Two brand new Mobile Psychosocial Units, which will soon provide a variety of services including guidance and counselling to students across the coastland, were commissioned yesterday by Minister of Education Nicolette Henry.
The commissioning ceremony was held at the Ministry of Education (MoE) at Lot 26 Brickdam, Georgetown. The two units, which cost $21 million, are a collaborative effort by the MoE and the ministries of Social Protection and Public Health. The first unit was commissioned in November last year.
Guidance and Counselling Officer Wendy Collins said that the units were set up with the interest and welfare of the students in mind.
She said that the aim is to identify and assist children with school-related problems and help to foster the relationship between parents and the school which their children attend. Further, she said, the units will help raise awareness and provide psychosocial services to individuals, families and communities. Sufficient sensitisation will be done to ensure that persons can access the service.
Collins added that she hopes that the service will aid children in their overall performances.
Meantime, in her brief remarks, Henry recalled that the ministry was able to implement the psychosocial services programme last year but was only able to afford one unit. The unit has been deployed to various schools, addressing psychosocial, welfare or counselling issues of students.
“This initiative is important because on a day-to-day basis we recognise that many of our students need support and sometimes the home is not well prepared to provide that support, so we have to provide it at the education level,” the minister said. She added that for the initiative to be successful, the necessary equipment, material and personnel are needed.
It was revealed that the ministry is still in the process of acquiring “adequate staffing” for the two units. “It takes the effort of a lot of people to ensure that the work that is required will be done,” Henry noted before adding that the ministry is ensuring that they provide a quality service to the students so that their needs are addressed. Henry further stated that the initiative was established so that health services can be accessed by students who need it the most. She said that the staff of the first unit usually selects a school to visit and addresses the needs or issues of the students.
The two additional units will see the expansion of psychosocial services to more regions. According to the minister, after recognising that one unit was not enough, they decided to add the two units, which will provide similar services beyond Region Four. However, all three units are based in Georgetown. “This needs to be expanded much more.
I believe students can benefit from psychosocial support and half of those incidents that occur in schools could’ve been avoided in the first instance and so we are beginning to recognise the students that may need this type of attention before they can act out,” Henry said.
