Dr Kim Scott – Giving children a second chance

KIM Scott’s decision to become a doctor was heavily influenced by the fact that her mother was one. She always knew that she wanted to work with children, and thought paediatrics would perhaps be a good fit for her.

“But very early in the game I knew I was not interested in clinical medicine, I don’t like sick people. I like keeping people well,” Dr Scott told All Woman last week.

It was that conscious decision, which came after she had competed medical school and was in family practice for three years, that would eventually lead Dr Scott to become the director of the Child Resiliency Programme in Jamaica.

“I was always interested in adolescence and adolescent development,” she recalled. “So I did a master’s in public health, and then from there, my first job was actually at the Ministry of Health in the Health Promotion and Protection Division. I was the coordinator for the national adolescent health programmes.

It was at the Ministry of Health, while analysing the Caribbean Adolescent Health Survey, where Dr Scott became very interested in what happens before adolescence that leads some children to become depressed, involved in drug use, or even commit suicide. She decided to volunteer some of her time at Mona Primary School.

“I was asked to take over a grade two class where the teacher was sick, so I was in the classroom trying to maintain the discipline. I had a broom trying to prompt the ones at the back of the class who were climbing on the desks and making it very difficult for me to manage, and I think at that point I had a whole other level of appreciation and respect for teachers in general in Jamaica,” she said.

Sitting under a tree and providing academic support to the most troubled students in the class grew into an after-school programme with as many as 40 students on the grounds of Hope United Church, of which Dr Scott was a member. She secured a small grant from the Ministry of Health, which effectively kick-started the Child Resiliency Programme.

“And that has been probably the most meaningful career change for me in my lifetime, and my most exciting journey, because I was using my medical background and my public health background to be able to turn it into a passion, where I am literally working with children and adolescents who are disadvantaged and giving them a second chance.”

That was circa 2006. Using knowledge garnered from a previous study conducted with adolescents in Clarendon, Dr Scott identified three things that would form the pillars of her programme.

“We studied and looked at what it is that makes a difference. And we found three very basic premises for building a resilient child — carrying relationships, having high expectations of them, and getting them involved in meaningful activities,” she said.

For the next six years, the programme operated from the grounds of Hope United Church, running on small-grant funding from Jamaica Social Investment Fund and Environmental Foundation of Jamaica.

“And then we went through a major shift which brought us to the Violence Prevention Alliance in 2014, which is a charity organisation that looks at best practices and partnering with organisations to see how we can prevent crime and violence in Jamaica,” she recalled.

“And so the resiliency approach is one of the ways that we can approach the problem of crime and violence in Jamaica, because what we’re really saying is that if a child is vulnerable, that child is just generally more at risk for being both a victim and perpetrator of violence.”

The Child Resiliency Programme has now grown to expand across four parishes, taking students from 22 primary level schools across the island. Teachers and guidance counsellors handpick students whom they identify as vulnerable, and recommend them for the programme, which specifically targets grade five students.

“Now we’re currently at Boys’ Town, YMCA, Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College in Montego Bay, and Falmouth All-Age in Trelawny. They come three afternoons a week, and we work with them very closely for a year.”

Reflecting on the growth of the programme, which she referred to as her baby, she shared that it was reflection on her own life and the support that she had while dealing with personal challenges that helped her to understand the importance of building resiliency in children.

“It has been a personal journey for me, you know, in terms of watching the process grow and realising how much input you can give to a child and see the benefit coming out. It’s gone way beyond me now. It’s literally other persons that have come on board who are now running the process at the ground level who have also been inspired to follow God’s purpose,” she affirmed.

But while directing a programme with over 200 participants annually, Dr Scott said it is essential that she makes time for herself, too.

“One of the mantras of our programme is that fun is fundamental. Put the fun before the mental. I take that back to my own personal life. For me recreation is such a critical part of being able to even function in being in a programme like this, so I put that very high on the agenda. For me, it’s cycling, sometimes running… for that respite and to keep energised and to keep from going crazy when everything is crazy around me.”

Dr Scott shared that she and her husband live up in the hills away from the bustle of the city, and that they both bask in the peace and quiet of the expanse of forestry that surrounds them. Though she has no children of her own, she has been a mother to many children, including those who have passed through the Resiliency Programme, and her sister’s children, whom she treats as her own.

“I literally divide up my life and my attention to [these] children, and the Child Resiliency Programme, and I’m very compartmentalised about it. My children would probably laugh at me,” she chuckled.

Looking to the future, Dr Scott is excited in watching how the programme evolves, and how her role changes to accommodate growth.

“I’m turning 52 this year. And as I age into my 50s I start to say, ‘Okay, what’s next for Kim for the years to come?’ It’s still resiliency. I feel God has placed me here in a different capacity.

“It keeps evolving. I remember when I started this programme and I was the one carrying the children on the bus to the beach, I was the one doing the homework. I’m no longer that person. I’ve had to step back and step back and step back. But for me, I still feel at this particular juncture that my passion and my love remains shared between my own children and grandchildren, and children who are in need and vulnerable. That has kept me inspired and motivated and excited and I have remained so to date. So let’s see…”