BY JOHN HOUANIHAU
Provincial Mental Health Coordinators have been attending the Advanced Training on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) for Children and Families in Honiara.
The aim is to equip them with skills and knowledge to help young people and children with challenges such as domestic violence, inter-partner violence, violence against children, and outside pressures.
Speaking to the media in an interview yesterday at the ANZ Building Joint Presence Office Conference Room at Ranadi in East Honiara, was Trainer Dr Koen Sevenants, United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) MHPSS Consultant and Child Psychologist.
He said the five-day training covers aspects of resilience, the capability to overcome bad things that happen in life.
“What makes a child resilient? How come that some children are less resilient than others? We know, for example, that resilient children have a positive self-image, and they also have a social support network,” he said.
He said that the other topic is “child development”.
“What do children need to learn on an emotional level while they are growing up? We are doing this for the Provincial Mental Health Coordinators because they are the ones who are serving the people who are trying to help families with emotional difficulties that they face.
“So, we, as mental health professionals, want to help families to make them aware of what children need to learn and to stimulate that,” Dr Sevenants said.
He said that the training is a starting step the Solomon Islands should take to build a sustainable community-based mental health support system for children and families.
“We all have difficulties, periods in which we feel down, in which we are less patient, in which maybe we go into too much drinking or smoking, so none of us is perfect. Yet, there seems to be a big stigma in talking about it, right? And schools need to not only focus on academic achievements, on good scores and so on, they need to be there for the well-being of children as well,” he said.
He said that it would be good if there were a significant investment from the authorities, from the government, into people who can assist young people with overcoming the bad things that happen in their lives.
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