INDIVIDUALS who are experiencing trauma as a result of crime are being encouraged to seek assistance from the Ministry of Justice’s Victim Services Branch offices islandwide.

Director of the Victim Services Branch Dionne-Dawn Binns noted that when individuals experience trauma because of crime, the effects are very devastating.

“I use the analogy that I came across some time ago that when individuals are inflicted with a physical wound, they go to the doctor or the hospital so that the wound can be treated for it to heal properly. In the same way, persons who experience trauma are now carrying emotional wounds, and these emotional wounds actually may take longer to heal than a physical wound would,” Binns told JIS News.

“So, if left untreated the physical wound would become infected and create bigger problems. If left untreated the emotional wound can be very disruptive to a person’s mental health and their overall functioning capacity, and just their life in general. It is very important that persons receive the counselling, the emotional support, and the psychosocial care that victim services offers when they have experienced these events,” she added.

Binns also told JIS News that the Victim Services Branch has a robust network of partners that they work with, as well as an effective referral mechanism.

“We take persons through our process, and if it is that upon completion we recognise through our assessments… that, for instance, this child may need additional psychological or psychiatric support, then we may refer them to the child guidance clinic that we work with, or mental health providers that work with our child diversion branch. If it is that they prefer to go private, we do the referral and encourage them to get the additional support,” she explained.

Binns also stated that the assistance provided by the Victim Services Branch is done using a victim-centred approach which strongly focuses on the needs of the individual.

“An individual may have lost a loved one — let’s just say it’s the breadwinner of the family that was murdered. [In this case] their needs are not only psychological [as] it could be that they have other needs [such as] food. If it is that it is a situation where they were harmed physically, they may have medical needs, and the truth is, there are some persons who cannot afford to get the help that they need,” Binns said.

“One of the things that we do is, we try to network with various entities and agencies, and we do the referrals. So basically, our role is to make the process a little easier for them to be able to access whatever it is that they may need to access outside of what we are able to provide directly, so we work with that network to be able to provide the holistic support that some of these individuals may need,” she added.

To learn more about the programmes and services offered by the Victim Services Branch and its parish offices, people can visit the Ministry of Justice website at moj.gov.jm or call toll-free at 888-JUSTICE (888-587-8423).

Additional contact numbers are (876) 946-0663 and (876) 946-9287.