PAHO-WHO Bahamas & Turks and Caicos Country Office, hosted a train the trainers session on Mental Health and the High School Literacy Program, December 11-13, 2017. The session highlighted the need to build teachers' skills on mental disorders and the early identification of mental health issues that may affect the students' ability to learn and cope with school.
This intervention has four components: understand how to obtain and maintain good mental health, identification of mental disorders and their treatment, decrease stigma, and enhance help-seeking efficacy. Mental Health Literacy is very important for all community stakeholders, particularly the school environment, where educators can acquire the ability to identify situations that require attention and, if needed, link students to services and obtain resources that can help them understand mental health.
Participants included school counselors, teachers, mental health providers, psychologists, psychiatrists, primary health care nurses, medical practitioners, family life teachers, and senior health and education authorities from the Bahamas as well as a clinical psychologist from the Turks and Caicos Islands. Sessions were facilitated by Drs. Stan Kutcher and Yifeng Wei from the Dalhousie University, in collaboration with Claudina Cayetano and Keva Thompson, PAHO Consultant at the PAHO Office in the Bahamas.
Presenters discussed useful approaches to manage mental health in schools and participants were encouraged not to diagnose students but rather to be a bridge that connects students to resources that will improve their mental health.
