Guyana Association of Professional Social Workers’ Social Worker of the Year 2024 awardee Samantha Craig, 46, established programmes for at-risk youth, at one time using her own funds and working overtime without pay, to get positive results never expecting an award, more so the Diamond Award which recognised her outstanding leadership and the positive impact she made in social work.
“It was unexpected. I saw no award forthcoming for what I love doing. I’m very honoured and emotional. It took me at least two days to process the fact that unknown to me I was nominated and selected for the award,” Craig, who is the Assistant Chief Probation and Social Services Officer (acting) and head of the Family Enhancement Services Section in the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security told Stabroek Weekend during an interview.
“… We can look forward to the Family Enhancement Services Section, with USAID’s support, bringing on board a clinical psychologist and two other family counsellors in January 2025,” she said.
Moving away from being centralised in Georgetown, the section is reaching out to other regions and an office is to be set up in Region Six in 2025. The section also opened its first youth friendly space at the multipurpose centre in Wismar, Linden three weeks ago.
“We’ll see a lot more youth friendly spaces. One of my dreams in the whole big scheme of things was to ensure that we set up youth friendly spaces. This speaks to young people being able to have a safe space where they can meet a family counsellor, or a youth officer in different regions,” she said.
Space will be outfitted with smart televisions for those whose family cannot afford one, to tap into the Ministry of Education’s online programmes.
“They can go there to do their homework in the afternoons. They can print their homework, talk about things that may be bothering them, see programmes that deal directly with their own youth challenges, career building and mentorship. There must always be someone there to help or guide them,” she added.
In 2025, the section aims to add a mentorship aspect to the programme.
Craig is the holder of bachelor’s degree in social work from the University of Guyana and is looking forward to completing her master’s degree in social work by the end of the upcoming 2025 semester.
“I fell in love with social work and what it offered. It made me do some self-introspection. You really cannot help anyone if you cannot first help yourself,” she noted.
After obtaining her bachelor’s degree, she was employed as a medical social worker with the Georgetown Public Hospital from 2005 to 2007 but wanted to do more than intervention from a medical perspective.
When in 2007, the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security advertised a vacancy for a social worker she applied and was successful.
“I started off as a probation officer, with responsibility for going to court and providing public assistance. I had a stint in the Adoption Unit. I was almost in every area of the ministry including social security. The ministry is where I really grew as a social worker,” she revealed.
Young people
During the first two years of her work in the Ministry of Human Services, she was concerned about the number of young people who came into the social services system with no structured rehabilitation programme in place for them.
One day as she listened to a Myles Munroe video one of his statements made her realise her passion was to help troubled youths.
“I told my work colleagues I wanted to do something for those who were coming into the system. They were supportive,” she recalled.
With the help of a colleague, she drafted a proposal to mentor the young people every other Saturday. The then acting chief probation officer accepted the proposal. Craig was given a space at the ministry’s head office in Water Street to work with the youths.
“We started off with a small group of about 15 young people,” she recalled. “We looked at behavioural modification, skills building, recreation etc. During that time, we had no cash, and we needed materials and snacks. The ministry told me they had no funds and had not budgeted for the activity. I decided to invest in the young people by using money from my salary. I asked one of my aunts who does catering to prepare some snacks for the children on a regular basis with some cash to cover the ingredients and she agreed. For two years, I did that out of my pocket until I got funding from the ministry.”
She met with the youths without being paid overtime on the job.
She worked with two other colleagues, Trenetta Elliott and Oslyn Crawford, to develop a structured programme for the young people who either came through the court system because of their contact with the law, or by their parents who brought them in because of delinquency, wandering or fighting.
She noted that many of the youths experienced traumatic events in their lives, such as the loss of a loved one.
“I had instances where children locked themselves away for lengthy periods of time. I worked with young people who are now teachers, lawyers, policemen, nurses among other professions. Some were young people who were written off by family members and others. They are now leading pleasing and productive lives. They come from diverse backgrounds. It doesn’t matter whether they are rich or poor. They came with real issues of trauma like grappling with suicide, running away from the parental home, broken family due to separation or divorce, child abuse, neglect and domestic violence,” she related.
“We encountered children who were sexually abused. Once sexual abuse is revealed to us, we refer such cases to the Child Care and Protection Agency for investigation and follow up. In most cases we still work with the family and with the children but not solely.”
As the project developed and positive results were being seen, they were tasked to expand the work in other regions.
The initial programme was called, ‘Each One, Reach One’, based on the proposal which sought to encourage the youth to reach out to others in similar circumstances and impart the skills and knowledge they were taught and if possible, to bring them into the system.
Some of the skills imparted included psychosocial support, anger management and career guidance.
“We linked some to other agencies to learn skills such as the Board of Industrial Training,” she added.
USAID assistance
After five years, Craig was promoted to senior probation officer with a focus on supervision for the East Bank Demerara District.
“It gave me more scope to reach out to other youth groups to partner with along the East Bank corridor. I started to develop a network, and our youth group began to visit other youth groups on the East Bank.”
At the end of every year, the ministry’s youth group held a Christmas concert at which other youth groups were invited to perform. Craig, who dances as a means of worship, had no qualms about dancing at the concerts to encourage general participation.
“Dancing helps me create a balance and to gain strength for what I know I have to do,” she said.
Apart from working with the youth groups, her scope of work for that district included providing and upgrading public assistance services, attending court and all that goes with the duties of managing a probation department.
Five years later, Craig was moved to be part of the USAID funded two-year Community Family, and Youth Resilience (CFYR) project in several communities. At the end of the project, the ministry adopted it because of its youth and family component and Craig was named to head a newly created Family Enhancement Services Section that deals with at-risk youth.
“That which was a passion and part of my job description along with other duties was now formalised into my work sphere. There I was working with seven family counsellors in a section in the Palms compound in Brickdam. We had to focus primarily on the prevention aspects for at-risk youth,” she said.
Another section of the Probation Department provides for young people who work with children and youths who break the law. “I worked with both before this section was created to deal with prevention and those in after care who were in conflict with the law,” she said. Craig studied the USAID family matters model for her knowledge and how to supervise the newly created section. “We did a lot of tweaking and a lot of strengthening of the model to suit our needs so that it caught the attention of not only the community we work with and families in the communities benefiting from the service but once again the attention of USAID,” she said.
USAID again approached the ministry about expanding the scope of the family Enhancement Section’s work through its Youth Inclusion, Resilience and Empowerment (YIRE) programme. Early in 2014, a grant was signed for the expansion of the programme. Craig was also selected through the office of the Minister of Human Services and Social Security to be the focal point person for that project in the ministry. She was also a co-facilitator for one of the training programmes that deals with risk-informed systems and strengthening the capacity for service providers. As a co-facilitator, she was one of four people trained by USAID in delivering the ‘Youth Connection’ programme in Regions Two and Four.
Region Two’s cohort of people trained were from the New Opportunity Corps, schools welfare officers including guidance counsellors, community advocates and probation officers who deal directly with youth work.
In Region Four they conducted training with welfare staffers from the Ministry of Education, youth officers in the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, probation officers and staff who work at the Juvenile Holding Centre.
“That dream I had years ago, to do better for young people has become a reality and I’m now able to share my journey, how we deliver youth work based on experience and knowledge and how to deliver quality service for at-risk youths,” she said.
“Last month, one of my youths who was doing well for herself, brought her teenage daughter seeking help in managing her through adolescence.
“She was giving up. She said she could not do it. Now that child is a part of our programme and is doing much better. These are the things that make me feel that what I do is worth the while.”
A mother of four children, ages 25, 20, 16 and 14, Craig noted that for the last four or five years she has been dealing with her own adolescents in the home.
“My training kind of helped me to stay balanced and connected. I know how parents can become frustrated because I am a witness to that in my own setting,” she said.
Parent support group
For the last four years, the youth programme has been supported by an active parent support group called the Parent Support Network that meets quarterly.
“We have a WhatsApp chat group where parents can reach out at any time if there is an issue to be dealt with. The group is managed by the section. They are for parents of the children we work with. We try to build the parents’ capacity, parenting skills, and generally to give them support,” she said.
During the Easter or August holidays the young people are exposed to the STEM programme. Those who are between the ages of 16 and 21 years are also yearly, to the Basic Life Employability Skills (BLES) 10-day training programme. “We course them in things like getting to know yourself, how to write or fill out a job application form and how to dress for an interview, what to say at an interview, money management and anger management,” she said
For children with literacy issues, the section collaborates with the Literacy Unit of the Ministry of Education. Over the past three years, staff from the ministry has been teaching those who do not know to read, to read every Wednesday.
“We have people who didn’t know to read, now know to read,” she said.
A component of the services for at-risk youth is providing free lessons for mathematics and English for those who are writing the Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations.
“We pay teachers so they can have access to those services. This year and last year we had quite a few who obtained grades one and two in Mathematics. It helps because in some of these families they cannot afford extra lessons to help the children who are behind in certain areas. We are trying to ensure our services are holistic,” she stated.
The section has focus-group sessions that deal with grief. It has an officer who is trained in grief counselling.
“We ensure that programmes on the loss of loved ones or the loss from separation. Our programme is for children between 10 to 17 years but over time we have worked with over-20 years. We work with the family and sometimes the beneficiary of that programme of the intervention may have other young people in the home. Once we connect with the family we give support to the entire family,” she said.
Juvenile Holding Centre
“In the practicum aspect for one course in pursuing my masters, I was able to take the STEM programme to the Juvenile Holding Centre. That was a first for the centre. I introduced the STEM programme to the young people as part of my rehabilitative programme,” she said.
Craig also initiated a remedial education programme with the Ministry of Education at the Juvenile Holding Centre.
“The Ministry of Education is doing a fantastic job with some of those young people in the holding centre. Some wrote CSEC from the holding centre and they were successful. Young people don’t need to be involved in crime and violence. They need to learn skills. I started to craft different ways in which I could make a difference in their lives. I worked with the centre’s staff to help those who could not read,” she said.
Craig nee Pieters of Georgetown is the eldest of three children.
The past St Joseph High School student, first worked as a clerk in the Statistical Unit of the Ministry of Health between 1998 and 1999 after leaving school. “At that time, I just wanted a job, but I grew to love statistics. It really helped me in terms of my social work because I always looked at problem solving based on stats,” she said.