TV sports personality Mpho Maboi is challenging the belief that people who talk about their problems or childhood traumas are weak.
Mpho sparked the thought-provoking discussion on Thursday when she posted a quote about broken children living in adult bodies.
She addressed the topic further in the caption, writing: "part of the problem here is that, as black people, we are conditioned to believe that you are weak if you seek therapy for things that happened to you as a child. You go about life having internalized things that affect your adulting later on in life. It's a vicious cycle".
Mpho's followers responded to the post, sharing their experiences and thoughts on the topic.
Comedian Nina Hastie's wrote that there were "anonymous meetings for 'adult children'" that are "very effective for people who grew up in abusive, alcoholic or broken homes".
Mpho responded to this by claiming that "black people have a sense of shame towards seeking help" that might prevent many people from participating in such programs.
Banetsi travels around the township of Khayelitsha offering advice and free counselling to young people in need.
"Young people, especially males, who experience trauma at a young age often leave their issues unresolved. They fear talking about the trauma because they fear being labelled as weak. It is most prevalent in townships.
"The truth is that an unresolved traumatic experience can never be buried. It will always resurface at a later stage in a person's life. When it resurfaces it often affecting those around them and filters into other aspects of the person's life," Banetsi said.
