The Guyana Foundation to tackle mental health issues

Oct 15, 2017 News

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The Guyana Foundation has been actively in involved in activities geared towards tackling mental health issues throughout the nation.
Most recently, the Foundation hosted a sports tour at the New Thriving Chinese Restaurant,

Providence, to raise awareness about mental health issues in Guyana.
According to Managing Director of the organization, Susan Isaacs, the Guyana Foundation has spearheaded a number of initiatives to tackle the issue. She noted that the work of the Foundation in the area of mental health has been recognized locally, and internationally, and has been featured by prominent news agencies in the US and the UK, such as The Economist and The Guardian.
To date, the Foundation has facilitated studies by researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands, and York University in Canada, conducted mental health sensitization campaigns in the local media, in schools, and on social media, funded mental health photography exhibitions, conducted various outreaches to vulnerable groups, and facilitated the training of volunteers and key stakeholders to conduct grassroots suicide prevention projects.
A national suicide prevention programme, was also crafted by highly-qualified mental health professionals, and informed by studies commissioned by the Foundation in collaboration with researchers from Maastricht University and York University.
This programme seeks to reduce the suicide rate in the country, which is currently ranked by the World Health Organization as one of the highest in the world.
It will enhance the availability of local psycho-social and crisis intervention services countrywide, and tackle suicides in Guyana.
It will also include recommendations to repeal the antiquated mental health ordinance which dates back to 1930, and the development of urgently-needed, modern mental health legislation.
Additionally, Sunrise Centres, established under the Guyana Foundation are places of hope and innovation for vulnerable individuals.
The first of these Centres was launched in 2016 in order to proactively reach-out and provide multiple forms of support services, training programmes, and interventions, to individuals at multiple points along the process towards tackling suicide.
These centres operate at the grassroots level, and are managed primarily by members of the communities in which they are located, with close oversight from the Guyana Foundation head office. They provide a variety of innovative programmes to the general public, free of charge, in the areas of holistic wellness, enhanced economic opportunity, and guided access to social services and justice.
These areas have been chosen because they are integrally related to the sense of hopelessness and futility that often underpins suicide attempts in Guyana.
For instance, poor mental health, particularly depression, is widely considered to be tied to the majority of deaths by suicide in Guyana, while poverty, lack of employment opportunities, and the inability to access social services and justice are important risk factors.
Through the programmes conducted, these centres have become a safe space for all individuals, regardless of ethnicity, religion, political affiliation and social class – and where those in need can build resiliency, and develop community and the sense of interconnectedness, that is crucial for navigating one’s way through life challenges.
The Guyana Foundation recognized that the successes of the Sunrise Centres are based on the involvement of grassroots stakeholders and community leaders.
As such, local collaborations were built in areas where the centres are set up. A special effort to collaborate with Regional Administrators, Regional Education and Health Officers, hospitals and health centres and religious, community and business leaders from the areas where the Centers are developed was made.
To promote holistic wellness, several programmes were created inclusive of individual and group counseling services provided by a qualified psychologist, psychiatric nurse, or trained social worker, a weekly physical health programme that focuses on fitness for individuals of all age groups, and all fitness levels.
Additionally, a weekly nutrition and alcoholics programme rolled out along with monthly medical outreaches in collaboration with local healthcare professionals, with free medical checkups provided to members of the community and monthly home-visitation programme to vulnerable home-bound individuals such as the elderly, individuals with physical disability, among others.
Through the conduction of these programmes, these centers have grown to become a safe space for all individuals, regardless of ethnicity, religion, political affiliation and social class – and where those in need can build resiliency, and develop community and the sense of interconnectivity, that is so crucial for navigating one’s way through life’s challenges.
The doors of the Guyana Foundation are open to individuals, groups, foundations, businesses and international organizations that wish to assist in endeavors to contribute to the achievement of an economically vibrant, socially just, peaceful multicultural Guyana.
The operations are overseen by a Board of Trustees headed by Supriya Singh-Bodden, who was recently honoured with one of Guyana’s highest national awards – the Cacique’s Crown of Honor – for her leadership and charitable work in Guyana.

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