CURIOSITY forced 12-year-old Nashawna Smiekle to run towards areas under heavy gun attack, instead of scurrying for safety, when she was much younger.

For 16-year-old Darian Tomlinson, shooting incidents would see him seeking prayers from church members as he would be too traumatised to function normally.

But in recent times their responses to gun violence have changed.

Smiekle and Tomlinson were among nine minors living in Parade Gardens, central Kingston, who shared how violence has impacted their mental health and behaviour during a Jamaica Observer/Rise Life Management street reasoning in the community last Thursday.

These days, Smiekle, who is a first-form student at St Andrew High School for Girls, tries her best to stay far from shootings in her community.

“When I was little — about four or five years old — when shot a fire, instead of these people in the community run away from the gunshot and take cover, them run go inna it, and I would be doing that as well fi see who get shot.

“Since I am older, I know exactly what to do. For example, if I am on the road and gunshot fire right now, I would run to the nearest house and take cover,” she said.

Sharing what he currently does, Tomlinson, who attends Calabar High School, said “Sometimes I have to be really cautious going to school and coming home because I have to leave out 5:30 or 6:00 am and come in 5:30 or 6:00 pm, so I basically spend the whole day at school — especially when I do co-curricular activities or studying. I don’t think it bothers my mental health anymore — I used to be so scared.”

Third-form student at Dunoon Technical High School, Jenele Lawrence said she was usually clueless about what to do during shootings and would rely on her mother’s safety orders.

“My mom always told me that I should lie down on the ground and cover my head. It made me scared and nervous but I am here right now and I am thanking God for that. Everyday mi wake up, mi hear gunshot, somebody dead; one of my family members even passed away. It doesn’t affect or shock me anymore,” 15-year-old Lawrence said.

In the meantime, 13-year-old student of Vauxhall High School Tevin Cowans would leave the community and stay at his aunt’s house, which is located in a peaceful area.

“Mi did come home one day and when mi did a sleep, the gunshot start fire, and when mi wake up mi did start bawl and seh mi want to go back up to mi aunty because me can’t bother wid the gunshot and mi neva used to it,” Cowans explained.

“Mi used to it now so when gunshot start fire mi find a corner or run go inna mi mother room because her room around the back,” he added.

Responding to the comments of the young people, psychologist Dr Leahcim Semaj noted that inner-city youth react differently to crime as some directly absorb the experiences while others totally opt not to do so.

“That’s the paradox — that behaviour doesn’t really go linear. A child growing up in some of those communities, one child from the same family will absorb it and become like that but another child will reject it totally and say, ‘something is wrong with this’ and become quite different. It does impact many children directly. Children live what they learn,” Semaj told the Observer.

He pointed out that in a case where a youngster becomes unbothered by violence, it is a cause for concern.

“When you normalise behaviours like that, your sense of right and wrong is totally transformed, so oftentimes they can become immune to those behaviours that other people would consider antisocial and it becomes normalised,” he said.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that children have the right to get help if they have been hurt, neglected, treated badly or affected by war, so they can regain their health and dignity.

The convention also stipulates that governments must protect children from violence.

Some children from volatile communities seek help from schools in dealing with their mental health, according to Tracyann Taffe-Thompson, president of the Jamaica Association of Guidance Counsellors in Education.

“It’s a safe haven for many students in crime-prone areas. It’s a place where they know that the teachers, principals, guidance counsellors will protect them at every cost. So, they have that trust in the school,” said Taffe-Thompson.

On January 9, Parade Gardens was declared a zone of special operations due to intense gang violence in that central Kingston community.