THE Mental Health Unit of the Ministry of Public Health has rolled out a very comprehensive plan for the next two years
Senior Psychologist, Mr. Balogun O. Osunbiyi, during an interview with this newspaper, referred to the heavy emphasis on training in 2019.

The unit, through its training facility, is hoping to train every non-specialist functionary and mental health worker in the Mental Health Gap mental programme; this is with a view to fulfil the mandate of the ministry’s Community- based Mental Health and Delivery Programme.

The unit hopes that those who experience training will function more effectively in their respective communities.

This effort, Mr. Osunbiyi noted, will serve to reduce the cost and time of travel for persons who are seeking care and attention for mental health issues.
The unit will also focus on several programmes in several regions of the country, inclusive of Regions Five, Six, Three, Two and 10. Suicide-prevention programmes will also be on the agenda in other regions.

Mr. Osunbiyi made the point that the objectives of the unit included ensuring that, by 2020, all non-specialist personnel would have participated in training and capacity-building to make them more capable of delivering primary health services.
Osunbiyi further noted that the efforts of the unit, since 2016, have contributed to a significant drop in the incidence of suicide in Guyana.

Mr. Osunbiyi believes that the reason for the drop in the rate of suicide across the country hinges on a number of factors which included: – the training of 220 non-specialist personnel, the procurement of the services of both a psychologist and psychiatrist at the Linden Hospital in Region10, and a mental health social worker and a psychiatrist at the New Amsterdam Hospital.