Africa-Press – Botswana. Providing early intervention and continuous support could have a positive impact on a child’s mental health, resilience and overall quality of life.
Speaking during a press briefing in Gaborone on Wednesday, the country representative for Regional Psycho-social Support Initiative (REPSSI) Mr David Kanje said it was time to game up towards mental health.
Mr Kanje said mental health was the engine in which everything was controlled, therefore, it was high time the emotional, psychological and social assistance is provided to children to help them cope with and overcome various challenges and stressors in their lives.
He highlighted that children may face a range of issues that could affect their psychosocial and mental health and or face a range of issues that could affect their psychosocial development including trauma, loss, family disruptions, bullying, academic stress and more.
He said it was important therefore that mental health be attended to at an early age in life, saying that could help curb social ills that had since taken control of the country.
He said it was time to introspect and change the way they have been doing things.
Meanwhile, he said the REPSSI in partnership with the Ministry of Local government and Rural Development would hold the seventh Regional/National Mental Health and Psycho-social Support Forum in Francistown from October 2-5, under the theme; Mental Health in Context.
Mr Kanje said the forum would explore the social, cultural, geographical, economic determinants of mental health, ‘taking into consideration the humanitarian, development–peace nexus.”
He pointed out that the forum would interrogate the correlation between mental health outcomes, mental health interventions and services and other priority wellbeing outcomes for all African children and youth in a world that was recovering from the impact of COVID-19, impacted by war and climate change.
He said key thematic issues for discussions would include Child Rights and Protection, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, HIV Prevention and Management, Education, Early Childhood Development, Disability Inclusion Pandemics and Technology.
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