Ministry of Health

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The Clarendon Health Department will, on Friday (Oct. 13), host a mental health forum aimed at lessening the incidence of mental health conditions and diseases in the parish.

The forum will be held in collaboration with the Ministry of Health's Mental Health Programme at the St. James Methodist Church Hall at 10:00 a.m.

In an interview with JIS News Health Educator at the Clarendon Health Department, Carlissa Pearson explained that the forum was being staged to commemorate Mental Health Week, which is being observed from October 8 to 13. The forum, which is being held under the theme: 'Building Awareness, Reducing the Risk: Mental Health and Suicide' will serve to raise public awareness about mental health and the matter of suicide.

"The Clarendon Health Department is conscious that the numbers in terms of suicide across the parish and across Jamaica has been on the rise. We are only too familiar with the situation where somebody takes their life, takes a family member's life and it is usually something that could have been prevented if people understood just what was happening. People live with depression which is a mental problem and it is a problem where there's treatment available but people live with it year in, year out, don't get treatment and in the long run take their lives," Ms. Pearson said.

She said a multidisciplinary group of panelists had been assembled for the forum. These include: a social worker who will address the social issues that facilitate depression and other mental problems; a psychiatrist who will look at depression as a medical problem, and the treatment options that are available; a mental health officer who is a specially trained nurse practitioner administering comprehensive treatment; a person who has attempted suicide; and a minister of religion, who speak about pastoral counseling.

She noted that a cross section of persons have been invited to the forum. This includes persons in the workforce, particularly males, who according to the statistics, suffer more from depression, and are more prone to suicide. In addition health workers, community groups and leaders, schools, and the general public are invited.

"Just about anybody can come. It is participatory so there's going to be a segment where people are going to be allowed to ask their questions, and to get their views clarified," she said.

Information booths and displays will be mounted by the HEART Trust/NTA, the Child Development Agency, and the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

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