Experts gather to improve services for society’s most vulnerable people
Two-day session hosted in Dubai focuses on children and people with mental health issues
Tackling juvenile crime, protecting children from abuse and helping people with mental health problems are among the key aims of a Dubai government strategy set out yesterday.
Experts on the front lines dealing with such cases lent their voices to a two-day Creative Labs session in Dubai with the aim of ensuring the success of government initiatives.
“This helps put together concrete action plans on how we can either accelerate initiatives, reach targets by 2021 or discuss challenges and obstacles that hinder us,” said Aisha Miran, assistant secretary general for strategy, management and governance with the Executive Council of Dubai, which organised the sessions.
Safeguard Our Kids, an initiative handled by the Community Development Authority to provide a secure environment for children, was among eight topics discussed yesterday.
“We want to ensure that we have the right mechanisms in place, the right policies, procedures and services to protect a child from abuse,” Ms Miran said. “But if that child is abused how can we deal with that child?
“So we have people from the security services, social sector, talking about how they can ensure rehabilitation and the inclusion of the children back into the community.
“We also want to be able to detect cases early and ensure we have a central data base rather than a scattered effort.”
The projects range from No Going Back – handled by Dubai Police to deter youth and juvenile crime – to Art Everywhere, that will use art to improve patients’ sense of wellbeing. Hospitals including Hatta, Al Jalila and Latifa will be redecorated with artwork to assist the healing process.
The subject of mental health was also discussed, with emphasis on spreading awareness and removing stigma. The sessions were run by Dubai Health Authority and the Community Development Authority.
“We want to talk about how better to identify mental health risks early, and, once diagnosed, how can this be treated. How can we make young people aware?
“We want to bring the health authorities and the community together,” Ms Miran said.
The World Health Organisation listed depression as the leading cause of ill health and disability worldwide in March last year, with rates rising by more than 18 per cent since 2005.
The illness is a high-risk factor for suicide, which claims hundreds of thousands of lives each year. A lack of support for those with mental health problems combined with the fear of stigma means many do not get the treatment they require, a WHO report revealed.
Health professionals gave their support to the strategy.
“The barriers we face are in empowering people to access services. With education, we can spread more information,” said Dr Yaseen Aslam, consultant psychiatrist and medical director of the Psychiatry and Therapy Centre in Dubai Healthcare City.
“Awareness can be spread through government campaigns, by providing increased resources in schools, colleges and communities, and making sure children in schools have access to school counsellors for psychological issues.”
Among the signs to watch for in children are behavioural changes, social isolation and withdrawal, Dr Aslam said.
The programmes also tackle ways of making Emiratis financially independent.
Empower Me seeks to enable and encourage nationals to join the workforce as entrepreneurs or as employees in the private or public sectors.
Creative Lab sessions have led to awards from the Mohammed bin Rashid Distinguished Students Programme for improving the performance of Emirati students, a librarians’ award, good ratings for small and medium enterprises, and plans to see that court case directives will be issued in a single day.