KINGSTON, Jamaica — Students attending schools in inner-city communities affected by criminal activities are benefiting from therapeutic intervention, under the Ministry of Justice’s Special Intervention Project for Schools.

The initiative, which is facilitated through the Victim Services Branch (VSB), helps children affected by trauma to develop coping skills.

Director of the VSB, Dionne Dawn Binns, said that by working very closely with the schools, the project is aimed at giving therapy to children who are identified as being emotionally distressed or suffering from symptoms of post-traumatic stress or depression.

She said the programme, which is offered over six sessions, is for children aged six to 18 years. However, there are separate interventions based on the age group.

The project also enables teachers and parents to deal effectively with these children who usually have special social needs.

“In addition to being able to identify the trauma in our children, we want there to be a mechanism in place where they can get effective support. So, we empower teachers and parents through a training component, to be able to effectively assist the children based on whatever needs they may have,” Binns noted.

“We also provide some amount of therapy to the teachers and the parents, because… this intervention really is geared towards specific schools that may be in high-violence communities, and so naturally, the parents and the teachers are also experiencing some of the things that the children are experiencing,” she added.

Binns pointed out that although children are more vulnerable in terms of their own individual experiences, the programme ensures not only to equip the parents and teachers but also to provide some amount of therapy for them to deal with their own emotions and feelings.

The director also cited the training provided for teachers and parents under the Special Intervention Project for Schools.

“We basically train them to identify symptoms and signs of trauma and to provide basic support. The training provides them with a basis in terms of how to approach the child, how to be nonjudgmental, how to provide a relaxing, safe environment that the child would need to be able to open up and share something, and pretty much to identify where a child may be in need of greater intervention,” Binns explained.

“Then it also provides the sort of referral mechanism, having identified that this child needs more than what has been given and I am not equipped to do this, then they will refer the child to us for further support and guidance,” she added.

Binns shared that the whole aim of providing that particular aspect for parents and teachers is to ensure that there is a support mechanism in place for the child beyond the intervention.

“So naturally, if that is not in place, the child can regress. The child may not move forward in the healing process as they would, having had the support, and overall, it just leaves the child exposed because there’s no guidance and there’s no assistance,” she said.

“So, with the teachers and the parents more enabled, then individual children that have special needs or have a need for further intervention can get the support that they need to have,” she added.

The Victim Services Branch is the arm of the Ministry of Justice established to provide therapeutic interventions for all victims of crime.

The branch, through its 14 parish offices islandwide, assists victims of crime to manage and cope with the emotional trauma associated with and caused by crime.

For more information on the services of the Victim Services Branch, persons may contact 888-JUSTICE (888-587-8423) or visit the Justice Ministry’s website at moj.gov.jm.

— JIS