South America Online

–as 655-SAFE Counselling Hotline launched

DESPITE the limitations to counselling and support services resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Mental Health Unit of the Ministry of Health has launched its toll-free 655-SAFE (655-7233) hotline as a novel way of providing support to anyone in need.

At the simple launch of the ‘Safe Space’ hotline at the Mental Health Unit in Georgetown on Monday, Director of the Mental Health Unit, Dr. Util Thomas highlighted that mental health issues are prevalent among approximately 15 to 20 per cent of the population, or approximately one in five persons.

Attempting to provide support to individuals and their mental health has been fraught with challenges, key among them stigma, which has been a major deterrent to vulnerable persons seeking appropriate help.

Due to stigma, discrimination and severe human rights violation of those afflicted, as well as their family members, a large number of persons refuse to let their vulnerabilities be known and get help. Guyana has also been infamous for its high suicide per capita rates.

While stakeholders continued to grapple with these challenges, up came the COVID-19 pandemic, which placed an even greater strain on the services that could be offered. In-person counselling, which is offered at the Mental Health Unit, for example, has been limited.

Dr. Thomas quoted a study, which stated that one in five persons who have COVID-19 are diagnosed with a psychiatric disorder within six months of testing positive. There are also physical, social and cultural factors from the pandemic which interfere with a person’s health and eventually their mental health.

Emphasising that the need for mental health and psychosocial support is crucial and still increasing, Dr. Thomas related that ‘Safe Space’ was crafted and now implemented.

“This national 24/7 counselling service will provide talk therapy to all who access it and requires it from any of the 10 administrative regions of Guyana,” the Director said.

“It will serve as a safe place for persons to discuss feelings and emotions triggered by daily situations; it will help persons identify issues which cause emotional distress, and help them develop strategies and solutions to help decrease the severity of their symptoms,” she added.

This “proactive approach” to providing support to vulnerable persons during this time, she said, will help to prevent the deterioration into more serious mental health disorders.

Dr. Thomas also explained that this programme and hotline will function as a gateway to referring persons to more specialist services from the Ministry of Health, and other partner bodies such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

This toll-free hotline was made available by local telecommunications giant, GTT. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GTT, Justin Nedd said, “This is really a small gesture to help support the mental health unit to help Guyana.”

The Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) also provided support for this programme, including the training of those persons who will serve as operators and will be required to provide support persons to those vulnerable persons who call the hotline.

‘SAVING LIVES’

This initiative is one which Minister of Health, Dr. Frank Anthony said could help save lives.

Much like Dr. Thomas, he, too, lamented that mitigating the challenges of mental health has been difficult and that the pervasive stigma has played a great role in that.

“We can change those attitudes by conveying the right messages; by modelling our own behavior, and by getting other people to follow what we’re doing,” he stressed, adding later, “The services that we are launching today is very important, because we know if we do it right, it can save a lot of lives.”

Dr. Anthony acknowledged that greater training should be provided to medical professionals in the primary care sector, but also related that community and faith leaders could be trained to provide support to persons too- as was done in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

He also floated the idea of possibly organising counselling sessions via Zoom, Microsoft teams, or some other virtual platform. The transition to online services, he clarified, is not a permanent one since persons out in the field, engaging in person is perhaps incomparable.