Smith hails counselling centre as ‘life-changing’ intervention

MARSHA SMITH, minister of state in the Ministry of Education and Youth, has hailed the opening of a counselling centre at the Foundation of International Self Help (F.I.S.H.) medical clinic as a life-changing intervention for youth and the communities within the St Andrew Eastern constituency, which is represented by Education Minister Fayval Williams.

The Lara Otunla counselling centre was officially opened yesterday and is aimed at helping children and adolescents to deal with psychosocial challenges.

So far, three primary schools – August Town Primary, Mona Heights Primary and Hope Valley Experimental; and three high schools – Papine High, Mona High and Jamaica College, have been targeted to assist them in addressing such issues.

The centre’s clients are asked to pay a minimal fee of $1,000. However, no one will be turned away for lack of ability to pay.

Smith, in her keynote address, commended the organisation’s timely intervention and stressed the importance of private sector partnerships.

“We know that the financing of mental health is not something that the government has the ability to bear on its own, and so private partnerships for mental health is of a great importance,” she said.

“Today we are seeing an expression of collaboration, we’re seeing what partnership can do, we are seeing what private advocacy can do to address a social need,” she added.

Smith further indicated that the poor mental health of youth would ultimately lead to adverse educational outcomes, and if not addressed it would affect youths’ employability.

Bette Grant-Otunla, member of the F.I.S.H. board of management, stated that the objective of the overall clinic, which was established by her father Louis Grant in 1985, was to provide quality healthcare for marginalised groups in society.

She explained that the counselling centre was named after her daughter, who suffered from anxiety and depression for several years.

Grant-Otunla continued that although Lara was being treated at the time, she took her life in December 2020.

“We know that our children are suffering greatly, and this is seen by the many incidents of antisocial behaviour, including violence, murders and suicides, abounding in our society, especially since COVID,” she said.

Destructive path

She continued that the journey which some youths were on is “totally unacceptable”, and that society could not stand idly by while the future of the nation continued down such a destructive path.

“If we cannot ensure that they develop into healthy adults, both physically and mentally, we risk losing the next generation to underperformance, unemployment, crime and violence,” she said.

As such, F.I.S.H. has appealed to tertiary institutions such as The University of the West Indies, Northern Caribbean University, the Caribbean Graduate School of Theology, and the International University of the Caribbean for their interest in considering for graduate students of psychology to conduct their practicum under the supervision of volunteer supervisors.

The board is also hopeful for members of the Jamaican psychological society to assist in volunteering its services.

“As this is a community-based project, we must also reach out to the parents to try to inculcate better parenting practices and to destigmatise mental illness, which is an illness like diabetes or hypertension and can more often than not be managed so that persons can lead healthy and productive lives,” Grant-Otunla said.

“We will work together with government agencies and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) as we are convinced that only by improving the mental health of our children, and building a culture of care, respect and love, can we expect to have compassionate, resilient children, healthy in mind and body, which would then result in a country with a much-reduced rate of crime and violence,” Grant-Otunla theorised.

“The change that we aspire to achieve cannot come from building bigger prisons, increasing custodial sentences or bringing back the death penalty,” she added, noting that the root cause of these actions must first be addressed.

Grant-Otunla said that while F.I.S.H. is aware that there is no “quick fix”, they maintained the stance that all children should have the opportunity to receive quality mental health care, regardless of their socio-economic situation.

“Today is a day of faith where we’ve laid (planted) a seed, and from that seed we expect to come more rounded, adjusted young persons and the benefits to our society will be a safer, more sociable Jamaica where people respect each other and where persons do not feel stigmatised when asking for help,” state minister Smith said.

asha.wilks@gleanerjm.com