SUNDAY 23 APRIL, 2017 – UWI TODAY
9
UWI IN SOCIETY
This pastMarch a horrific video
went viral online of a group
of students from the Mayaro Composite Secondary School
savagely beating another student, leaving her unconscious
in a drain. It was the latest in a trend of news stories, more
than one exploding first on social media, showing students
engaged in dysfunctional behaviours such as violence,
vandalism and sexual activity. As the society grapples with
the causes behind these incidents a team from The UWI
is looking at a very specific risk factor – substance abuse.
“The high use of alcohol and other drugs by students,
exacerbated by the apparent easy access to the substances is
a cause for serious concern,” states the overview document
for a one-day workshop to help professionals recognise and
treat the young people abusing alcohol, cigarettes, marijuana
and hard drugs.
The statistics are stark. “In Trinidad and Tobago, the
prevalence of current alcohol use among students overall is
42.5%. The prevalence of lifetime drug use was 13.6%,” says
Dr. Emmanuel Janagan Johnson, Lecturer and Coordinator
in the Social Work Unit of the Department of Behavioural
Sciences.
The workshop, “Strategies for the prevention of drug
abuse and trauma amongst adolescents in Trinidad and
Tobago”, was hosted by the Social Work Unit on March 21
at the Faculty of Social Sciences Lounge. Participants were
made up primarily of professional social workers from
Government ministries, schools, medical institutions and
other areas dealing with youth.They learned about the heavy
toll of substance abuse on young lives.
“There are many negative outcomes,” Dr. Johnson
says. He outlines signs and symptoms such as trauma,
troubled relationships, thinking problems, emotional pain
and risky behaviour. Aggressive and violent behaviour are
also symptoms of substance abuse and could be playing a
role in incidents that not only spill out of the school but
can also lead to serious injury and death. On March 29 it
was reported that a 14- and 15-year old student from the
Barrackpore East Secondary School “savagely beat” a taxi
driver who refused to pick them up. The week before, the
body of a 16-year-old was found in a drain just outside the
compound of the Waterloo Secondary School.
But what is causing students as young as nine (the
average age is 13) to start abusing substances?
“There are several factors, starting with the family,”
Dr. Johnson says. “A recent study conducted by the World
Health Organisation (WHO) in Trinidad reports that
students’ first exposure to drinking alcohol was by family
members in childhood or experimentation later.”
Families may either be permissive in allowing children
to abuse substances or indoctrinate them into a culture
in which substances are frequently used. Alternatively,
families in which the child has poor supervision contribute
to substance abuse. In these instances other factors,
such as peer group, easy access and the omnipresence of
advertising and marketing that promotes substances, can
have a greater impact.
“Substances are everywhere. These children have
busy parents. I know parents who drop their children to
school in the morning and do not see them until late in
the evening. The children barely see the parent’s face all
day,” says Dr. Johnson.
MORE SOCIAL WORKERS THE SOLUTION
The workshop was about more than identifying
the problem and its causes. Facilitators also focused on
treatment strategies and resources. In fact, one of the
main solutions offered to curb not only substance abuse in
schools but also trauma and its consequences is to increase
the number of social workers in the education system.
Dr. Johnson says: “we need more social workers
because of the increase in these attitudes from students.
The teachers cannot do the parenting. That is not their job.
The principal cannot do it. Appointing social workers in
schools is the future of education.”
He explained that a social worker is capable of
handling up to 250 students: “I 100% guarantee that if
there is a school with 1,000 students and you appoint four
social workers the behaviour of the students will improve
dramatically.”
The Social Work Unit is also approaching the issue
of substance issue through research. Supported by The
UWI’s Research and Publication Fund, the Unit intends to
carry out a nationwide data collection exercise in schools,
working with the Ministry of Education and the schools’
student support services. The study will select schools with
a higher prevalence of substance abuse among students.
The substance abuse workshop was part of the project,
although focused on the training aspect for social workers.
This is timely and relevant research as the violence
in schools in March alone has brought the issue to the
forefront of the public consciousness once more. Perhaps,
through the research and engagement exercises of the
Social WorkUnit, we aremoving closer to finding solutions
that will not only curb the violent and dysfunctional
activity but also heal the emotional wounds of the students
involved.
A DRINK BEFORE CLASS
Social Work workshop tackles substance abuse and its violent consequences
B Y J O E L H E N R Y
Wendell C. Wallace
“I 100% guarantee that
if there is a school with
1,000 students and
you appoint four social
workers the behaviour
of the students will
improve dramatically.”
Dr. Emmanuel
Janagan Johnson
