MoBay High shoring up mental wellness services
IN THE wake of the recent loss of a student via suicide, the St James-based Montego Bay High School for Girls is bolstering its mental wellness and social development efforts for its students and teachers, including plans to receive a second guidance counsellor to serve its population.
Andrea Wakeland, the school’s acting principal, outlined the institution’s plans yesterday in an interview with The Gleaner following the official unveiling of the school’s new ‘wellness bench’ for students, which was done as part of a school wellness check-in by Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton.
“We have been operating for many years with only one guidance counsellor. Prior to the pandemic, it was really adequate, as we did not have many challenges. Generally, with the one guidance counsellor, as well as with teachers, we have to play a role in guiding and instructing, but we have found that, increasingly over the past few years, our children need even more support than before,” Wakeland explained.
“Stress will come, but it’s just how we deal with it. We’re certainly trying to shore up our capabilities, and I know our guidance department is looking at executing even more programmes to assist our students and all the stakeholders,” Wakeland added.
They have brought in counsellors for even our teachers, and they have started this initiative of having parenting seminars, and they had one stress relief session with the parents earlier this year where they were treated to spa massages, pedicures, just to help them to de-stress. We realise it has to be a whole school effort, because the stress is coming from all corners, and we can’t just sit and hope it’s going to get better.”
Montego Bay High School, which has a population of approximately 800 students, was thrown into mourning last weekend following the death of one of its students, 16-year-old Kimora Williams, on Saturday, March 2. According to reports, Kimora was found hanging from a grille at her Bogue Village home with a cord around her neck, in what is believed to be an act of suicide, after efforts to call her phone were unsuccessful.
Wakeland noted that the efforts to procure a second guidance counsellor for the school were already underway even before Kimora’s passing.
“Even prior to this incident, we were in the process of receiving even more support, as we have been recently approved for a second guidance counsellor to shore up our capabilities in terms of being able to really help our students here. We are looking forward to even more resources coming our way,” said Wakeland.
“In general, the school population has been dealing with loss, as a number of students have lost relatives in motor vehicle accidents and so on. From September 2023, it has been a period of loss… every week, every month, we have to be dealing with supporting students, staff members, and those in our wider community like parents and guardians,” Wakeland outlined.
It is also understood that representatives from the Ministry of Education have been providing support to the school and to Kimora’s family since Monday, in dealing with the loss of the teenager.
Meanwhile, during his interaction with the Montego Bay High students yesterday, Tufton pointed out that it is important for persons to have a “safe space” or a trusted confidant in coping with the stresses of life.
“People don’t talk anymore about mental illness, and you have other names for it that we don’t encourage, like ‘mad’. You see people on the street sleeping and they don’t have anywhere to live, or a man is making a whole heap of funny sounds, and we all say, ‘Oh my God, I am not like that, I don’t want to be like that’. But mental wellness is a state of mind that you have to actively cultivate, and if you do that, you can literally achieve anything you want to achieve,” said Tufton. “None of us are an island; none of us can exist on our own in totality. We have control of the brain and how we think, but it is always better to have someone you can confide in,” Tufton continued. “When it becomes too stressful, not only are you to look for a safe space, you must try to find a safe person, somebody you can express yourself to, somebody you can talk to, somebody you can feel free to express whatever the issues are, who is not going to judge, who is not going to condemn you, and who is not going to say things that make you feel bad about yourself.”
The presentation of the wellness bench, which is representative of a safe space for students to escape the stresses of life, was part of an ongoing mental wellness campaign where students are encouraged to unburden themselves. The initiative forms part of the #DoYourShare antistigma campaign which was officially launched in October 2022, to prioritise the creation of safe spaces for young people who may be struggling with mental health challenges.