Residents of Parottee in St Elizabeth are urgently calling for mental-health assistance for neighbours still struggling emotionally in the aftermath of Hurricane Melissa.

As the community works to rebuild from the devastation left by the category five storm that slammed into the south-western end of the island on October 28, the residents have sounded the alarm on what they described as the widespread mental health challenges that now linger.

“We need counselling, because…this morning I was picking up some stuff and that is when I started to feel a way. To see what I had and now I cannot find it, not even my ID I can find. Right now I must have [high blood] pressure [hypertension] because my eyes are weak, my body is weak and I am feeling dizzy,” said Petulia Evans, a resident of Parottee.

Noting that neighbours are visibly traumatised, she shared, “I have a friend, she took off weight because she is traumatised. Some people a look out a space [and] a talk to themselves. Even my mother, she sits down every day and just talk to herself.”

Fisherman Ronnie Bennett echoed the call, explaining that although relief workers have provided food and water, mental health needs remain unmet.

“One of the main thing affecting the area right now is mental health. A lot of persons need counselling — people have lost about everything. If you talk to persons and they are telling you what they have lost you would see them start crying because some don’t know when and where to start. Their livelihoods have been deteriorated, people are talking to themselves,” he said.

Bennett, who lives a mile from the sea, described how waves pushed seawater into his home, destroying his property and livelihood.

“I lost two engines, a car and my boat that went over the mangrove. A lot of furniture in the house gone far over in the mangrove. As you can see over the seaside is hard, a lot of things got mixed up with other people stuff and a lot of them are no longer good,” he said.

Authorities have repeatedly warned that the psychological impact of Melissa will linger long after the storm.

On November 6, Minister of Health and Wellness Dr Christopher Tufton announced that his ministry expects worsening mental trauma among victims. At that time, Tufton said his team would be partnering with an expert from the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to address the issue. He added that the ministry would be deploying field officers to identify communities in need of psychosocial support.

The Jamaica Psychiatric Association and the Jamaica Psychological Society have also joined forces to volunteer assistance in the hardest-hit areas.

Consultant psychiatrist Dr Saphire Longmore told Observer Online that many Jamaicans are grieving various losses, not only lives, but homes, livelihoods and their sense of security.

“There is loss and grief at most levels in the communities that are significantly affected,” said Dr Longmore, a former president of the Jamaica Psychological Society.

“The natural stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance and people will go through these stages. Sometimes it flows as it describes them or they might go through them conjunctively or some may skip a stage and then revert,” she explained.

Ronnie Bennett