The Bartica Mayor and Town Council on Monday hosted a-one-day mental health seminar for community leaders and stakeholders.

The session was facilitated by Mary Lou Graham, Instructor, Department of Nursing at St. Joseph University USA, and focused on mental illness and related diseases among other areas.

Deputy Mayor Kamal Persaud told the Department of Public Information the initiative aimed to reduce the stigma surrounding mental illness by increasing citizens’ knowledge and understanding of mental health problems. This included prevention and intervention strategies and treatment. “The seminar also looked to increase awareness of domestic violence issues since they (attacker) and their victims may be suffering from mental health illnesses that they are unaware about and need assistance for,.” she said.

According to the deputy mayor, it was recognised that mental health classes need to be implemented into the school curriculum via the training of teachers to target young people.

Source: DPI