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Rishad Khan
The Ministry of Health is taking steps to strengthen mental health care for children and adolescents.
In response to questions in the Senate on March 19, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said among the measures are plans to expand child guidance clinics from the South West and North West Regional Health Authorities across Trinidad.
“This will improve accessibility, reduce wait times for appointments, facilitate early assessment, diagnosis and intervention in community settings, and reduce the need for hospitalization, helping children get the mental health care they need.” You will be able to receive appropriate care.”
He said these clinics would be led by experts in the field of psychiatry who are registered with the Medical Board. He said it will also include medical personnel, psychologists, psychiatric social workers, licensed psychiatric nurses, mental health workers, creative arts therapists, speech therapists and administrative staff.
The ministry also said it is working with stakeholders to develop a 24/7 youth mental health chat line to provide remote mental health services to children and youth.
He said the FindCareTT repository, a website for free mental health services, is being expanded with a focus on demographics.
Additionally, the Minister said plans were already underway to address mental health in schools.
He said last month the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Education and the Pan American Health Organization hosted a “train the trainer” session to strengthen the skills of education and health professionals in the school mental health literacy project.
“This will be implemented in school districts across Trinidad and Tobago. The aim of this school-based mental health intervention is to ensure that principals, teachers, parents and all other stakeholders in the school setting, including security personnel, Be concerned about signs and symptoms of mental health disorders in young people and manage them in the school environment if necessary. ”
Deyalsingh said the initiative will raise awareness of child mental health issues, combat the stigma associated with them and help in early detection.
He said the initiative would be implemented in the last quarter of 2024.
Deyalsingh emphasized the critical need to address the mental health of young people, stating that data from the FindCareTT website shows that 61 percent of the 61,543 visits to the site from January 2021 to March 2024 It said that most of the deaths were from people aged 18 to 34.
She said the top three searches on the site were related to addiction support, suicide prevention and gender-based violence.
