Specialist urges rebuilding of minds after Melissa

Rebuilding schools after Hurricane Melissa must go beyond repairing roofs, replacing books and restoring classrooms, with greater attention being paid to the emotional and psychological toll of the disaster on students, parents and teachers.

That was the central message emerging from a recent Mental Health Empowerment and Resilience Forum at Aberdeen High School in St Elizabeth, where stakeholders stressed the need to make mental health support a more integral part of Jamaica’s disaster-recovery efforts. St Elizabeth was among the parishes hardest hit by the storm.

The forum was themed ‘From Recovery to Resilience: Strengthening Our School Community’ and brought together students, parents, educators, mental health professionals, government representatives, development partners and corporate stakeholders.

It was organised by the Mindfulness Jamaica Initiative in association with the Chevening Jamaica Alumni Network, with support from the British High Commission and Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited.

Repeatedly, the forum stressed the impact on families dealing not only with damaged homes and disrupted livelihoods, but also financial uncertainty, grief and emotional distress.

The message was reinforced by UNICEF health specialist Novia Condell, who highlighted the growing demand among young Jamaicans for mental health and emotional support.

‘’Recovery is about restoring a sense of safety and hope. It is about creating spaces where children and adults can speak honestly, ask for help and receive support without shame or judgement,” said Condell, a guest speaker at the forum, to nods of approval from those in attendance.

“This intervention is therefore both timely and necessary. It offers an opportunity to support emotional recovery, rebuild confidence and strengthen the relationships that hold this school community together,” she said. “As we move from recovery to resilience, let us commit to building a school community in which no one suffers in silence; where care is offered before a situation becomes a crisis; where adults listen to young people with respect; and where every student knows that their feelings matter, their dreams matter, their future matters and they matter.

“Hurricane Melissa may have changed many things, but it has not taken away the courage, compassion or potential of this community,” said Condell, lauding parents, teacher, and children of storm-ravaged communities for coping over the last year.

Najuequa Barnes, founder of the Mindfulness Jamaica Initiative, said the Aberdeen intervention forms part of a wider effort to create spaces where young people can speak openly about the pressures they face and develop practical coping skills.

The initiative, which began in 2023, has staged adolescent mental health conferences, workshops and school-based interventions. She argued that the less visible psychological effects of disasters can easily be overlooked in light of physical damage.

The Aberdeen forum also highlighted the need for mental health support to reach rural communities, many of which are without proper mental health care. She argued that a child’s location should not determine access to mental health education, counselling or psychological support – as is often the case in rural areas.

These areas are particularly vulnerable whenever there is a disaster, whether it be from hurricanes or a pandemic such as COVID-19.

“It speaks to the wider realities that we have to contend with. When and if we have other displacements and disruptions ... there will be destruction if we don’t think about a national plan that includes rebuilding the people, that is about looking at the different challenges that people go through, and the emotional and psychological impact,” she argued.

“You are going to see the physical building, which you can put a dollar value on, but then mental health challenges, sometimes they are the subtle, silent, challenges that don’t have any noise. But, people are struggling out there. So we really need a national plan on how we address these issues,” she said.

corey.robinson@gleanerjm.com