App offers mental health support for children

Acting Director of the Barbados Child Care Board (CCB) Colin St Hill says closures, frequent testing and strict adherence to the COVID-19 protocols are the measures the agency will maintain into 2022.

Speaking at Friday’s launch of the MyChild Helpline App, St Hill said the pandemic has been a challenging time for staff but has been even harder for children in their care who felt isolated and deprived of regular activities.

He said the 52-year-old Board was forced to adjust its operations because of the pandemic.

“They cannot go out and play as normal, they have to social distance from some of their family members and friends, so it really isn’t business as usual for the children,” St Hill said.

The Acting Director said that the new normal has taken a toll on parents as well as many facing their personal struggles brought on by the pandemic. He said that in light of these challenges, the MyChild Helpline App is timely.

St Hill commended UNICEF for coming up with the idea of the app.

“What I’ve seen so far, the app is supposed to be a safe space for children to go,” he said.

The MyChild Helpline App was developed as an innovative way to provide remote mental health and psychological support to children and their families. It is available from Google Play and the App Store.

Representative of UNICEF Eastern Caribbean Dr Aloys Kamuragiye said that through the app, children can get quick and easy access to direct psychological support, counselling, and information to re-establish a sense of safety.

He said while the impact and long-term fallout of COVID-19 is still unclear, the mental health and psychological effect on the lives of children and adolescents and their families will be significant.

The UNICEF representative said ensuring support for families during the pandemic has heightened the need to adopt approaches through the use of remote technologies for psychological support.

“The app was initially developed in partnership with ChildLine Trinidad and Tobago as an innovation in the provision of remote mental health and psychosocial support to children and their families and is currently accessible to children and caregivers.

“UNICEF Office for the Eastern Caribbean Area (ECA) has scaled-up the app to cover, in the first phase, four additional countries out of the 12 countries covered under the office’s Multi-Country Programme – these are Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Grenada and St Vincent and the Grenadines. Today, we join with these countries in the rollout of the MyChild Helpline App as we maintain UNICEF’s commitment to keeping children as outlined in its Convention for the Rights of the Child,” Dr Aloys said. (AH)