CARPHA expert says youth in silent state of trauma

A Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) expert has warned that many of the region’s youth are enduring psychological trauma in silence, without always manifesting visible signs.

CARPHA’s Behavioural Specialist Dr Heather Armstrong painted a sobering picture of the mental toll that crime is taking on young people, during a question-and-answer session at the Caribbean Public Health Agency’s (CARPHA) 69th Annual Health Research Conference on Wednesday.

“If you are living in an environment where you’re constantly experiencing crime, you’re seeing people dying who you may know, or even knowing of youth who have died because of the crime and the violence, I’m sure then you would begin to feel fearful,” Armstrong said.

She said the result was that fear and detachment were becoming embedded in families, communities, and even the national consciousness.

“So they’re traumatised and unfortunately they may not have trusted avenues where they can express themselves,” she said, adding that distress among children and adolescents is not always visible.

“It may be something as simple as someone not wanting to go to school, or they may go to school, but then when they reach school they start to have somatic expressions such as vomiting and other things occur.”

In such an environment, Armstrong said, “the cry may be too silent for us to hear.” She said there was a pressing need for services that would help youth to communicate and access support.

Armstrong also agreed that the prevalence of crime was causing people to view it as normal.

When asked whether trauma has become normalised, particularly among the region’s youth, she said the evidence increasingly suggests so.

“The more we see things happen, the more we accept that it’s within the normal currents of life—it becomes a norm,” she explained. “We constantly see on social media videos of people being killed… So it’s come to a point where, yes, we see it as a norm. It’s a given—there will be crime.”

She said this has engendered a sense of helplessness so that people feel incapable of mounting any collective resistance to violence.

“Most of us can’t do anything about it. It’s beyond our control. So, unfortunately, we are at a stage where we are accepting of it… and we need to change that mindset,” the behavioural specialist contended, noting that all citizens have a role to play in reversing this perception and reshaping the cultural narrative.

Among potential solutions to the mental health crisis, Armstrong said the use of digital tools, creative media, and peer-based interventions were valuable in reaching young people and holding their attention.

She said, however, that digital and community-based interventions must be rooted in a holistic, culturally grounded approach.

“Mental health is a continuum. It’s not just [that] ‘you’re great’ and then you have a mental health disorder. You’re trying to catch people along that continuum,” Armstong noted.

She advocated for embedding support through both social media and the use of everyday spaces. “Catch them in different settings… at home, in the community, at school, if they’re in a faith-based organisation or social groups. You want to embed in them: look, it is okay to not feel great, but there’s help,” the expert said.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb