Lindeners benefit from crime, violence reduction workshops

A number of Lindeners have benefited from the first of a series of crime and violence reduction workshops – an initiative of the Public Security Ministry in collaboration with Adco Engineering and Consultants.
The Parenting, Interpersonal, Violence Prevention and Conflict Resolution initiative also forms part of the Citizens Security Strengthening Programme (CSSP) funded by the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB).
Speaking at one of the workshops which was themed “Reclaim home, reclaim community”, one of Adco’s Directors, Garfield Sargeant said the sessions aimed primarily at equipping community leaders with the knowledge and skills to approach and address the issues of crime and violence within their communities.
Also benefiting from special sessions were parents and youths as Sargeant stressed the importance of addressing the issues from the level of the family . The

three main areas being addressed were parenting, domestic violence, and conflict resolution.
“What we actually have happening right now is train the trainer whereby we are equipping some of the community leaders with certain skills, certain information that will help them take a different approach to addressing crime and violence within our community. So, it’s very important that we are able to, first of all, impart knowledge and then how to use that knowledge given different situations, different scenarios,” Sargeant explained.
The Linden leg of the initiative wrapped up last Friday, but work is expected to be ongoing within the community.
A participant , Vanessa Kissoon said the session was very informative, noting that she planned on using the knowledge obtained in her everyday life.
“The activities and interactions are very interesting, informative and educating and in my case, I know that I can take some of this stuff back to the classroom and my students will benefit. I have learned how to use activities not just the chalk and talk, but I learned of other creative ways of getting my children to interact in the classroom and also I must say at home, because I do plan to use some of these activities to improve me as a parent,” she posited.
Police Officers have also benefited from the exercise and according to Sargeant, they would assist greatly, given the new policing facility recently commissioned in Linden. Approximately 20 communities are expected to benefit from these sessions across the country.