Barbados is being called on to move aggressively to expand mental services so more troubled teens can have faster access to care.
That is the advice of Barbadian Dr Myrna Lashley, a prominent psychology professor at Canada’s prestigious McGill University, Montreal.
She said that with some young people considering or committing suicide, the situation had taken on an air of urgency.
“The evidence which supports the need for expanded care is already there in Barbados and that’s why we should begin to think of community level counselling and we have to look at setting up peer counselling in some of the schools,” Lashley said.
“The peer counsellors are not mental health professionals, but they can be trained, for instance, to engage in active listening that can help others, especially people of their age group.”
In addition to her classroom and clinical work, Lashley advises federal, provincial and local government agencies and institutions on how they should deal with social challenges confronting young people.
“A critical mental challenge, for example, is showing children that they are loved and cared for. We need to create an atmosphere within the neighbourhoods, the communities and in the schools where there are places of comfort and safety for children . . . . Of course, we must add discipline within our children in and out of the home, so they are taught how to behave and how to act with their peers.”
As she saw it, there was an urgent need to lower the imposing pressures on children by frequently referring to the importance of going to traditional high-powered secondary schools.
“We need to stop giving the impression that everyone needs to attend a traditional high school or even university to be successful in their career choices, be they plumbers, electricians, technicians, skilled artisans, if that’s what young people wish to become,” she said. “We should find those children who have the acumen, the interest and the talent in areas outside of the university.
“I want to see Barbados stop this nonsense of who went to which high school. That is so passé,” added Lashley, who is highly regarded in various parts of Canada for her scholarship and work.
“What is also important is everyone must be treated with the same respect regardless of their ethnicity, social class status or educational level. They must not be treated as inferior beings because they did not attend a university in or out of Barbados.”
She said prejudicial behaviour by adults dealing with young people may be creating additional pressures on the youth, something they do not need.