Health Ministry should include lay counsellor training

Dear Editor,
The Ministry of Health Community Health Care Workers concept is indeed a good one, especially given that it emphasises that Georgetown and Region Four are not Guyana and it embraces communities across the nation. Ditto for the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security’s Community Partners initiative. Thus, since the promised reemergence of the Lay Counsellor training programme is yet to be realised, The Caribbean Voice strongly urges that these training programmes be slightly expanded to include lay counsellor training so that those trained will be able to incorporate basic mental health care in their work. In fact, we suggest that this piggybacking be instituted in all training programmes focusing on community work, especially in the rural areas. Piggybacking is much more cost-effective than a standalone training programme and adds to tremendous efforts already undertaken with respect to mental health care in Guyana. Most importantly, such piggybacking will significantly supplement existing suicide and abuse prevention efforts across the nation and let rural communities know that they are not neglected afterthoughts, especially given that the vast majority of initiatives, every which way, continue to focus on Georgetown and Region Four.

Sincerely,
Annan Boodram