Barbados Established A Mental Health & Wellness Committee

Julie Carrington, GIS Barbados – Cognisant of the difficulties students faced over the past year as they navigated online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Education, Technological and Vocational Training, has established a Mental Health and Wellness Committee to identify suitable activities for students.

Chief Education Officer, Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw, said the mental health and wellness of children is important, and she informed the nation during a press conference at Ilaro Court today, that the Committee’s work was well advanced.

Among the activities identified, she noted were a students’ support group and a students’ hotline, where persons could call and share their experiences, if they so desired, stressing that additional information on the activities would be shared in the near future.

Dr Archer-Bradshaw noted that apart from mental health and wellness, attention would be paid to the student’s physical health since studies have shown that sitting in front of a computer for hours led to a sedentary lifestyle.

“We have been meeting with members of the PAHO and also other organisations to discuss how we can address this particular issue. The Education Officer at the Ministry of Education, Mrs Phillips Boyce, has already outlined the plan of action moving forward to get our students active. One of them, I recall, is called a Macarena moment, where students at a particular point in time, will stand, stretch, exercise,[and] just get the body moving.