By Indrawattie Natram 

ESSEQUIBIANS are once again benefiting from mental health workshops thanks to the Guyana Foundation and the Williams James College.
Last year, the foundation partnered with the college for training and counselling persons and this year is no exception.  The foundation has partnered with the Williams James College in the fight against suicide and other mental illnesses in Guyana.

The William James College of the US is currently training persons at the Guyana Foundation, Sunrise Centre, Zorg En Vlygt Essequibo Coast.

Clinical psychologist and professor in psychology at the William James College, Natalie Cort said Guyana has a limited mental health structure which cannot respond effectively to suicide.
Cort, who was born in Guyana, said that there is a lack of trained persons in the field of psychology and mental health.

“The lack of sufficient psychologists, psychiatrists and social workers within the country has somewhat contributed to the country’s high rate of suicidality,” Cort said, noting that the problem could be eased by training locals through workshops.

“In the suicide research, specifically in countries where there isn’t mental health infrastructure, what they found is that if you identify individuals within the communities, who have some standing trust from community members and you train them to do what a professional mental health provider can do, they can offer the services,” she said.

She said with that in mind, the workshop aims at equipping key stakeholders within the various communities to fight against suicide and social ills.
Attending the training are members of the public health care system, NGOs, community leaders and key stakeholders from within the community. The three day- training also catered for persons from the Wakenaam Support Group.

The training focusses on the educational aspect against suicide as well as techniques that persons can use to tackle suicide.  At the end of the training, persons would be able to become counsellors and mental health professionals.

She said persons would be exposed to “the problem-solving treatment” which is an evidence-based approach to deal with the various challenges.

Professor Cort also explained that the main contributing factors leading to suicide in Guyana are relationship problems, relationship breakups, divorces and communication problems.