Helping others to live their best life
- Wits University
Dr Thobeka Nkomo, the new Head of the Department of Social Work, has always known that she wants to be in a field that improves the lives of others.
As a young girl growing up in the Eastern Cape, Nkomo was drawn to the nursing profession because of the comfort that it brought to people in their hour of need. Her route to nursing seemed sealed and came with a secured scholarship to study overseas after matriculating. However another path, social work proved to be more alluring.
“I am pleased that it all worked out well. I’ve had a fulfilling career as a social worker for the Department of Social Development and the Department of Health,” says Nkomo, who took up headship of the Social Work in June 2018.
Her formative years were spent in the North West Province where she worked with communities and juvenile offenders before moving to hospitals to work with in-and-out patients, providing marriage counselling, drug counselling and the placement of abandoned babies. She has had a dynamic career as a social worker serving communities in that province, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital where she held positions critical to patient care and alleviating suffering.
One of her proud moments as a practitioner has been working with Headways Gauteng also known as the Head and Brain Injury Association.
“While I was pursuing my PhD studies, I applied and was selected as a 2013 Vodacom Change the World Volunteer programme.”
The programme allows professionals to take a year off work and focus on a community project of their choice with financial support from Vodacom.
Nkomo elected to work with the Soweto and Alexander branches as these stood to benefit the most from the skills and resource support. She was responsible for training field workers, securing resources, introducing modern information systems and taking on the role of therapy manager. This offered her an opportunity to move from providing advice as a board member to become more hands-on.
The transition from practice to academia has always been part of Nkomo’s plan and one which she sees as an extension of her service to the community.
“The training and preparation of young people for the social work profession is important to me.
“We live in a challenging world and our students need rigorous training in order to be effective. I am proud that our students get exposed to the workplace from first year and this is intensified as they move up in their studies working with communities, hospitals, NGOs and various sites alongside dedicated professionals.”
Nkomo who joined Wits in 2015 from the University of Pretoria has expanded relationships where Wits students undertake practical training. Key to this expansion and change has been forming strong relationships with supervisors for greater collaboration and understanding on what is required when working with Wits students as this is a key component of academic assessment and professional development. This approach has created a mutually beneficial system where the University and industry work closer for the benefit of the students and the profession.
In addition to providing cutting edge training, Nkomo wants to raise the research profile of the Department in line with the University’s mission to become a research-intensive university.
One of her goals is to get more academics to co-author papers with students in order to build their confidence and interest in research.
She is part of the Women Intellectuals Transforming Scholarship in Education (WITSIE) group and mentors postgraduate students on their way to becoming researchers in the Faculty of Humanities.
She credits the group for her own her growth in academia.
As the first black South African woman to lead the Department, Nkomo is excited about her three-year term as Head and working with a capable team to drive change in and outside Wits.
It is hard to tell where her works starts and ends. Being married to a pastor, her work in building communities and supporting people to live their best lives never ceases. She is a mother of two; a daughter studying psychology at Wits and a son in high sc
As a young girl growing up in the Eastern Cape, Nkomo was drawn to the nursing profession because of the comfort that it brought to people in their hour of need. Her route to nursing seemed sealed and came with a secured scholarship to study overseas after matriculating. However another path, social work proved to be more alluring.
“I am pleased that it all worked out well. I’ve had a fulfilling career as a social worker for the Department of Social Development and the Department of Health,” says Nkomo, who took up headship of the Social Work in June 2018.
Her formative years were spent in the North West Province where she worked with communities and juvenile offenders before moving to hospitals to work with in-and-out patients, providing marriage counselling, drug counselling and the placement of abandoned babies. She has had a dynamic career as a social worker serving communities in that province, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Gauteng at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital where she held positions critical to patient care and alleviating suffering.
One of her proud moments as a practitioner has been working with Headways Gauteng also known as the Head and Brain Injury Association.
“While I was pursuing my PhD studies, I applied and was selected as a 2013 Vodacom Change the World Volunteer programme.”
The programme allows professionals to take a year off work and focus on a community project of their choice with financial support from Vodacom.
Nkomo elected to work with the Soweto and Alexander branches as these stood to benefit the most from the skills and resource support. She was responsible for training field workers, securing resources, introducing modern information systems and taking on the role of therapy manager. This offered her an opportunity to move from providing advice as a board member to become more hands-on.
The transition from practice to academia has always been part of Nkomo’s plan and one which she sees as an extension of her service to the community.
“The training and preparation of young people for the social work profession is important to me.
“We live in a challenging world and our students need rigorous training in order to be effective. I am proud that our students get exposed to the workplace from first year and this is intensified as they move up in their studies working with communities, hospitals, NGOs and various sites alongside dedicated professionals.”
Nkomo who joined Wits in 2015 from the University of Pretoria has expanded relationships where Wits students undertake practical training. Key to this expansion and change has been forming strong relationships with supervisors for greater collaboration and understanding on what is required when working with Wits students as this is a key component of academic assessment and professional development. This approach has created a mutually beneficial system where the University and industry work closer for the benefit of the students and the profession.
In addition to providing cutting edge training, Nkomo wants to raise the research profile of the Department in line with the University’s mission to become a research-intensive university.
One of her goals is to get more academics to co-author papers with students in order to build their confidence and interest in research.
She is part of the Women Intellectuals Transforming Scholarship in Education (WITSIE) group and mentors postgraduate students on their way to becoming researchers in the Faculty of Humanities.
She credits the group for her own her growth in academia.
As the first black South African woman to lead the Department, Nkomo is excited about her three-year term as Head and working with a capable team to drive change in and outside Wits.
It is hard to tell where her works starts and ends. Being married to a pastor, her work in building communities and supporting people to live their best lives never ceases. She is a mother of two; a daughter studying psychology at Wits and a son in high school.