About
Stikland Psychiatric Hospital is a public psychiatric hospital in the Western Cape, caring for people living with serious mental illness, including psychosis. It is a setting where dignity can too easily be lost beneath a diagnosis — and where HospiVision's ministry of presence, hope, and human worth matters deeply.
Our work here rests on a simple, powerful conviction: every person is important, and no one is reducible to their illness. Through a structured spiritual intervention programme, our team walks alongside patients as they rediscover their own story — affirming their identity, their strengths, and their place in the world beyond the hospital walls. The programme was founded by Dr Jakes Carnow, Rev Jurie Gouws, and Christél Kloppers, and continues today under Dr Carnow's leadership, supported by a team of trained soul carers and psychology students.
A Programme Built on Story and Dignity
At the heart of our work at Stikland is a spiritual intervention programme that integrates narrative therapy — an approach that helps people see their struggles as separate from their core identity, and to re-author their lives around hope and agency.
Over a series of sessions, patients are invited to share meaningful moments from their lives, to externalise their challenges, and to map a purposeful path back into society. Gentle metaphors guide the journey: life as a tangerine, where the peel is the diagnosis but the flesh is the person; life as a landscape of meaningful moments; and the path from hospital to home as a journey worth mapping. Each session affirms the same truth — that every participant's story is sacred, and every person carries strengths worth celebrating.
This work is rooted in an African understanding of spirituality, one shaped by Ubuntu and a people-first ethic, recognising that healing happens not in isolation but in community, relationship, and belonging.
Part of an Interdisciplinary Team
What began as a small pilot has grown into a trusted, lasting partnership. HospiVision now serves across several wards at Stikland on a weekly basis, working hand in hand with the hospital's clinical staff. Our soul carers are recognised as part of a genuinely interdisciplinary team — contributing a spiritual and human-dignity dimension to the hospital's more holistic approach to mental health care.
That trust has shown itself in meaningful ways. Dr Carnow was invited to present on mental health and human dignity at a Stikland-hosted seminar, drawing on the film A Beautiful Mind to explore how people living with mental illness deserve to be seen, valued, and understood. Our team has also been welcomed into the hospital's own reflections on how this holistic, collaborative approach is bearing fruit — and the feedback has been deeply encouraging.
Growing Hope
The story of HospiVision at Stikland is one of steady growth and deepening trust. Even through changes in hospital leadership and clinical staff, the programme has continued to flourish, with new colleagues engaging as though they had been part of it from the very beginning. As our team of soul carers and psychology students grows, so too does our reach — ward by ward, conversation by conversation, story by story.
Past Projects
Beyond our weekly programme, HospiVision runs seasonal campaigns to bring practical comfort and support to the patients at Stikland.
Donate to Hospivision Stikland Psychiatric Hospital
Your donation helps us assist patients, equip volunteers, and sustain our work at Stikland Psychiatric Hospital, ensuring we continue providing vital care and support.
If you would like to request an Article 18(A) tax certificate, please send us an email at finance@hospivision.org.za
Contact us
sbah@hospivision.org.za
