THE downpour of rain — once an invitation for carefree play — now sends students in western Jamaica screaming, shivering, and into panic mode. Each raindrop drags them back to October 28, 2025, the day Hurricane Melissa tore through the country, stealing lives, destroying livelihoods, and leaving behind mental health scars that have yet to heal.

Garfield James, principal of Little London High School in Westmoreland; Venesha Brown-Gordon, acting principal of Salt Marsh Primary School in Trelawny; and Oraine Ebanks, principal of Green Pond High School in St James, say the scenes now unfolding at their institutions during periods of heavy rainfall are nothing short of heartbreaking. The schools are among the five beneficiaries of the 2026 Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run, the other two being Mayfield Primary and Infant and Hopewell High. Sagicor is aiming to raise $150 million through the 5.5 kilometre run that is scheduled for February 15, to help repair the hurricane-affected schools.

President of the Jamaica Association of Guidance Counsellors, Kirk Morris said counsellors across the island are doing their best to provide psychosocial support to affected students, stressing that the trauma is not confined to western Jamaica. He noted that students in eastern parishes — many of whom witnessed the harrowing events through social media — have also been impacted and are receiving professional support.

The Ministry of Education reported that more than 50,000 students and 4,000 teachers in north-western Jamaica have so far received psychosocial support through 2,086 intervention sessions, with assistance also extended to parents and educators as schools continue efforts to help communities heal. Additionally, 167 regional staff members and more than 9,000 parents received support.

Ebanks shared that teachers and staff at Green Pond High are trying their best to address the psychosocial needs of children through counselling sessions as they gently steer the school back to some level of normalcy.

“We ask our staff to be aware that in class there are going to be moments when they will have to stop the teaching and just share with them their experience. You will find me in the days going into the different spaces just to talk and hear their stories, and they start to cry…but what you’ll find is that when it rains, especially when it rains heavily, it triggers and [that] traumatic experience will come back,” he told the Jamaica Observer during last week’s Monday Exchange.

He shared that infrastructure damage that left classrooms leaking or roofless adds fuel to the fire as staff members try their best to keep students away from the water during heavy rainfall. Where possible, he added that the school is trying to return to regular operations and extra-curricular activities, to keep students engaged.

“Once we accomplish that and we get them engaged — they socialise and so on — we return them into a normal space where they can be distracted from the trauma that existed after Hurricane Melissa,” said Ebanks.

He noted that many students are from Catherine Hall and Westgreen, areas heavily hit, and the screams when it rains are a testament of their horrific experiences.

Brown-Gordon said similar challenges confront students at Salt Marsh Primary, noting that the institution’s proximity to a gully — which overflows into the schoolyard during heavy rainfall — further exacerbates the trauma experienced by students aged 12 and under.

“We have to be watching them carefully as some of them start trembling. They start asking you, ‘Melissa coming back?’, ‘Is that Melissa?’ ” she shared with journalists and reporters, who were visibly moved by the realities of the students.

The acting principal said psychosocial sessions are available for students, teachers, and parents, many of whom watched as their homes collapsed around them.

Principal James shared that following a recent meeting it was revealed that some students at Little London High are in a state of depression.

“It’s not necessarily easy to overcome depression. It goes beyond the reach of the guidance department, so we do have some cases where the effects of Hurricane Melissa has impacted negatively on staff and students,” he said.

James shared that sessions will be ongoing, and matters surrounding mental health will not be taken lightly as the school seeks to make use of its limited resources.

Meanwhile, president of the Jamaica Association of Guidance Counsellors, Morris said counsellors in eastern Jamaica are reporting that the widespread coverage of Hurricane Melissa on social media has impacted students there.

“The whole issue of [social] media would have made things for some of these students — especially if they’re not directly there but because their family members are in those areas — the damages and the loss to them would have caused some level of trauma,” he told the Observer, noting that many students felt helpless and, in an effort to counter that feeling, schools have been conducting donation drives.

He added that in western Jamaica, similar stories emerge with students, teachers and parents traumatised by the sound of rain, immediately bringing them back to the events of October 28, 2025.

“They will need some more assistance and more help where that is concerned in order for them to heal. It’s going to take a while for everybody to be normalised but in the meantime, going forward, I think the counsellors will continue to help them through their different sessions that they’re having — and if it’s needed, they’ll have to also seek help otherwise,” said James.

He noted that while the work has been overwhelming, counsellors are coping and doing their best to provide support.

Education Minister Senator Dana Morris Dixon, during a meeting of the Senate on January 23, said the Ministry of Education operates a comprehensive programme of psychosocial support, noting that “some of it is virtual and some of it is face to face”. She noted that the ministry’s guidance counselling team has been supported by 36 private clinicians across the island.

Morris Dixon said her ministry staff has received “quite a bit of help” from The University Hospital of the West Indies which “sent out their teams that are experts in psychiatrics”. Also on board are UNICEF, Children First, and the Ministry of Health and Wellness with its team of counsellors who have been deployed across the affected region.

Salt Marsh Primary School Acting Principal Venesha Brown-Gordon (centre) makes a point during last week’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange at the newspaper’s Corporate Area headquarters, while Little London High School Principal Garfield James (left) and Oraine Ebanks, principal of Green Pond High School, look on. (Photo: Karl Mclarty)

MORRIS…many students felt helpless