PAST PRESIDENT

Thiloshni Govender

Thiloshni is a Social Worker by profession who has been actively involved in the field of Employee Assistance since 1996. She has been a founding member of the EAPA Ikhala Chapter in East London since 2005 and has served EAPA-SA in various portfolios. As EAPA-SA President from 2018 – 2023 she lead the Board safely through the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thiloshni has also been actively involved in all portfolios with special interest in Employee Assistance Professional Designations; Membership and EAPA-SA Standards.

Thiloshni qualified as a Social Worker from the University of Durban-Westville in 1991 and completed her Master’s Degree in Social Work: EAP at University of Pretoria in 2009. She started her career in the NGO sector in 1992, working for Child Welfare in Durban and SANCA Alcohol and Drug Centre in East London in 1996. It was at SANCA that she was introduced to the field of Employee Assistance. In 2000 she moved into the Public Service doing EAP full time at the Department of Correctional Services and then in 2004 to the Department of Agriculture as Deputy Director: Employee Wellness. In April 2008 she was appointed as Director: Employee Wellness for the Department of Health where she is presently responsible for Employee Assistance, Occupational Health and Safety, HIV and TB Workplace Programmes, Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases as well as employee Sport and Recreation. She has supervised and mentored Social Work / Research Students, Social Workers and EAP Practitioners since 1996.

As an Employee Assistance Specialist, she has extensive work experience with a wide range of psychosocial issue as well as programme design, strategy and policy development. She has special interest in Addiction, Trauma, Incapacity; Diversity and Inclusion.

Portfolio Responsibilities:

• Provide coaching and mentorship to the board for continuity and smooth transition of the new board.
• Maintain and establish new partnerships and collaborations with stakeholders – to engage and negotiate with commercial stakeholders for benefits to our members.
• Facilitate the institutional memory of the association by facilitating projects to safe guard the Association’s history.
• Provide training to portfolio holders to effectively and efficiently discharge their responsibilities.

Portfolio Goal: 

• Provide coaching and mentorship to the board.
• Safe guard the history of the Association.
• Provide training and development to portfolio holders.

Contact Details:

Phone: 040 608 1938

Cell: 083 378 0126

Email: thiloshni18@gmail.com