Stabroek News
January 25, 2016
Dear Editor,
Another conference on domestic violence, another march in the fight against suicide, another building being promised for abused children, and another study to address some other social problem. Trying to fight these social ills individually is a waste of time and money.
I am asking that the time and money should be spent to improve citizens' capabilities to fight poverty and improve the citizens' knowledge and skills needed to address mental health issues and avoid most bio-psychosocial problems.
The perception of some individuals is that they are not worthy of being in classrooms so they hide and avoid same. These individuals are the at-risk citizens in our society. Improving their capabilities to avoid poverty, to understand and be able to address mental health and bio-psychosocial issues is critical. Improving their capabilities will allow them to make healthy choices avoiding the social problems that are present in our communities.
The President a few months ago established a link between poverty and mental health. The millions of dollars spent on individual biopsychosocial issues do not address the President's observation. It is my humble view that a collective approach will better address the President's observation.
The government established that it is in the business of building communities. It was touted that communities will be much more than houses and roads. The emphasis will be on making communities self-sufficient and beneficial to their members. This concept can be used as the catalyst to provide opportunities for citizens to improve their capabilities.
It is time for the Ministry of Communities to roll out their plans on making communities self-sufficient. The government is spending millions of dollars to build and repair the infrastructure in communities across the country. How much is being spent on improving the capabilities of the members of these communities, allowing them to participate in their communities' development?
The psychosocial issues existing within our society seem to have paralyzed the country. Some of these issues are a high suicide rate; domestic violence; increased child abuse and neglect reports; drug and alcohol abuse; poor returns from financial investment in education and health; gender bias; and teenage pregnancy. These social ills have negatively impacted many families and these families make up our communities.
Remove the mystery that surrounds poverty, mental health and other bio-psychosocial issues. Provide families with the knowledge, skills and the resources needed to successfully address these bio-psychosocial issues. It is time that conversations regarding poverty, mental health illnesses and the related bio-psychosocial issues be held in homes and other social settings.
To be able to improve citizens' capabilities the government should look into the following: establishing well organized community centres; enacting strong policies that will ensure that economic activities benefit the communities and not only individuals; promoting independence by withholding handouts and providing incentives; encouraging the older adults to volunteer their time and skills to improve the capabilities of persons within their communities; making better use of social workers and other community based skilled workers to provide services to address the presenting bio-psychosocial problems.
My friend, Wilton 'Speedy' Norton understands the importance of community centres. His efforts to get youths organized and make use of the community centre in Christianburg must be applauded. However, these centres can be much more. These centres must be well-managed to be beneficial to our communities.
Community centres must become our training and information dissemination centres. Citizens will know about and be able to secure the skills needed to work on projects within their communities. Large contracts provided by the government should include two clauses. The contractors must train the locals to construct and maintain structures, and no more than 40% of the workforce should come from outside of the communities where contracts are being implemented.
Community centres can be used to hold discussions on mental health and other social problems. A well-managed centre should have social workers and other mental health officials to lead these discussions. The mystery of these issues will be removed and members of the communities will have improved their capabilities to deal with mental health and bio-psychosocial issues.
Dependency failed many communities in the past. No more handouts. Government should use the handouts to put in place well-managed centres, to employ social workers and other health workers to bring sunshine to lives and remove the mystery of the social ills.
Freddie referred to a village in Berbice where darkness and hopelessness are prevalent. He noted that the village has a large number of suicides a year. Bringing sunshine to that village requires a community centre, and jobs along with knowledge and skills to combat mental health and Bio-psychosocial issues.
Many believe that alcohol is a cause of domestic violence. Educating the citizens about domestic violence will remove that mystery and allow them to reject that explanation when provided by perpetrators of domestic violence.
We need to reach out to our seniors and get them to work with the not-so-visible youths to improve their capabilities. There are youths who are at home during the day and walk at nights because they are unhappy and lack the understanding of the issues surrounding their lives. It is time that the government and NGOs encouraged the retired members of our communities to volunteer their time in community centres. These members of our communities are skillful, knowledgeable and often willing to participate in their communities' development.
The government often says there is a shortage of mental health professionals. Psychiatrists and psychologists are important but they are not in the forefront in the fight against poverty, mental issues and the related psychosocial problems. Social workers and other mental health workers are the professionals on the frontline. As a social worker I am upset that we are not being better used, protected and respected. Yes, we can make a difference because we are available in all regions of Guyana.
In many developed countries social workers are on the front line addressing poverty, mental health and other biopsychosocial issues. A Master's programme at the University of Guyana will allow for specialization and increased knowledge needed for us to do a better job.
I leave with two thoughts. Yes, you cannot force someone to improve themselves but you can provide the opportunities for them to do so when they are ready. This is a basic principle of the Harm Reduction theory. Holland, England and other European countries used this approach to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by providing services to drug abusers while having services available for those who wanted to end their drug addiction.
Also, you cannot have good youths and adults if you ignore the children in our primary schools. The youths and adults who are not visible and are not celebrated have children in our primary schools who are displaying risky behaviour. Identify these children and bring their parents to the community centres and work on improving their capabilities.
Yours faithfully,
Clyde Zuntie Clarke