School Mental Health Literacy Programme to resume this month

The Ministry of Health and Wellness says its School Mental Health Literacy Programme will resume this month as part of efforts to build awareness and provide support to students and wider communities.

The programme, with guidance counsellors as the main facilitators, will offer students the chance to enhance their awareness about mental health conditions and coping strategies, to reduce stigma and improve mental health-seeking behaviours.

At the community level, the Ministry says it will continue to deploy Problem Management Plus providers to offer support services for persons experiencing mild emotional distress or who are faced with adverse challenges, including relationship issues and workplace issues.

It notes that there are currently some 45 active providers in the field.

These initiatives are complemented by public mental health clinics, of which there are more than 150 that cater to adults and more than 20 to children and adolescents islandwide.

Minister of Health and Wellness, Dr Christopher Tufton, is urging Jamaicans to check in with their family and friends about their mental wellness while accessing the available mental health services in and outside of the public health system.

“My call is for every single Jamaican to stop, to think, to look around their environment in order to see what is happening with their loved ones, with their friends, to offer support where they can; and where they can’t, to seek support from the public health system, through faith-based groups, through other safe spaces and safe persons. It is going to take each of us to address the mental health challenge,” he said.

The Minister’s encouragement comes in the wake of reports of suicides.

The health ministry points out that its Suicide Prevention Helpline (888-639-5433) saw an increase in the number of calls last month.

There were 633 calls to the line, it says.

Tufton’s comments also come on the heels of his participation at the fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of NCDs and the Promotion of Mental Health and Well-being.

Tufton’s comments also come on the heels of his participation at the fourth High-level Meeting of the United Nations General Assembly on the Prevention and Control of NCDs and the Promotion of Mental Health and Well-being.

The Ministry of Health and Wellness says it continues to progress work to enhance Jamaica’s mental health service.

Those efforts include the ongoing sensitisation of the health team to enable early diagnosis and treatment of mental health issues.

Just over a month ago, a group of some 47 non-psychiatric healthcare workers were provided training under the WHO Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP), which exposes team members to the various manifestations of mental disorders, including depression.

Another group of workers is to be trained in the coming month to two months.

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