Last Saturday, October 10, was World Mental Health Day and, on its website, the World Health Organisation offered the theme “Lived Experiences Heard: Real Voices, Real Change”; aspirational, but not often translated into action. People whose experiences should help inform policies, services and decisions tend to be treated as recipients of care rather than participants who can identify shortcomings in the system, challenge stigma and ensure that services respond to actual needs. Those who do speak up risk being labelled as problematic or having their diagnoses used against them.
Another problem is that designated observances have, for the most part, been losing their impact. There are the usual calls to break the stigma, encourage people to seek help and remind those who are struggling that they are not alone. And while these are important messages, they are not enough. There is a need to take a deeper look at the social conditions, cultural changes and institutional failures that contribute to psychological distress.
In a recent interview with Kiskadee Watch, clinical and educational psychologist Wil Campbell spoke of the pressures confronting children, the diminishing involvement of parents in their lives, the demands placed on teachers and the weakening of community relationships. These are issues that have been raised before, but they bear reiterating, particularly as they have implications for the mental well-being of both children and adults.
He referenced the National Grade Six Assessment and Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate examinations; academic milestones around which family routines and children’s lives are organised. In fact, the pressure to secure places at prestigious schools or accumulate impressive numbers of passes has taken the form of a millstone. So much so that children’s mental well-being can be compromised in the pursuit of academic success.
This is a sad state of affairs because while academic achievement matters, it is not the only measure of a child’s potential or worth. When children are sacrificed at the altar of examination results, we risk producing adults who are academically accomplished on paper, but insufficiently equipped to cope with the complexities of life. Play, social interaction and the opportunity to develop relationships are not distractions from a child’s education. They are essential to the development of resilience, emotional maturity and the ability to navigate challenges. Yet these are often the very things sacrificed to make room for extra lessons, homework and intensive preparation for examinations.
If data from the past decade were collected as research, the recommendation would be for parents, educators and those in authority to reconsider what constitutes success. This is not to suggest that children should be discouraged from striving for excellence, but achieving that accomplishment should not be narrowed down to examination results at the expense of other aspects of their development. A society that is concerned about the mental health of its young people must be willing to question the expectations it places on them.
Mr Campbell also raised concerns about children’s burgeoning dependence on electronic devices. He noted that these cannot replace meaningful engagement or the emotional support that comes from face-to-face interaction. It is also well known that the erosion of community ties has weakened the informal networks through which families once received practical assistance. The ‘villages’ that helped raise the current generation are disappearing as individualism and the pursuit of material possessions take precedence. The resulting isolation is a cause for concern, particularly since meaningful social connections are essential to mental well-being.
Referring to research he and a colleague conducted two years ago, Mr Campbell told this newspaper that more than 40 percent of the local teachers studied were experiencing burnout. These are the people who are expected to educate, discipline, motivate and provide emotional support to children, often while working with limited resources and insufficient recognition. Can their own well-being really be treated as an afterthought when the quality of education depends so heavily on them?
It stands to reason that mental health initiatives must move beyond platitudes and into schools, workplaces, families and communities. Teachers need adequate resources, practical support and opportunities to protect their own mental health. Parents need guidance on responding to the pressures confronting children. Schools, indeed, the entire education administration should examine whether the current expectations and workloads allow children sufficient time for rest, play and social development.
At the national level, there has been some expansion and decentralisation of mental health services and this is welcome, along with the growing willingness to discuss mental illnesses and normalise treatment. However, more comprehensive and preemptive measures are necessary now to address, where pertinent, the underlying causes of psychological distress. Common sense and history both tell us that it would be better to confront contributory factors at the source, rather than wait until a crisis forces intervention.
Suicide prevention is a case in point. Efforts must be sustained and broadened to ensure that it is not reduced to annual awareness campaigns and emergency responses to self-harm. This would include, but not be limited to, addressing the circumstances that leave people feeling overwhelmed or without options and making support readily accessible, necessitating coordination among health professionals, educators, social services, families and communities.
Suffice to say that the real measure of commitment to this cause will not be the speeches, campaigns or annual observances, but whether we can build a society in which people are less likely to be pushed into crisis and where they can readily access support when they need it. In short, beyond preaching resilience, the government through its agencies must demonstrate its commitment through sustained action and ensure that those responsible are held accountable.
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