And in other news…. Coastguard, Police officers and BDF soldiers engaged in a Mental health training today under the Ministry of Health and Wellness.
The 2 day workshop focuses on improving and equipping these first responders with the skills to not only manage their mental health in times of crisis but also assist victims in moments of distress. Jomarie Lanza stopped in at the workshop and here's what she gathered.
They are the first responders in times of crisis but in the aftermath of an accident or traumatic incident, how do these service men cope in the aftermath? When they need to remain calm when on the job? The Ministry of Health and Wellness is currently working to provide psychological first aid stakeholders training for these entities, providing them with the skills to not only respond but also take care of their mental well being in the service as well.
Iveth Quintanilla - Mental Health Coordinator, MOHW
"So participation today is for first responders. We have the Belize Coast Guard, the Defense Force. The Belize Police Department, we have traffic wardens as well, and we are doing training on psychological first aid. We have seen the rise in traffic incidents, fires, in different things, crises that are happening across the country so we are providing this training so that they are better prepared in terms of the response that they are supposed to be providing. Oftentimes the focus is on you know the physical injuries and we tend to forget the emotional aspect when people are affected by these different sorts of traumas that are occurring throughout the country and as well because of the constant exposure that they are getting to the different traumas, they themselves can be affected. So we are trying to provide them with the skills so that they are able to take care of their own emotional well being as well."
Quintanilla explains that at times the public overlooks the emotional and mental trauma that gets tied up in these events as they unfold. She went on to discuss psychological first aid and how it can be administered.
Iveth Quintanilla - Mental Health Coordinator, MOHW
"So psychological first aid is a humane response to the different traumas, disasters that are faced and 3 things that we normally teach people are to look, to listen and to link. These are the basis of the psychological first aid, and like I said it is in their line of duty then this is what we are focusing on for them to be able to provide the support to the public. So our focus is that the mind and the body are not separate it is always, anyone has mental health and it can also result in mental illness if we do not take care of our mental health so we are trying to change how we speak in terms of mental health, we are trying to change the stigma, the discrimination associated whenever we speak about mental health, because we know it is very common in our country and most of them time like I said the focus is on our physical health but we tend to forget, taking care of our mind as well so that is what we are trying to change as we move along."
And so far these service men are very receptive to all they've been learning on day one of the training. They explained how this information is useful in their line of work.
Sgt Leon Ferguson - Instructor, National Police Training Academy
"So one of the things I am hoping to achieve is to understand post traumatic stress disorder because one of the things we have noticed in the Belize police department is that a lot of police officers are going through lots of stuff we have seen police officers dropping with sickness, health issues, financial issues and a lot of stuff so I am hoping to get information to help these officers because recently we had sent out a survey across the Belize police department that should help us to understand or to create a safe place for our police officers, to provide peer support for our officers so I am hoping to get as much information as I can from this training so I can take it back at our department for us to create this safe place for police officers to come in and speak about any PTSD any stuff they are going through, we just want to create a safe space for them."
Chief Ken Neal - Health Service Technician, Belize Coast Guard
"So we basically are participating by bringing a crowd of people over here it is about 7 or 8 of us and we basically bring our experience and expertise to this training and I think it will help us a whole lot especially when we go back because at the end of the day we are first responders. So basically sometimes we respond to what we call SAR cases maybe retrieving the victim from the water and sometimes a boating incident that people may sustain certain types of injuries. Apart of our culture when it comes to comes to mental health and screening and stuff like that as Belizeans and as service men we tend to avoid seeking help when it comes to mental screening. But in the coast guard especially in my job spec if I would come across anyone that needs it I would therefore get them the help that they need so we can combat such issue."