Published 10 March 2021
Basseterre
Buckie Got It, St. Kitts and Nevis News Source
GUIDANCE COUNSELLORS, PROBATION AND CHILD PROTECTION OFFICERS TRAINED TO BETTER ASSIST YOUTH DEALING WITH SUBSTANCE ABUSE
Basseterre, St. Kitts, March 10, 2021 (SKNIS): A group comprising close to 20 Secondary School Guidance Counsellors and Probation and Child Protection Officers is now better equipped to help youth who are dealing with substance abuse after participating in a day-long training session.
The training took place on March 08, 2021, at the Chamber of Industry and Commerce Headquarters in Fortlands. It was hosted by St. Kitts and Nevis National Council on Drug Abuse Prevention.
Each participant received a manual designed to help train substance abuse treatment counsellors to conduct a brief five-session treatment intervention for adolescents with cannabis use disorders. It combines two sessions of Motivational Enhancement Therapy (MET) provided individually and three sessions of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) provided in a group format. The programme is referred to as MET/CBT5. The MET sessions focus on factors that motivate clients to change. In the CBT sessions, clients learn skills to cope with problems and meet their needs in ways that do not involve turning to marijuana.
According to the course facilitator, Zahra Jacobs, who is a Counsellor in the Ministry of Social Development, there is also the option of extending the programme to 10 sessions. Ms. Jacobs said the activity was important because it had become necessary to increase the number of persons who were trained to help young people end their use of cannabis.
“The idea is that there are about half a dozen of us who have done training in this specifically, but half a dozen people are not enough to cover the extent of the challenge that we are facing with substance use with young people in S. Kitts and Nevis…the hope is that people are going to be able to roll this out in their own schools with the support of Officers from Probation and Child Protection and the support of the National Drug Council,” Ms. Jacobs explained.
She described the session as “highly interactive.”
“I mean I’m working with people who know what it’s like [and] what young people are going through. They’re very much in the field so I think it’s very reality-based. This is not theoretical in any way, this is practical. They’re bringing up some real-life things. Sometimes when we do training it’s just a, ‘well this is what could happen’ [but] these are people who know what could happen so we’re troubleshooting things on the spot which is great,” she added. “So we have been discussing even just the logistics of what it’s like. Does a programme like this need to happen during the school day? After school? What are the supports playing through it? And yeah it’s been going great.”
St. Kitts and Nevis National Council on Drug Abuse Prevention also has a training session planned for Nevis.
