MONTEGO BAY, St James – Fifty eight staff members at the St James Family Court, including three judges, were on Tuesday awarded certificates after successfully completing an eight-month training programme to strengthen the court system.

The programme was funded by a loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) while the Social Work Unit of the University of the West Indies, Mona conducted the training.

The course formed part of an islandwide project of the Justice Ministry, which is being undertaken through the Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP).

Among the topics covered in the course were values and ethics in the professional relationship, case management and substance abuse and prevention. It also covered issues of crisis intervention as well as marital, family and individual counselling. In addition, managing domestic violence, working with men and sexualised children, and mediation were also covered.

Oscar Spencer, the IDB representative who spoke at the graduation ceremony at the Wyndham Rose Hall Hotel in Montego Bay, said the programme was most timely as it sought to support the government in its fight against increased levels of crime and violence in the country. Additionally, he said that the training would assist in the improvement of the delivery of judicial services in the country.

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Justice Carol Palmer, for her part, said the training would improve the participants’ abilities to discharge their functions and announced that her ministry was moving to address the poor state of several family court buildings across the island.

-cummingsm@jamaicaobserver.com