Canada Offers Mental Health Support

As part of the launch the Ministry of Health Services “Mental Health Week” on 7 March, a five-person team from the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health (CAMH) in Toronto, Canada, will visit the island to provide specialized training to aid and support emergency personnel.

Our frontline emergency workers confronted many challenges as they rescued and comforted distraught residents following Hurricane Ivan. Soon, local fire and police officers, hospital workers and 911 telecommunicators will learn how to cope with the emotional impact of Hurricane Ivan and how to better prepare emotionally for future disasters.

During the week of 1 March, the ministry will conduct special condensed sessions on disaster response training, guided by locally based clinical psychologist, Dr. Karen Dunbar. These sessions will be offered to emergency services staff and other first responders including prison officers, health and mental health workers, teachers, counsellors, heads of government departments and church representatives.

In preparing for the CAMH’s visit, the ministry consulted with interested departments to help tailor training programmes to the needs of each group, with a focus on demonstrating strategies and techniques for addressing trauma-related symptoms and situations. Groups such as the local community mental health and public health workers plan to attend training on responding to crises, crisis intervention, treatment of post- traumatic stress disorder, and self-care for workers.

Members of the CAMH team are: Mr. Akwatu Khenti, director of the CAMH mental health programmes and a specialist in substance abuse; Dr. Branca Edget, trauma specialist, children and families specialist, and developer of parent and teacher response programmes; Dr. Graham Vadhi, leader for critical incident stress debriefing and a crisis intervention specialist; Mr. Michael Taylor, provider of spiritual counselling; Dr. Barbara Dorian, trauma psychiatrist and head of Women’s programme at CAMH.

With the assistance of the Ministry of Education and local schools, CAMH members also plan to consult with teachers and provide peer support training to students in the schools.