The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for more mental health support services and St Philip North Member of Parliament Dr Sonia Browne is urging locals to use natural resources in order to take care of their health.
She was speaking during the celebration of Caribbean Wellness Day on Saturday September 10, 2022 at the National Botanical Gardens.
While making reference to the push of green spaces by the Mia Mottley administration, Dr Browne made the plea for locals to get out more in nature especially when feeling stressed.
“We are standing in the National Botanical Gardens and it has turned out to be a lovely day, the expanse is good, we have children running around and this is one of the areas that I would definitely support,” she said.
While also recalling the work the government has been doing in creating green spaces Dr Browne pointed out that they are vitally important.
“Green spaces are an important objective of the present administration. We need parks and green spaces and it is my hope that the roadways are made even safer so that people can walk and exercise and ride and everything,” she added.
“It’s an environment of peace so I would like to see areas in Barbados where every district or area would have a park where you can just be at peace with nature,” she added.
CEO of Supreme Counseling and member of the National Task Force on Health and Wellness Shawn Clarke also called on Barbadians to “get outside more” when it comes to health and wellness.
“[They] should find those spaces to be able to deal with stress and to destress from the situation that is happening. Oftentimes stress are things that happen indoors, whether it is something that happens at work or in the home,” he said.
He also called on persons to get out to the beach more even if they don’t go into the water as a means of helping with mental clarity.
“So it is good for us to turn to those natural resources, go to the beach, you don’t even have to go in the water. Go and look at the ocean because that has a very calming effect – come into places like Botanical Gardens or a park,” he added.
“Anywhere that is open air that Barbadians can get that fresh air that they can deal with the stresses -it is a good idea,” Clarke suggested.
Senior Health Promotion Officer Donna Barker described the day as a success.
“I think it was successful in that we had a lot to give to the public and people came out and participated in all the different dimensions and all the different activities that we had,” she said.
However, she noted it would be even more encouraging if more Barbadians came out because of the volume of information available.
“I wish there were more people because it was just a wealth of information with a lot of activities, a lot of things to learn and to benefit from. We did advertise but we were looking for more people, [however] we were happy with what we got,” she said.
Also performing for the evening for the modest crowd which came out was exercise guru Spinny who called on the little ones to show the older people how to get down.
Spinny leading the crowd through some exercises.
Booths were set up by many sponsors offering health checks and giving out free water along with pamphlets and other free resources.
(MR)
