Mental health initiative to be rolled out as schools reopen

A number of students stand to benefit from an initiative designed to boost their mental health and address any key challenges they may be experiencing, when Barbadian schools reopen for face-to-face teaching later this month.

Shawn Clarke, CEO of Supreme Counselling for Personal Development, the charitable organisation which will be rolling out the programme, has indicated that “The Supreme Mental Health Matters Initiative” will mainly serve students enrolled in schools which his organisation has been working with over the years, but the organisation is willing to expand it if there is a need.

For the past 11 years, Supreme Counselling has been working in a number of secondary schools with at-risk children and those who have behavioural and emotional issues, via its “Project Rescue” programme. The programme is made up of three components, which focus on self-development and awareness, mentorship, and bullying prevention. However, Clarke explained that the Mental Health Matters initiative will now be the focus for term three, given the challenges many students have been experiencing in coping with the present COVID-19 pandemic.

“What I've decided to do for the third term and for the return of face-to-face classes for the schools, I've decided to suspend the usual Supreme Self-Development and Awareness Programme for the third term, which means that we will not go into the schools and concentrate on things like anger management, conflict resolution, critical thinking and so on. I’ve always felt very early in the game that when schools physically reopen, that it cannot be school as usual. We cannot just go in and concentrate on the academics, but that focus needs to be placed on mental health, and with that same concept in mind, that is why I decided to suspend the normal Supreme Programme,” Clarke told The Barbados Advocate.

“So I wrote a proposal to the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training and that proposal was approved to do an initiative in the schools called ‘The Supreme Mental Health Matters Initiative’ and that is what we will be doing for term three in the Supreme schools,” he explained.

Noting that the initiative will not only target students previously enrolled in Supreme’s programme, but that it will be open to all students in these schools who need access, Clarke revealed that key topics to be covered include: Achieving and Maintaining Good Mental Health, Bullying and its Impact on Mental Health, Overcoming COVID-19 Fears, Managing Depression and Anxiety, Coping with Exam Stress and The Role of Mindfulness in Creating Good Mental Health.

Supreme Counselling’s CEO also revealed that there will be a segment of the programme targeting teaching and non-teaching staff at the schools as well.

“Obviously, COVID-19 will not only affect students and their mental health, but it can also affect both the teaching and non-teaching staff. Because of that, we are also extending our programme to include the staff. We are willing to do sessions with them which focus for example on, Adult Psychological First Aid, Managing Depression and Anxiety and Stress and Stress Management,” Clarke stated.

He meanwhile said of the new initiative to come on stream, “We believe it fits in perfectly well with what the Minister of Education [Santia Bradshaw] would have spoken about in terms of having a Mental Health Committee overseeing mental health issues within the schools and we believe that this is the way that we should go at this particular time.”