VPA bats for programmes to address root causes of violence

Dr Deanna Ashley, executive director of the Violence Prevention Alliance (VPA), is advocating for focused programmes for the education of parents, teachers and children’s primary caregivers on approaches to discipline without verbal and physical abuse.

The VPA executive director said improving the access to structured, supervised activities for children and youth that teach life skills through the activities will mitigate issues of violence.

Ashley made the recommendations while addressing the National Integrity Action (NIA) Youth Workshop on ‘Safeguarding Jamaica’s Governance, Justice and Economic Security’ at the Royalton White Sands Hotel in Falmouth, Trelawny, recently.

“We need to provide more social workers and guidance counsellors at hospitals and schools to provide support for the children and their families that are being traumatised by domestic violence and exposure to abuse and violence within their communities,” she added.

Specifically highlighting the impact of violence on children, she said positive early-life experiences are very important to proper development of the brain.

“Adverse experiences will have a negative impact on brain development. Threats, abuse, and violence lead to an excessive activation of fear and stress response, leading to impulsive behaviours, which then compromise normal brain development,” she added.

She posited that for children, building a healthy brain requires a good relationship with parents or whoever is their primary caregiver, which is the most important context for child development.

Ashley said that data on violence against children in Jamaica are startling, with 24 per cent of violence- related injuries in major Jamaican hospitals being committed against children, according to 2017 statistics from the Jamaica Injury Surveillance System.

Meanwhile, eight out of 10 children between ages two and four years old experience some form of violent discipline, according to a UNICEF Report, A Familiar Face.

Shaped by experiences

Ashley said many of these children are exposed to community violence, such as fighting, shooting and stabbing. Some, she added, are also victims of crimes that include beatings, robberies and stabbings. Disciplinary measures for children 18-22 months, she further disclosed, generally comprise shouting, slapping or shaking. For children between four and five, discipline is the same but further includes reasoning, explaining the reason for punishment, and withdrawal of privileges.

Ashley underscored the need to address the root causes and risks factors of violence, crime and corruption, which are often found within the home and family. She shared examples of prevention strategies that were being implemented in Jamaica that were in keeping with the seven INSPIRE strategies for ending violence against children worldwide.