From left: Kennecy Hayes-Davis, Ministry of Education, Region Five; Dr Beverley Scott, executive director of the Family and Parenting Centre; Richard Buchanan, chairman of National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica, Region Four and Ethnie Harvey, education officer in the Guidance Counselling Unit, Region Four, were given handbooks at the launch of the Postive Parenting and Violence Prevention Workshop at The Wexford Hotel in Montego Bay last Wednesday. - photos by Sheena Gayle

Western Bureau:

Parents and education stakeholders across Jamaica will seek to assist in the reduction of violence against children, with the hosting of positive parenting and violence-prevention workshops by the Family and Parenting Centre in Montego Bay.

"We are losing our children to crime and the incidents of violence, so this project is timely and is aimed at promoting positive parenting practices and improving the ability of child-care practitioners to recognise the signs of abuse," executive director at the Family and Parenting Centre, Dr Beverley Scott, said at the launch of the initiative at The Wexford Hotel in Montego Bay, last Wednesday.

One-year initiative

Scott, who is also a practising child and family therapist revealed that the project was a one-year initiative from March 2009-February 2010 in collaboration with the British High Commission, Ministry of Education Guidance Counselling Unit, National Parent Teachers' Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ), Safe Schools Programme and the University of the West Indies.

She further noted, "Over the next 12 months we will be training 250 therapists, 1,000 guidance counsellors coupled with over 2,000 parents and members of the National Parent Teachers' Association of Jamaica. After which, therapists will be given the Understanding Childhood Disorders handbooks; parents, the Positive Parenting handbook and practitioners, the Trauma Treatment for Children handbook".

Dr Beverley Scott, executive director, Family and Parenting Centre.

According to Richard Buchanan, chairman of the NPTAJ for Region 4 (which includes St James, Hanover, Westmoreland) this programme is critical in filling the huge gap in positive parenting.

He argued, "for parents, these workshops will go a far way in helping them understand their children and their different moods and attitudes. Parenting skills are lacking as it is displayed in the way the children behave on the streets and at school."

Buchanan, who is also the president of the Anchovy High School Parent Teachers' Association, stated that he had noticed where parents were showing an interest in programmes like these and had encouraged other non-profit organisation to initiate similar projects that could help persons become better parents.

sheena.gayle@gleanerjm.com