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Guyana in dire need of more mental health personnel – NGO
As Guyana continues to record alarming numbers of suicides, a non governmental organisation has opined that the country needs more persons trained in mental health if positive strides are to be made.
The viewpoint was shared by Bibi Ahamad, Managing Director of New York based NGO Caribbean Voice Inc.
In an interview with this publication, Ahamad noted that Guyana currently has an inadequate number of professionals trained to deal with persons suffering from depression and who might be considering suicide.
“We just don’t have enough qualified persons in the mental health field; that’s something severely lacking in Guyana,” she said. Ahamad also stated that even when the qualified persons are available, the cost of seeing them is out of the reach of many. “That alone can send a person into deeper depression,” Ahamad said.
She said too that these trained professionals are often based in Georgetown.
According to her, the Government of Guyana needed to work harder to facilitate the training of persons in the mental health field. She emphasised that while the entire process would take some time, it would be beneficial.
“I’m hoping that the new government will send persons overseas to train in the area of mental health,” she said. She explained that, as a schoolgirl, she would have had a guidance counsellor present in her school. She opined that this feature was one which should be reintroduced into many schools.
“That would go a far way; as a young person, you wouldn’t want to tell your parents certain issues or your class teacher but you could have always gone to the guidance counsellor.” She also said that guidance counsellors would be trained to pick up the warning signs of depression simply through body language, even without having conversations with the youths.
“It’s something we’re strongly advocating for; we’ve met with the previous Minister of Education [Priya Manickchand] and we had put forward a 10 point proposal to her. We are hoping to meet with the new Minister of Education to discuss some of these issues.”
Meanwhile, Ahamad indicated that persons having thoughts of suicide could access Caribbean Voice’s website for free. She explained that the site hosts trained counsellors who not only listen and offer advice but also follow up individual cases.
However, she noted that though the online services are free, it could prove difficult for persons who have no access to the internet.
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