Acting Chief Education Officer Kennecy Haynes-Davidson has stressed that the recently introduced School Mental Health Literacy Programme is not meant to be used to label or diagnose students who are found to be experiencing emotional challenges.

“The formal introduction of mental health literacy in schools is about exposing them to educational content that they can help their parents. It’s not about labelling, it’s not about diagnosing. No one is allowed to; it is just simply empowering our students,” Haynes-Davidson told attendees at the just-concluded National Mental Health Conference in downtown Kingston on Tuesday.

The programme, which was launched last October by the Ministry of Health in collaboration with the education ministry, involved the training of more than 500 school professionals who have been equipped to give more than 21,000 grade-nine students across 177 schools islandwide a better understanding of mental health.

Speaking Tuesday, an emphatic Haynes-Davidson said mental health programmes in schools are effective.

“Why mental health programmes in schools? Because there are common childhood disorders that many of you are quite familiar with; they include but are not limited to depression, anxiety disorders, and psychotic disorders. Now we have a serious challenge because we have our youngsters who are exhibiting these behaviours and we are saying where did this all begin? Where did it start? The truth is, we ignored it for so many years because we decided that ‘him wi grow it out’,” she stated.

Pointing to data from the local think tank Caribbean Policy Research Institute (CAPRI), which says that 76 per cent exhibit negative behaviours while 45 per cent of children have experienced anxiety symptoms and 60 per cent children in State care have exhibited psychological problems, Haynes-Davidson said the programme is needed in schools.

“These programmes provide an avenue for schools and parents to become more proactive; we have been reactive and so the mental health programmes in schools will help our parents, stakeholders, caregivers and students to be more proactive in managing mental health issues,” the acting chief education officer stated.

“The programmes will also empower our students so they know when they want help. They know how to manage, how to navigate their challenges. They recognise the differences. The benefits of this programme include early recognition of health issues, reduction of social vices, the building of leadership skills and prevention of suicide,” she added, noting that children have taken a casual approach to suicidal ideation.

“These days everything, ‘mi a jus kill miself and done’ and then the friend says ‘how yuh ago do it? Mek sure seh mi camera on cause is a TikTok moment dis’. That’s how lightly they look at it, but it’s really their way of saying ‘I need help’,” she noted.

“Currently, based on the international standards, between ages 13 to 15 would be where most of the diagnoses would be made and so now we want our children, even from primary school, to understand what mental health is and how they can protect their mental health, how they can look out for [their peers],” Haynes-Davidson added.

On Tuesday, Dr Judith Leiba, director, child and adolescent mental health, Ministry of Health and Wellness, in assessing the impact of social media use on the mental well-being of students, emphasised that confiscating the gadgets might not be the best approach.

“We can’t take away all the phones from our children; that does not work. We have to start talking to our children about appropriate technology use, discussing the activities on social networking sites and informing them of how tech companies use us. Yes, we are gaining benefits but there is another side you need to be aware of; the ration of parent listen to parent talk should be at least 5:1. So if you are a parent, you should only be talking for one minute and listening for five minutes to your child,” Dr Leiba said.

Pointing to the May 2023 advisory of the United States Surgeon General Dr Vivek Murthy on Social Media and Youth Mental Health, which acknowledged that social media presents a profound risk of harm to children, Leiba said social media has good uses but has to be managed.