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Spend Quality Time and Listen to Your Children advises UWI’s Professor Wendel Abel

For Release Upon Receipt - October 5, 2019

St. Augustine


UWI’s Professor Wendel Abel advises parents and educators on early detection of mental health issues

 [L-R] Mr. Keston Nancoo, Advisor, Guardian Life of the Caribbean Ltd; Dr Margo Burns, Director, The UWI St. Augustine Campus Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning; Professor Wendel Abel, Professor of Mental Health Policy and Head of the Department of Community Health and Psychiatry at the Faculty of Medical Sciences, The UWI Mona Campus; Ms. Samanta Saugh, Vice President of Finance, Guardian Life of the Caribbean Ltd; and Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal of The UWI St. Augustine Professor Brian Copeland at The UWI/Guardian Group Premium Open Lecture.

ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad and Tobago. October 5, 2019 –50 per cent of mental disorders begin by age 14 and 50 per cent of cases are untreated. These were some of the startling statistics shared by Professor Wendel Abel, Professor of Mental Health Policy and Head of the Department of Community Health and Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medical Sciences at The UWI Mona Campus. Professor Abel revealed this information as he delivered the 2019 UWI/Guardian Group Premium Open Lecture.

This year’s lecture, which took place at The Daaga Auditorium at The UWI St Augustine Campus on Friday, September 27, 2019, focused on the theme, “Making a Difference in Education: Tackling Mental Health Issues.” During his presentation, Professor Abel explored problems in the Caribbean education system such as stress, suicide, trauma including adverse childhood experiences, crime and violence, as well as substance abuse. He emphasised the need for increased mental health literacy in the education system to reduce stigma and discrimination and encourage greater acceptance. He also explained how the education system provides the ideal context to promote positive development and mental well-being from an early age, “A culture of listening and caring and inclusion of more life skills component in the school curriculum can help students to cope with the stresses of life.”

Professor Abel, who has been a policy advisor and advocate for mental health in the Caribbean for many years, called on parents to focus on bonding with their children, especially in their first 1000 days from conception. He recommended a non-judgmental approach when disciplining children as they respond more positively to interactions that express kindness, patience, acceptance and listening.

“Many parents still think that children should be seen and not heard, find time to sit and listen to your child. Children need love and to feel loved. For children love is spelt T-I-M-E. Tell them you love them; fathers should do this too” advised Professor Abel.

He explained that spending quality time can boost children’s happiness and self-esteem whilst allowing parents to be more aware of their mental well-being and provide guidance: “The greatest agony is that untold story inside of you. Do not force individuals to tell. The slower you go the faster you get there”.

Pro Vice-Chancellor and Campus Principal of The UWI St. Augustine, Professor Brian Copeland explained that under The UWI’s current Triple A Strategic Plan (which places an emphasis on Access, Alignment and Agility) the UWI-Guardian Group lecture series encourages “Student Centeredness-Building Resilience”.

“These lectures invite participation from the wider public as part of our strategic intent to elevate teaching and learning at The UWI and nationally.  We aim to expose participants to the standards of effective teaching practice and situate teaching within the context of Student Centeredness and the need to build resilience among our student population. This year, we will focus on ideas, approaches and tips to improve how mental health issues are managed at The UWI, across Trinidad and Tobago and within the Caribbean,” Copeland said.

Ms. Samanta Saugh, Vice President of Finance, Guardian Life of the Caribbean Ltd, expressed the commitment of Guardian Life and by extension the Guardian Group to its partnership with The UWI and making a difference in education and its contribution to society at large: “This year’s topic addresses an issue that is notoriously forgotten in the minds of many institutions, particularly employers. Mental health issues can’t be seen or felt by others unaffected… and we know that in this country once you have mental issues, you are labelled as ‘mad’; it is also often not given the type of attention and energy required to help those who may be unable to function as they normally would. It is critical that all strata of society and persons sitting at various levels of our organisations become more sensitised to this issue and are able to interact with individuals suffering from mental health illnesses to bring the balance that is so needed for us to effectively function cohesively.”

This year marks 21 years that The UWI and Guardian Group have partnered in staging – in alternate years – the Premium Teaching Awards and the Premium Open Lecture.

End

About Professor Wendel Abel

Professor Abel completed his medical training at The University of the West Indies (The UWI) and Johns Hopkins University in the United States. He has a Bachelor of Medicine, a Bachelor of Surgery, a Doctorate in Psychiatry and a Masters in Public Health. He is a Professor of Mental Health Policy Advisor and Head of the Department of Community Health and Psychiatry at The UWI Mona Campus.  He is also the Senior Consultant Psychiatrist at the University Hospital of the West Indies. His work in Academic Psychiatry involves the training of medical doctors, psychiatrists and other professionals in behavioural disciplines.  He has written more than 83 journal articles, several technical reports and book chapters which focus on a range of mental health issues. Professor Abel has been a policy advisor and advocate for mental health in Jamaica and the Caribbean for many years. He has played a critical role in shaping public policy for persons living with all disabilities, including mental disabilities. He has worked with agencies such as the Organisation of American States (OAS), Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), the European Union (EU) and CARICOM and this has facilitated several policy and programme initiatives such as the integration of mental health into education and primary health care, the reintegration of deportees, drug and violence prevention and treatment, and marijuana policy reform.

About The UWI

For more than 70 years The University of the West Indies (The UWI) has provided service and leadership to the Caribbean region and wider world. The UWI evolved from a university college of London in Jamaica with 33 medical students in 1948 to an internationally respected, regional university with near 50,000 students across five campuses: Cave Hill in Barbados; Five Islands in Antigua and Barbuda; Mona in Jamaica, St. Augustine in Trinidad and Tobago; and an Open Campus. Times Higher Education has ranked The UWI among the top 1,258 universities in world for 2019, and the 40 best universities in its Latin America Rankings for 2018 and 2019. The UWI is the only Caribbean-based university to make the prestigious lists.

As part of its robust globalization agenda, The UWI has established partnering centres with universities in North America, Latin America, Asia, and Africa including the State University of New York (SUNY)-UWI Center for Leadership and Sustainable Development; the Canada-Caribbean Studies Institute with Brock University; the Strategic Alliance for Hemispheric Development with Universidad de los Andes (UNIANDES); The UWI-China Institute of Information Technology, the University of Lagos (UNILAG)-UWI Institute of African and Diaspora Studies and the Institute for Global African Affairs with the University of Johannesburg (UJ). The UWI offers over 800 certificate, diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate degree options in Food & Agriculture, Engineering, Humanities & Education, Law, Medical Sciences, Science & Technology, Social Sciences and Sport. As the region’s premier research academy, The UWI’s foremost objective is driving the growth and development of the regional economy. For more, visit www.uwi.edu.

(Please note that the proper name of the university is The University of the West Indies, inclusive of the “The”, hence The UWI.)

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