Adolescent Health and Wellness advocate, Cilandell Glen, is a ‘Special Person’

Oct 24, 2021 News, Special Person

Coordinating efforts to help young people lead meaningful lives into adulthood…

By Rehanna Ramsay

Kaieteur News – Adolescent health and wellness is an indispensable area of focus within the health sector. This region of healthcare places emphasis on the distinct set of health and wellness issues that adolescents face with a view of helping them navigate these challenges to ultimately lead healthy lives as adults.

Adolescent Health Coordinator, Cilandell Glen.

It is no secret that young people between the age of 10 to 19 years old experience rapid physical, cognitive, and psychosocial growth that affects how they feel, think, make decisions, and interact with the world around them.
During this phase, adolescents need to establish patterns of behaviour – for instance, related to diet, physical activity, substance use, and sexual activity – that can protect their health or put their health at risk now and in the future.
To grow and develop in good health, adolescents need information, including age-appropriate comprehensive sexuality education, opportunities to develop life skills, health services that are acceptable, equitable, appropriate, safe, and effective. And this is where healthcare professionals like this week’s ‘Special Person’ come in.

University of Northampton postgraduates Cilandell Glen of Guyana and Nothando Mtungwa of Zimbabwe, Vice Chancellor, Professor Nick Petford, during their Chevening Scholarship programme.

Cilandell Glen is the Coordinator of the Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health at the Ministry of Health’s Adolescent Health Unit. She told Kaieteur News that the platform allows her to travel across the country interacting with young people, offering them the tools they need to overcome the challenges they face.
Ms. Glen, a member of the Rotary Club of Georgetown Central and a graduate of the United Kingdom’s University of Northampton is quite passionate about her field of work. Over the years, she has worked with various government and international agencies including the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) – Guyana, Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and Peace Corp – Guyana to implement programmes to address various social and health needs of adolescents and young adult’s countrywide.
Outside of her portfolio, this week’s ‘Special Person’ is also the founder of the Desert Flower Guyana, a grass-root Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that seeks to improve the mental health and wellbeing of children and adolescents, create awareness and reduce the stigma of mental health and mental health-related illnesses in youth.

Ms. Glen facilitates an art therapy session for youth in Linden.

Glen said that the organisation is a realisation of a dream that she had “for quite some time now.”
The ambitious 33-year-old, who started her education attending the La Venture Nursery School in Bagotville, West Bank Demerara, and concluded her secondary education at the Academy of Precious Ones (a private school), attended the University of Guyana and is a 2018 awardee of the prestigious UK-based Chevening scholarship.

At left: Ms. Glen poses with some members of her Rotaract Family

Glen said that her work to develop Desert Flower Guyana began after she completed her studies at the University of Guyana and her Master’s Degree in Child and Adolescent Mental Health at the University of Northampton in the United Kingdom. The organisation was officially launched in August of 2020.
She is hoping that her work with Desert Flower Guyana will help children, young people, and families struggling with issues associated with mental health. Besides her training and experience in this regard, Glen who describes herself “as a student of life,” also holds a Diploma in Public Management, a Diploma in Social Work and a Degree in Social Work. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Social Work at the University of Guyana.
Glen says that her studies are towards being able to effectively provide a plethora of services and opportunities for improved psychosocial development of young people in Guyana.
She told Kaieteur News, “My passion for creating change, I know that I might not be able to change the world, but knowing that I can impact one individual brings me great joy. I believe that by impacting one individual, we can have a ripple effect that will, in turn, create the change we all want to see. One of my greatest desires is to leave the world a better place than I found it…”

WORKING WITH YOUNG PEOPLE
In her current post at the Ministry of Health, Ms. Glen leads a team of professionals as they develop strategies on how to adequately address some of the core challenges faced by adolescents.
The opportunity has afforded her a place to work with local and international stakeholders on the implementation of adolescent-friendly services, school health programmes throughout the country, in addition to working on the development of the sexual and reproductive health policy for Guyana, working on the situation analysis of adolescent health in Guyana as well as the situation analysis of adolescent pregnancy in Guyana.

Seated at centre: Ms. Glen during the launch of the Adolescent Health Unit’s Agro- Initiative for International Youth Day.

She noted that, “one of the highlights of my career is having the opportunity to lead an amazing core of staff, health care workers, and peer educators attached to the Adolescent Health Unit – Ministry of Health.”
Through her work at the Ministry of Public Health, Glen has facilitated various sessions on sexual and reproductive health, family planning, and teenage pregnancy reduction, as well as mental health, substance misuse at the local health facilities, schools and community groups.
She utilises her skills as a social worker to provide counselling and support on family planning, mental health issues, substance misuse to adolescents and young adults at the local health facilities and schools.

Ms. Glen during a mental health awareness session for Desert Flower at her Church.

Glen explained, “Together the team and I were able to implement programmes to address the health and socials needs of adolescents and impact the lives of our adolescents and young adults countrywide.
She continued, “What I love most about my work is the opportunity that I’m given to impact the lives of adolescents and young adults countrywide. It was always my desire to contribute to the development of adolescents, young adults, my community, and country, I must say that I’m elated and honoured to be given the opportunity to work in a field where I can not only impact the lives of individuals but make a significant contribution to my country…”
In this regard, she said that her core advice to any young individual would be to “find your purpose; find what you love, and just do it”.

SERVICE AND AWARDS
Added to her career in adolescent healthcare, this young woman is also passionate about community development. She believes in the mantra, “Service is the rent we pay for the privilege of living on this earth.” She noted that these are words to live by.
As an advocate, a trained peer educator with Adolescent Health Guyana, Glen has served other entities including Artistes in Direct Support. Further in the area of service, she is a past President, and Secretary, and Community Service Director of the Rotaract Club of Georgetown and is a current Rotarian of Rotary Club of Demerara.
She explained that “to contribute to the development of my community, my country, and the world, I volunteer with the Rotaract Club of Georgetown, Rotary Club of Georgetown Central, and For the Children Sake Foundation.”
During her years as a volunteer, she received Rotaract of the Year and Director of the Year Awards for two consecutive years, as well as For the Children Sake Foundation Award of Excellence and Humanitarian Award.
Glen currently serves as the Secretary of the Chevening Alumni of Guyana. In Addition to this, she is currently a member of Anointed Ambassadors the youth arm of Fountain of Live Ministries, a member of Fountain of Life Ministries Dance Group, and a member of Royalty Dance Ministries.
She shared, “My greatest achievement and decision thus far is my baptism. My acceptance of Jesus Christ has made my life on this earth an exceptional journey.”

DESERT FLOWER
Outside of this, she says that being able to create and start her non-profit has been another of her biggest blessings. The non-profit is an ode to the Founder/Director’s personal experience of watching a close family member struggle with anxiety.

An adventurer: Ms. Glen climbs a waterfall in Lethem, Region Nine.

“After experiencing firsthand what this individual had to endure, it sparked a desire within me to become empowered with the knowledge, tools, and skills needed to create the change in the area of mental health in Guyana, more specifically the area of children and adolescent mental health,” she explained.
She continued, “The Desert Flower stands so radiantly regardless of its environment and surroundings… The organisation pays tribute to that because regardless of the chaos happening around a person’s life that person can still have some measure of stability and stand tall…”
For the year, since it started operating and in spite of the restriction caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the beaming Director is happy to report that Desert Flower – Guyana has completed mental health promotion activities on the social media platforms, art therapy sessions in Regions 4 and 10 in collaboration with PAHO/Ministry of Health Adolescent Health Unit, and hosted a series of webinars.

Ms Glen gets ready to take a plunge at sky diving.

She said that Mental Health and You – Yoga, Music and Meditate in observance of World Suicide Prevention Day and World Mental Health Prevention Day 2021, which were celebrated on September 10 and October 10, respectively were successful. The organisation will be collaborating with the entities to host a Mental Health and You exercise and Zumba edition on November 4, 2021 and would be supporting the Rotaract Club of Georgetown Central Rage Park event scheduled for October 31, 2021.
In terms of her personal life, Glen likes to strike a healthy balance between work and play. She said, “I believe because I enjoy doing what I do, most importantly that is my passion and my purpose, so I’m able to coordinate, work well and balance my time.”
Nonetheless, the Adolescent Health Coordinator noted that there are times when she feels overloaded or overwhelmed. “I indulge in loads of self-care. I would take myself to the movies, or a fancy dinner or lunch date, spend time on the seawalls and my all-time favourite is travel. I’m very adventurous and love doing new things and seeing new places; I love spending time with myself and I do it as often as possible. These are the things that keep me grounded,” she said.