PROFESSIONALS from the United Kingdom (UK) will commence training of 32 Guyanese in Regions Two and Three in Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help curb mental health issues that affect persons in those regions.

This training is being made possible by the Guyana Foundation and its founder, Supriya Singh. Singh related that through work done with the Guyana Foundation, it was noticed that there is a “dire situation” around mental health in the country, and more specifically in Regions Two and Three.

“What we thought was that if the foundation is to really make a difference in the region, then we could position people in each village, no matter how remote it is, with this type of professional knowledge to arrest the situation,” Singh said.

Five professionals accredited by the lead organisation for CBT in the UK and Ireland: the British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) will commence the training on November 1 at the West Demerara Hospital before moving to Essequibo.

The workshop in Essequibo will target persons from Moruca, Wakapou, Wakenaam, Leguan, and other areas, the founder noted.

The therapists will engage in a four-day workshop which is an intensive course to become CBT therapists. Afterwards, the BABCP will accredit these persons and they will have access to the professionals in the UK, should they encounter a case they cannot handle or should they need to use research materials to understand a situation they cannot cope with in Guyana.

“The professional linkage will be there with this group,” Singh highlighted.

Through the foundation’s, ‘Sunrise centres’, persons can get free counselling, six days a week and benefit from other programmes. Though the foundation has been raising awareness about mental health, Singh said it needs more professional psychologists and psychiatrists to provide assistance.

With this in mind, she reached out to Dr. Krish Nauth, the lead trainer with the UK group here and who is of Guyanese heritage, to remedy the situation. Dr. Nauth gathered other key mental health practitioners in the UK and brought them to Guyana under the umbrella of the Guyana Foundation.

While the team will only be training persons in the two regions, the team also engaged persons in Georgetown about anxiety management and depression at a session held at the New Thriving Chinese Restaurant. They also did television and radio programmes.

Singh noted that before the team departs, she would like to organise a session with some members of the Police Force to mentor officers and edify them on basic issues like mental health, depression and anxiety.

“It’s something we need to pay serious attention to and blanket the country with treatment, as far as we can,” she said.