Healing Is More Than What Happens in the Theatre.

For a woman preparing for reconstructive surgery, the operation is only one part of a much bigger journey.

There may be years of pain behind her. Fear about the procedure ahead. Questions about what happens afterwards. And, waiting for her at home, a family and community that may not always understand what she has experienced or what recovery will require.

WADADIA’s approach starts with recognising that the woman is part of a wider system.

WADADIA’s CEO and Founder, a psychologist and social change programme specialist, makes time to sit with women in the wards, theatre and support groups.

Sometimes that means listening.

Sometimes it means answering difficult questions.

Sometimes it is simply reminding a woman who has spent years feeling isolated that she matters and she is not alone.

Alongside the clinical team, WADADIA’s psychosocial support team provides individualised counselling for women preparing for reconstructive surgery for fistula and childbirth-related injuries.

After surgery, the support continues.

Women are supported as they recover in the wards, receive reinforcement on post-repair instructions and have space to process the emotional dimensions of their experience.

But WADADIA does not stop with the patient.

The people around her matter too.

Husbands, brothers and sons who accompany women for treatment are engaged as allies. They are thanked for showing up, helped to understand what recovery may look like and encouraged to provide practical and emotional support when the woman returns home.

This is important because a woman may receive excellent surgical care in hospital, but her recovery continues within her family and community.

That is the systems perspective behind WADADIA’s approach.

Clinical care cannot operate in isolation from mental health.

Mental health cannot be separated from family support.

And recovery cannot be separated from the woman’s ability to return to her everyday life with dignity.

The pieces have to connect.

That is why WADADIA works to create a continuum:

Community → identification → preparation → surgery → psychosocial support → family engagement → recovery → reintegration.

For the Founder and CEO, this is deeply connected to her mission: ensuring that women are not simply treated for a condition, but supported as whole human beings through the journey that follows.

Because the question should not only be:

“Was the surgery successful?”

It should also be:

“How is she doing now? Does she feel supported? Can she return home with confidence? Does her family understand? And does she have a pathway to rebuild her life?”

That is the difference between delivering an intervention and building a system around a woman.

At WADADIA, the goal is not simply to repair. It is to help women recover, reconnect and move forward.

🤝 Partner with WADADIA to strengthen holistic care for women living with fistula and childbirth-related injuries. https://wadadia-nonprofits.org/join-us/