Good Monday morning everyone. We hope the weekend was refreshing.
So across the world there continue to be diverse reports on the way countries are coping with Covid-19.
In the Caribbean, there has been a sense of relief after the USA indicated that it will donate millions of doses of Covid-19 vaccines to the region and Latin America.
As a consequence, there have been hopeful statements that schools may reopen in September 2021, after having been shuttered since February and March 2020 in some countries.
However, such reopening may well release a new "threat" - the capacity of school based or assigned mental health professionals to deal with the possible challenges being faced by millions of returning primary, secondary and tertiary students across the Caribbean and CARICOM region.
The fortunate reality is that many children and young people demonstrate resilience and the hope is that the majority will adapt and move forward with minimal long-lasting adverse effects.
However, the closure of schools for more than 1 year denied many already vulnerable children access to a place where learning was mixed with safety from abuse and harm, or provided them a daily opportunity for a healthy meal and safe, social interaction and caring.
In addition, many children skipped medical visits due to covid-19. Thus, education staff and primary care providers - 2 significant mandated reporters - were not able to detect children's well-being and intervene for their protection.
So, as school doors prepare to reopen across the Caribbean and CARICOM, teachers (most of whom are not trained in mental health) are likely to be overwhelmed as they work with their charges and cope with their own Covid-19 related challenges.
While there is concern for the academic future of our children after more than a year of inequitable access to online learning, among other challenges, the Mental Health of the children, their parents and teachers matters just as much, and even more.
No two persons, be they adult or child, have been impacted in the same way and not two will respond in the same way. The need for expanded social work support is dire.
Where the number of State-hired or provided school social workers and guidance officers is small, there will be a need for community based and empowered personnel who can play a meaningful role to help our children, their parents and school staff to navigate a post-covid system.
We are all in this together, citizens of the world. We all need Hope and we can all extend a listening ear, a smile or encouraging word to another person.
May we seek ways to become assets to our community and be humble enough to seek support ourselves when we are in need.
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