INTERVENTION IN A COMMUNITY CRISIS - LENTEGEUR-HOSPITAL AND THE CASE OF THE STATION STRANGLER

This report documents the response of the Child and Family Unit at Len tegeur Hospital in Cape Town to the community crisis precipitated by t he murder of 12 boys early in 1994, An intervention strategy was devis ed in consultation with other community organisations, key elements of which included: (i) consultation services to teachers in the communit y in which many of the murders took place and at the school at which t he alleged perpetrator taught; (ii) using the press, radio and televis ion to increase community knowledge about the psychological reactions of children exposed to major stressors; and (iii) group therapy for ch ildren referred for psychiatric intervention and for symptomatic child ren in the class of a victim or attending the school at which the alle ged perpetrator taught. The fact that the flexible and innovative resp onse was mounted augurs well for the development of a primary mental h ealth care approach.