emotional intelligence, and life skills. The goal is simple: educate communities to break silence, challenge zero tolerance for abuse, and equip people to take responsibility for building safer homes and communities.
Accessing the centre
Walk in or call: Shop 12, Neptune Terrace, Jeffreys Bay (opposite or very near SAPS Jeffreys Bay). Mon–Fri 08:00–17:00. Emergency: 076 708 6100 — answered 24/7. All services free.
J-Bay Trauma Support Centre: jbaytrauma.co.za / 076 708 6100 (24/7 emergency) / jbaytrauma@gmail.com / Shop 12, Neptune Terrace, Jeffreys Bay, Eastern Cape. Free. Trauma counselling, play therapy, court accompaniment, DV/rape crisis intervention, school awareness, SAPS Trauma Assist 24/7, Kouga–Koukamma training. GBV crisis also: 0800 428 428 (toll-free, 24/7).