Guyana Foundation facilitates training of 52 persons

Suicide prevention

Fifty-two participants have benefited from a training workshop in mental health recently held by the Guyana Foundation in collaboration with the William James College, a leader in educating the next generation of mental health professionals through its Counselling and Psychology graduate and undergraduate programmes.
Sessions were held at the Sunrise Centre on the Essequibo Coast in Region Two; and entities represented at the workshop included the Public Health and Social Protection ministries, the New Opportunity Corps, Hope For All, Child Care and Protection Agency, the three major religious organisations in Guyana, the Richard

Fickal Police College, The Caribbean Voice, the newly formed Sunrise Support Group in Wakenaam and the Guyana Foundation. Besides representatives of the abovenamed entities, the workshop was attended by leaders of the Region Two community.
The William James College is located in Newton, Massachusetts, USA. The Guyana Service Learning and Cultural Immersion Programme of the university is headed by Guyanese Dr Natalie Cort, who is an Assistant Professor there.
The 3-day Suicide Gatekeepers Training focused on increasing the community leaders’ ability to effectively respond to, intervene, and give support to individuals who are suicidal. the workshop was conducted by six (6) Psychology and Mental Health Counselling graduate students, who provided the participants with extensive knowledge on suicide and major depression, which would enable them to intervene in situations where persons are at risk of committing suicide.
In addition, the workshop did practical and effective problem-solving and engaged in stress management methods, which came from interpersonal psychotherapy for depression and from music therapy.
The workshop also included mini-lectures, facilitated discussions, group work and expression arts’ activities, which boosted the level of interaction and participation among its members.
At the end of the workshop, the participants expressed gratitude and appreciation in songs and speeches as they take their knowledge gained back to their communities and practice same in their personal lives.