Latest update February 10th, 2025 5:23 AM
Local professionals equipped to treat adolescents with substance use disorders
After a four-day intense training programme, 30 professionals are now better equipped to give tactical support to adolescents struggling with substance use disorder. The training programme was sponsored by the CARICOM Secretariat which collaborated with the National Anti-Narcotics Agency (NANA) and the Mental Health Unit of the Ministry of Public Health. This represented a deliberate move to upgrade the knowledge and skills of the participants to deal with substance misuse.
Mental Health Director, Dr. Util Richmond-Thomas
“Persons who have not been exposed will also receive the knowledge and requisite skills to address the challenges when working with adolescents,” said Ms. Beverly Reynolds, CARICOM’s Coordinator of Health and Social Development.
Given new insights in managing adolescents with substance abuse struggles, Reynolds said the training initiative is directed to re-equip persons with the new strategies within the realm of adolescent treatment.
The recent four-day training targeted health care providers, social workers/probations officers and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) with youth treatment facilities; Faith Based Organisations (FBOs) and Law Enforcement professionals.
These, according to a document circulated at the Mental Health Unit, Quamina Street in Georgetown, will benefit from enhanced competencies, improved skills, and sharpened knowledge “to provide ethical (and) evidence-based services, treatment and interventions to the appropriate target populations,” Reynolds said.
She explained that CARICOM recognizes the need for training to be done in various organizations and regions, to enhance and increase the abilities of professionals to assist the young population.
Director of the Mental Health Unit, Dr. Util Richmond-Thomas, explained that the heavy use of alcohol and narcotic and psychotropic substances is an emerging problem among Guyanese children and adolescents.
According to recent reports from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the use of psychoactive substances such as marijuana, inhalants, and cocaine, remained relatively low among young people in the Americas between the periods of 2007-2016. Reports show too that 50 percent of students in Guyana between the ages of 13-15 were identified as alcohol users.
Dr. Richmond-Thomas further explained that the materials that were used for the training were developed by the Organisation of American States/Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission (OAS/CICAD) and are instrumental in providing practitioners with the tools needed to effectively develop and deliver drug treatment programmes tailored to the adolescent population.
Facilitators Mrs. Deborah Dalrymple and Ms. Esther Best trained by the Inter-American Commission for Drug Control delivered the adolescent treatment training curriculum through six models.
The modules focused on adolescent development, screening and assessing adolescents, trauma and trauma informed care, adolescent in conflict with the law, adolescent drug treatment and family intervention.
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