US Embassy to host mental health training for 40 Lindeners
Civil Affairs arm of the United States Embassy’s team leader, Aaron Staton – Delano Williams photo
Civil Affairs arm of the United States Embassy’s team leader, Aaron Staton – Delano Williams photo

COGNISANT of the raising level of suicides worldwide as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Civil Affairs arm of the United States Embassy will be hosting a one-day mental health training programme today at Kara Kara, Linden.

This is according to the team’s leader, Aaron Staton, who told the Guyana Chronicle on Friday, that about 40 residents are expected to benefit from the programme.
He explained that it will focus on resiliency training, which is designed to reduce suicide rates.

Staton stated that the training will equip the participants with the necessary tools to analyse triggering events and create healthy coping and resolution situations.

According to him, peer teaching is one of the goals of the programme as the idea is for participants to become equipped with the necessary tools to teach other persons in their communities how to use resiliency training to combat suicide.

Staton told this publication that so far, the embassy’s Civil Affairs arm has provided similar training to over 200 persons living in Bartica, Region Seven and Port Kaituma, Region One.
He noted that the embassy saw the need for such a programme after noticing a severe lack in mental health training within several communities across the country, largely in the hinterland.

“One of the points in our training is to realise what triggering events are and to realise that you’re going to think differently after triggering events. So currently in their world there are a lot of triggering events [like] getting COVID-19 or losing a loved one to COVID-19 [or] losing your job. Breaking up all of these are triggering events. These trainings are especially important now because we have seen in the world as a whole and in Guyana that suicides have increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” he added.

FREQUENT TRAINING
Staton stated that while the initiative has been able to impact over 200 persons, the team intends to increase the frequency of the sessions as part of its efforts to impact more people.
He noted that one of the major issues faced while facilitating the training is social distancing, which minimises the number of persons that could be trained at a time.

“In all honestly the training is more effective in smaller groups because then there’s more interaction with the instructor, so maybe it’s a good thing that we can’t teach groups of 70-80 people and stick to 40 because it means that more people can come up and talk to the instructor afterward.”

He disclosed that the team intends to host similar training programmes during the first quarter of 2022 in Skeldon, Region Six and Wakenaam, Region Three, after recognising a high number of deaths by suicide in both communities.

Meanwhile, as the team continues its quest to take the training across the country, Staton told this publication that plans are underway to collaborate with the Ministry of Education (MoE) to include teachers in the training sessions.

He noted that equipping teachers with this type of knowledge would greatly benefit the school system as it would equip them with the necessary tools to address issues facing learners.

“We’ve already met with the MoE to talk about the initiative. They took the slide shows that we teach and they’re reviewing it then they’re going to get back to us and we’re going to train the trainers who will go teach other teachers themselves,” he added.

SHARE THIS ARTICLE :
Facebook
Twitter
WhatsApp

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

All our printed editions are available online
emblem3
Subscribe to the Guyana Chronicle.
Sign up to receive news and updates.
We respect your privacy.