 So good afternoon everybody and I just want to like at this point to thank you for joining us. There are so far 65 of us and we really want to recognize the efforts of Mrs. James and her team for this wonderful seminar and for all the interventions and programs that they have been offering to members of the public and of course public servants. Today the Employee Assistance which is under the Department of the Public Service is hosting the mental health and psychosocial support services in collaboration with mental health and psychosocial support services and technical working group is hosting this webinar. That is captioned mental health is a universal human right. At this time I want to, because we want to stick to the time, there are persons on our panel who have some very, very important matters to take care of and so we don't want to dig into the time. So at this time I want to invite the manager of the EAP, this is Sacha Shapir James to just put this webinar into perspective and to of course officially welcome you. Over to you Mrs. James. Thank you Ms. Peter again. I say thank you to everybody who's logged in. Those of you who have joined in on Zoom and following us via the government of St. Lucia Facebook page as well as YouTube. We are so happy that you have taken the time to join us today. Thank you Madam moderator and just to put this webinar into perspective this is a collaboration with the MHPSS which is the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Services Technical Working Group and for those of you who may not already know, every year World Mental Health Day is celebrated on October 10th and the theme for this year is Mental Health is a universal human right and this theme was set by the World Foundation of Mental Health. World Mental Health Day 2023 and Mental Health Month by virtue of the end time and for October this gives us an opportunity for people and communities to unite behind the theme Mental Health is a universal human right and it helps us to improve knowledge, raise awareness and drive actions that promote and protect everyone's mental health as a universal human right. Mental Health as you know is a basic human right for everyone and we believe that everyone has a right to the highest attainable standard of mental health and this is why we are continuing to promote mental good mental health to raise awareness. This includes the right to be protected from mental health risks, the right to available, accessible, acceptable and good quality care and inclusion in the community. When we speak about mental health being a universal human right, we're speaking to access to the services, we're speaking about inclusion and ensuring that every single person has access to good mental health. Mental health conditions are also affecting an increasing number of adolescents and young people having a mental health condition should never be a reason to deprive a person of their human rights or to exclude them from decisions about their own mental health. It is in this regard that we felt it fitting to have the youth and the children represented here today and you will hear from a young student, primary school and secondary school students. So you will hear from them as it relates to what they believe mental health is and how important it is to include them. We all can play a role in ensuring that mental health support services are accessible for all. And again, I'd like to say thank you for taking the time to join us today. And we are looking forward to an enjoyable, productive discussion on the topic mental health is a universal human right. If you've not done this yet, invite somebody and show that you remind them and let them know that we are here promoting good mental health. So again, I say thank you, thank you again to the participants. We'll be sharing their wealth of knowledge with you today. Thank you and over to you, madam moderator. Thank you, Mrs. James. You gave us a mouthful and I could tell that you are quite passionate about your work and of course about this afternoon's topic. And thank you, of course, for putting it into perspective as you lead us through this afternoon's discussion. Next on the agenda, we have Dr. Swamy and he is a psychiatrist by profession. And Dr. Swamy will be coming up next to do a presentation for us. So give him your undivided attention, Dr. Swamy. I want to let you know that we have some very interesting prices. So I encourage you to pay attention to the various presentations. And of course, we have questions and answers and so you need to pay attention. You need to feel free to put your questions in the chat and of course, we'll be opening so you can allow you to open your mic. So mute your mics rather so you can ask your questions as well. So over to you, Dr. Swamy. Hello, good afternoon. Can you hear me? Can you see me? Yes, you are being heard. Go ahead. OK, good afternoon. Yes, I'm Dr. Swamy. First of all, let me express my sincere thanks to all the organizers for inviting me to talk on mental health, specifically about the team. Mental health is a universal human right. So we have been talking about this for the past 26 years. I've been here since 26 years, worked at different hospitals and also the community level and also private practice. So the mental health, when we talk about the health, is World Health Organization defines health as a complete physical, mental, social and spiritual well-being and not merely absence of any diseases. That means it's an important component in our mental health part. So we do say that strong mind in a strong body or if the body suffers, then the mind suffers. So many sayings are there. That is very much true. So each year we have different teams for this health or mental health. We have different dates. For example, here in St. Lucia, since September, we have been talking about these mental health related topics. September 10th is a World Suicide Prevention Awareness Day. That's September whole September. We had programs with other schools and also some students, teachers, counselors came to the auditorium at the Mental Wellness Center. We had programs, also many of these television programs about raising the awareness, understand. Once knowledge is power, we know that we need to know about these different conditions. Once we know, once we understand, once we diagnose, then we manage much better those conditions. So mental health, I'd like to know from other presenters also what is their understanding. But we have the classification of these disorders by international classification of disorders. World Health Organization in American Psychiatric Association by Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. These are our broad classifications on mental health conditions and disorders, we call that. And in the past, if there are, like for example, we have now the latest versions of, we call this ICD-10, ICD-11. These are all classifications. Systematically classified disorder, it's more of a description or diagnostic guidelines which we follow based on the presentations. So the commonly to understand about these, there are conditions like organic mental disorders, which are more of delirium and different type of dementias, where we can see some changes that can be structural change in the brain or neurotransmitter level or some infections can cause all this behavioral change. So it's important again to know where some of the topics we talk about, like epilepsy, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease. Okay, these all can causes, dementias and deliriums. So we do diagnose based on the presentations. So delirium, to put it simple way, is a confusional state, a cute confusional state, people in a confused. And so many causes, factors are there to cause this type of confusion or that can be seeing things, we call that as a hallucinations or hearing things. So it also can be delusional. Delusional is a false, fixed, unshakable belief systems. The person may believe that somebody trying to hurt, harm or kill or put poison in the food, that may not be true. That's we do that systematic evaluation. Is it really a delusion or do the person have a hallucinations? So those are all established again in delirium or dementia or psychosis. We call this as psychotic conditions. So the next, some other conditions are psychoactive substances. They're all classified under these categories. Psychoactive substances are starting with alcohol, which cannot think without having alcohol to any festivals, maybe like Carnival, Jazz or Christmas. But social drinking may be acceptable to some, but some people it may even small drinks can cause significant reactions. Okay, that can be intoxication, pathological intoxication, harmful use, abuse, can develop dependence for these substances. So I'm just telling you about the alcohol that can also other substances. So that can also induce seizures, fits like conditions, epileptic attacks along with the substances. Most commonly we say that rum fits, alcohol induced seizures. And these people can also have developed delirium. And if they've been drinking more and more, they're called intoxication delirium. Or if they suddenly stop taking the alcohol over a period of time for some reasons, then they can have a withdrawal delirium. And then also over a period of time, they can develop psychotic conditions. Psychotic conditions means they can have disorganized behavior, that is abnormal behavior, that is a strange behavior. You can easily make out the behavior is not normal, not appropriate. Such behaviors are seen. So that is about the psychotic can be very, conditions can be very delusional. We call this as alcoholic paranoia or alcoholic hallucinosis, like hearing things, seeing things, and also polymorphic. So many changes can be there. So it is important again to understand how severe these conditions because of the alcohol. Alcohol can cause other medical conditions from gastritis, gastric ulcer. Then we have pancreatitis, alcohol induced acute or chronic pancreatitis. One can also liver and damage the liver with alcoholic hepatitis. Okay, alcoholic, other induced delirium and dementia. Dementia can be very forgetful, can have a memory loss, may not be able to remember things and where can be very disoriented, where changes can be there. So this is a psychoactive substance can cause that. And we know that again people now to legalize or not to legalize, it's legalized now with a lot of debate, discussions, they not agree. That's another cannabis, which we say marijuana, weed, grass, so many people names, so many names they call that one. So that has been there for many years. Now we do see the people with the significant problems also, with very frequent admissions in the hospitals, develop dependence or can cause intoxication, can have a disinhibited behaviors, abrasive behaviors and can be very violent behaviors. We do see her for admissions many times. The police do bring this type of people to the psychiatric hospital. And then we have so many other repeated doing the crime, which we talk about the crime, violence and also that can be under confusion or under intoxication, where their judgment, their thinking is affected, their reasoning is affected and they may end up with the problems, which they may not aware of sometimes what they are doing. So that is seen and even the higher form is cocaine, cocaine, crack or the black giant people call, that can also have a serious effect. These are all called psychoactive substances. These are commonly seen in the hospital here. There are others also like LSD, hallucinogens or opioms or IV drugs use some people use or some plant vitamins people use or so these are all some of the from the pharmacy they may get and they get depended dependence addiction. So these are all mental and behavioral disorders due to use of psychoactive substances then they can easily induce the person to become a psychotic. So those conditions and also can have other associated conditions also which I'll just give an overview about these are some of the conditions. So psychoactive substances or alcohol, even tobacco, caffeine has been included in the psychoactive substance for something to can develop the dependence with these substances. So commonly used here alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, nicotine and caffeine in this role the substances. So the next is the way of psychotic conditions which we again commonly seen those role in the psychiatric hospitals for admissions or in the clinics. Those psychotic conditions are disorders or schizophrenia. People may aware of it about 1% of the population, general population have this schizophrenia conditions with disorganized behavior and disorganized or incoherent cannot make out what they're talking or sometimes very strange interactions and also can have associated hallucinations and delusions. So hallucinations are all false perceptions, delusions are all the fixed belief systems or thinking is affected or reasoning is affected. So these are all thought disorder thinking process is affected. So that is a schizophrenia because this is schizophrenia and with significant impairment in social functioning means interactions with the family or interaction in the community with other people at workplace it is affected. So that is the one which we call as a schizophrenia. And the next form is a schizoaffective disorder. So schizoaffective means schizophenic symptoms are there, affective symptoms affect means a mood is affected, irritable and the inappropriate. And this are all the terms we use when we describe about the condition of these people with schizoaffective disorders. And then some people can have only delusional symptoms that's called delusional disorders. And then we have some induced delusional disorders can easily induce those delusions in other persons. This is called induced delusional disorders. Sometimes these conditions can be first time when we see the out of the blue suddenly at any age it can happen, it can happen for anyone anywhere. So that the age usually even starts early. So we'll not go into all those conditions but I will explain childhood mental disorders or geriatric old age related which are common conditions. So the delusional disorders, induced delusional disorders and next one I was talking about acute and transient psychotic disorders, acute and short duration within one day or one week they'll have the sudden symptoms started. Again many reasons. We do some test investigation to find out what is the cause, why it is. And again the long list is there which I would like to, we can discuss later about that. And so then we need to exclude what is the reason, what caused, what stressors, any medical conditions or neurological conditions, any infections or any substance used cause these conditions. Substance I mentioned already, psychoactive substances like alcohol, cannabis, cocaine, any of this most commonly, commonly used these substances. So that is the acute and transient psychotic disorders where we describe again further classified or what type of form. So thus broad classification, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorders and the acute and transient psychotic disorders. The next broad classification we talk about is the mood. How the person, that's again common in which we discuss more the mood disorders, mainly depression, depressive disorders, manic episodes, bipolar affective disorders, recurrent depressive disorders or I can say that can be, can be, is it clear? Can you all understand? Okay, so Dr. Swamy is looking for an exchange from us. Yeah, Dr. Swamy. I just want to know, is it clear? You understand, you do follow me? Of course we are, yes we are. Okay. Yes, we are Dr. Swamy. Okay, then, so I was talking about- We have my thing at this one question already for you. So go ahead and afterwards we are going to fill the questions from- Yes. Yes. Good. All right, thank you so much. You may go ahead. Okay, sure. I'll go over how this classification of these mental disorders classified. So under that mood disorders, we call this as a manic episode, mania, hypomania. Hypomania may be lesser form of the mania. Mania, manic, is when people, some of them we do see when they're very, very hyper, we increase the very disinhibited behavior and can have a big, big plans, grandiose things, talk about that. Everything belongs to me or I am the king. In reality, he may not be the king and she said he's the president. In reality, he's not the president or she's the queen. Those type of things we do see some of them suddenly and then if you challenge, they can be very irritable, can be aggressive. So we need to understand, but the most important thing is these conditions are very much treatable conditions so that at the manic phase, it really needs the, that type of people, most of the time needs admission for the short duration to treat that condition. That can again happens at any place or at work place or at home that we do come across, people have that type of behaviors. And hypomania is a lesser form, most times can treat with the medications or sometimes and they may function well, but very easily switch over from hypomania to mania. So again, our classification bipolar one, bipolar 12, we do classify for our diagnosis, for the prognosis, for the treatment purpose. So bipolar, affective disorders, it can be, it's an episodic, it happens like sometimes manic, sometimes can be hypomanic or sometimes can be depressed or mixed. It can happen for these episodes, for last for a few weeks, even for a few months. Sometimes it can be longer time also, long, longer time. So those are all considered as a bipolar, which again classification, clear guidelines are there, diagnostic guidelines are there. So which we do that, but it is important, there are different type of conditions, which when you come to the professional, they're able to diagnose these conditions. So the next is the depression, which we always talk about it, which is very much most people for different reasons, some of the multiple factors involved to feel depressed. We just cannot say that the term is depressed, sometimes may use, but most people feel sad, low, crying, and these are the other times, I feel a low, sad mood, like. The, these conditions is mainly the person can feel more low because of that, the depressed mood and no interest to do any activities and not feeling doing any activities. Don't want to go to work or don't want to do anything cooking or anything like this cruel time, people just feel like locking himself or herself and don't want to go out, don't tend to associate with that. Those are all some of the depressive features, helpless, worthless, and they feel that useless. And then the guilt feelings, then there can also aches and pains, headaches, not sleeping, not feel like eating and not doing any other work and negative. And then how this suicidal thoughts, which we talk about most times, it is preventable, treatable conditions. If we get this warning science ideas when the person expresses those suicidal ideas, thoughts about hurting or attempts, and those will take it as professional seriously to how best we can help this type of people. That is the depression is further we classify it. Is it a mild form, moderate form, which most times just for therapy or simple, okay, the medication and the therapy, we call this as a different type of therapy or counseling, okay? Supportive therapy or counseling, so that we do that. And medications also we treat. But if there is a high suicidal ideas or suicidal attempts, suicidal risk, this patient may need very close observation, crisis intervention, may need admission sometimes. And if there is the good family support, good social support, good understanding, then we do treat them on an outpatient basis, depending on the severity. This depression can also be associated with the psychotic features. Psychotic means can be extremely getting the voices, telling the person to kill yourself, hurt yourself or end yourself. This type of commanding hallucinations, these are psychotic features. And then also can be delusional that they may have a lot of everything, food and everything, the person may feel that there is nothing available, there is no food. And this is what we call the nihilistic delusions thinking negatively, negative view about self, negative view about others, negative view about the future. So there is a surroundings and future, everything thinking about in a negative way, that is the most severe form of the ant depression. We saw severe depression or major depression. And that can be associated with mild and moderate depression, can be associated with somatic symptoms. So most people, culturally it's accepted that eggs, pains, tiredness, weakness, back pain, headaches, they're like the vague, vague symptoms. And they may not come forward saying that I am depressed because they say, now what you are talking about, to understand what is that mental health as a human right, we talked about to stop that type of stigma and discrimination when we talk this, this is what we need to understand. Once we understand this, anyone can go through this type of this depression, but we need to understand that. So that way, the person can be very depressed, that person can have a stigma about the debate to not to talk about it, not come forward to take a help. So that many times we do see this to come and talk to the professionals. Now that way, so we need to understand. So this depression can be very, very repetitive. The repeated can come in again and again. So at least two, three episodes, I mean say, each episode means it can last for few months, one month to three months, okay then. At least two weeks duration should be there to call as a person as a depressed. If you have to call depression minimum two weeks duration of the symptoms. And sometimes it can continue for months and months. And many times with treatment, they do respond well. And so that, and then again, they may stop the medications. Then after maybe six months, one year, two years, another depression like the same happens. Then we call this as a recurrent depressive disorder. The other comes episodes, it can be again next time, it can be again, may not respond to the same medications. We may have to treat with the higher dose, higher medication. So that is recurrent depressive disorder. So like that depression, and then we have the depression can last longer, that's the dysthymia will be feeling sad all the time for more than two years, okay, continuously sad dysthymia. Can have cyclothymia, that's mood swings. We call this a mood swings, feel happy, then feel sad, a little high, and then again sad. It depends on rapid cycling, affective disorders, seasonal affective disorders, postpartum depression. These are the terms we use depending on the presentation. Premenstrual dysphoric disorder, before men cells, some people do feel very change in a mood. That is a premenstrual, just one week before, very low mood, very irritable, with simple, okay, very easily crying, sad. So it's all premenstrual dysphoric disorder. So that's why we need to take the history, collecting the information from the person or possible from the family or the other people. And mild cases may they may come on their own, they take care, they do well. So it is necessary again to understand the symptoms and then presentation and proper diagnosis is necessary. So these are all about the mood disorders. Next most common, again, conditions here, anxiety related disorders, stress disorders, acute stress reaction, significant stress can cause that acute stress reaction or post-traumatic stress disorder, because PTSD, anything, okay, some natural disasters, so wars, okay, witnessing, or seeing repeatedly or experiencing of this called post-traumatic, post-traumatic stress disorder, often with the flashbacks, ruminations, thinking about again and again, sleep, high anxiety, fears and depression, crying and no interest to do anything. This is, okay, after starting after the significant and life-threatening stress. So this post-traumatic stress disorders and people can have phobias, phobic disorders, phobic anxiety disorders, generalized anxiety disorders, panic disorders or obsessive compulsive disorders, repeated ruminations can be there and somatization disorders. That's all anxiety, stress-related disorders, phobias and also the obsessive compulsive disorders. So after the stress and anxiety sleep disorders, hypersomnia, insomnia, eating disorders, anorexia, bulimia, nervosa, obesity, also the other eating disorders, we have sexual dysfunctions which people may not come forward and talk about it also, premature ejaculation men, they're female also, experience some, the discomfort, dysthermia and so many other conditions are there. So those are all some of the sexual dysfunctions and also different stages which are classified under mental and behavioral disorders and that's I get. So I am taking all this, these are all people of because of the some psychotic conditions for small percentage, 1% or 2% and more than 90% of the conditions can be treatable, can be manageable and because of the stigma may not people come forward and talk about these problems, depression, anxiety, other sleep-related disorders may not and personality disorders also different type of personalities like paranoid, schizoid, schizo-typal, antisocial, histrionic. So the list goes on, we have clusters and then childhood mental disorders which attention deficit hyperactive disorders or intellectual developmental disorders or neurodevelopmental disorders are broadly classified. So now I think I can go on and on, I don't want to go but I'd like to have you to hear from others. So that's world mental, as we said, the September, October, even we can have next month doctors, the CME is also there and the psychiatric topics are there. So we do attend and this has been discussed about how it is, people raise the awareness about it. So what it is the theme, so mental health is a universal human right, everyone, whoever and wherever they are has a right to the highest attainable standard of mental health. The right to available, accessible, acceptable and good quality care. They have the right to liberty, independence and inclusion in the community. Good mental health is very vital to our overall health and well-being and it has been globally recognized. People do have this type of mental health conditions but this role can be treatable. Many times you are here, here in St. Lucia and around the globe including World Health Organization continues to work to ensure mental health is valued, promoted and protected and action is taken to access that human rights. So this I'd like to go and then definitely I'll be happy to answer any questions and thanks again for inviting me for this important seminar at the end of this October. Thanks again, thank you. Thank you so much Dr. Swamy and you know sometimes when you hear such presentations sometimes you can't always understand the jargon, the medical jargon but you've made it so simple for all of us to understand and we have some, a few young participants and I'm sure even great who were able to understand because you put it so simple for all of us. I'm sure from today, from Dr. Swamy's presentation all of us have a better understanding of what mental illness is all about the signs and the symptoms, what to look for and you know in our local setting St. Lucia we have all sorts of myths and all kinds of things and you know we want to ascribe this particular behavior to particular things or understanding you know that it is really mental health and so there was a hand up that has been up for the longest while, I think is it Tiffany? Your name has your hand sorry, Tiffari James and your hand has been up for the longest while. Do you have a question for Dr. Swamy? Okay, so if you perhaps you made an error by putting your hand up could you just take the hand down and we are taking questions for Dr. Swamy. He is unable to remain with us for the remainder of the webinar. So anybody with questions or there was one in the chat and the person is asking Dr. Swamy one of our participants is asking what are the signs of mental illness in the child age five to 10? Okay, so that's again the child and adolescent psychiatry the psychiatrist can be able to do in the detailed evaluation because early recognition and children adolescent mental health assessment starts okay early we get changes can be there five to 10 most common we can be able to make out whether is there any intellectual developmental disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or autism spectrum disorder or communication disorders or some ticks and mannerism changes are there but that's some of them we do assess but we all most of the time we may not give any medication tablets unless if it is really, really indicated but some of this important again for example what is normal at the age of five can be we may not be normal at the age of 15 years for example passing urine around the age of in the bed in the night passing urine is considered normal around the age of three, four, five years but if the continuous at the age of 15 years that is not normal. So many things we do observe but we do educate we can train them and then that can be fear phobias is again common anxiety disorder separation anxiety disorders common around that age if they are taken away from the one mainly the parents or the guardians or the grandparent then can have a high anxiety and that can also fears because phobias are all can easily recognizable and then simple techniques can be a big difference and then with more treatment or therapy with the parents though we do that one that's a very good question, thank you. Okay, so the questions are coming in we'll try to do this quickly. Can, once someone is asking can you provide information on the list of services available on a community level when it relates to mental illness and maybe you could take on the other one right away can one recover fully from mental health issues? Yeah, again there are community, psychiatric the team, community psychiatric mental health team work at different health centers and then that can be either the health center they can check we have a team go there around but now I'm basically based at the hospitals and then if necessary privately but these services are there and the second thing you ask the recovery many times most times like anxiety, phobias obsessive compulsive disorders we can completely treatable it's like simple same way whether diabetes curable whether hypertension is curable we do ask that they do take the medications first basic of food, diet, exercise, sleep regularly these are a healthy habits exercise food activities under stress management coping skills, relaxation techniques so which we all know that on some therapy many people use different type of therapy so the sports activity and healthy habits so that along with that one some medications do not be affect significant improvement 90, 100% they may not get another episode even amongst schizophrenia one-third of the patients may not get another episode they may do very well and someone another one-third may have recurrent episodes but then about one-third of the patients can be very resistant, very difficult very challenging, can be very unmanageable at times so it's a percentage and there are good prognostic factors we recognize some of them good family support willingness to take treatment and understand the reasoning judgment, intelligence, awareness, education and then also genetically whether it's a strong family this is what we again check and find out whether that can be treatable so many factors are there yes many, many times can be very much treatable and effectively okay we have one more question on the chat before we go on to our giveaway question what is the treatment for premenstrual dysphoric disorder yes so this has been actually now I say I mentioned World Health Organization ICD-10 didn't mention about this premenstrual dysphoric disorder but this has been clearly mentioned now the new classification in American Psychiatric Association the diagnostic and statistical manual of latest lotion fifth, there are symptoms the presentation usually just before one week before the men's test during that person may feel okay very early can be no interest typical depressive features irritable, angry, cannot sleep or bloating sensation and easily crying and interpersonal relationship change those are all the changes that can be again mild moderate previously people used to call PMS, premenstrual syndrome or like that has been changed to dysphoric disorder premenstrual dysphoric disorder PMDD so that condition can be effectively treated with therapy or some of those medications we call this as specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors we call this as serotonin that's like medications commonly used some of the groups which are there like we can select depending on the condition severity we have peroxidine, fluoxidine, siltraline, sitalopram also these things got the lowest to effective dose and or we have SNRI specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors called vanilla vaccine or duloxidine some of these medications only medications again is an option first thing let us see whether we can manage or we can talk about it the therapy, supportive therapy can maybe can be stress management coping skills, relaxation whether that can help if that is not in full then we can think about the medication after proper discussion educating and then proper diagnosis okay thank you so much Dr. Swamy I know that there's so much more that you would have wanted to share with us this afternoon but time does not permit and I'm sure Mrs. James will be continuing this webinar again we want to thank you so much for your time this afternoon with us perhaps is there anything final words that you want to leave with us oh thank you I'm very happy that you know so like this organized by this EAP program that's a nice hopefully it will continue and you'll give the priority on mental health and we'll always be happy to discuss further or if there is any program in meet as a group you can be very helpful thank you thank you so much thank you before we move on to our next agenda item we have our first giveaway so the first person to write the answer in the chat is the winner and Mrs. James I want you to man the chat for me please who is the first person okay so here's the question name one disorder mentioned by Dr. Swamy name one disorder a mental disorder mentioned by Dr. do we have a winner okay who was the first person let me see Mrs. James you are the judge right yes please and that would be Junior DeLis he was a princess okay Junior DeLis and he said depression very good so okay you're the winner Junior and you might be wondering what is it that you have won you have won one voucher a fifty dollar voucher compliments all gas station alright okay so Mrs. James will tell you how to collect your prize contact the EAP unit at 468-2268 is that right 68 482-60 or 468-2269 okay so you got that 468-2260 or 468-2269 okay Junior please contact the EAP unit on how you can collect your prize so now on to our next agenda item we have a very young participant who will now speak with us so let's just give him our undivided attention and he will speak on mental illness from the perspective of a child do we have him on yes he's on already okay and his name is Malakai Bordyemet Malakai Bordyemet I like your surname Malakai Bordyemet and he's going to speak to us and let me tell you a little about him he's actually a student of the Sultubus Combined School and he is the Unicommer Court's OECS reading competition winner congratulations Malakai so we are all ready to hear you you speaking to us on the topic of mental illness from a child's perspective so you can unmute your mic Malakai you are still muted please unmute your mic you are still muted you can't unmute Mrs. James can you assist him please okay I think you are there now alright you may go ahead Malakai afternoon I am Malakai Bordyemet a student from the Sultubus RSC Combined School today I'll be speaking about mental health what does it mean to have good mental health? mental health really means the state of your emotional well-being which affects how you think, feel and believe having good mental health means more than just not having a mental health disorder it means that push the ups and downs of life mental health is just as important as physical health for living a happy, healthy and well-rounded life the World Health Organization WHO defines good mental health as allowing someone to realize their abilities hope the normal stresses of life work productively make a contribution to the community having good mental health is the vital for both individuals and communities to thrive this is because it allows us to connect with ourselves and others, earn a living and enjoy life there are a lot of things that can affect our mental health but one of the main things is stress this stress can be caused by many things such as our jobs, relationships physical health and perceptions of ourselves here are some ways you can support your children's mental health in the classroom create a safe space in the classroom people's environments can have a huge impact on their mental health if they are in a space that makes them feel uncomfortable or unsafe their mental health is almost guaranteed to suffer one super effective way that you can support your children's mental health in school is to make sure your classroom is a safe space watch out for signs that your students may be struggling teach your students the importance of looking after their mental health make sure you equip, so deal with a child who is struggling with their mental health others look after your mental health as well looking after other people is really important but you can't forget about yourself in the process if you have a positive healthy mental state it will be much easier for you to provide support to those around you feeling mentally well will allow you to better engage your school students and deal with the various stresses that are often unavoidable for teachers what are the characteristics of good mental well-being? it's important to clarify that good mental well-being does not mean the absence of negative thoughts and emotions feelings like anger, sadness, being overwhelmed on a range of other emotions may all still arise but good mental well-being means you're able to understand and deal with the feelings having good mental well-being means you are you confident in yourself? build a maintain political relationship with others have a sense of meaning and purpose live and work productive manage the stresses of daily life cope with change supporting yourself as a team of confidence what can affect mental well-being? mental well-being is often impacted by events that are out of control for example, loss, trauma, social disadvantages, health conditions, stress, discrimination how you respond to such events can affect our mental well-being? our habits may not be conducive to good mental well-being for example, if drunk instead of seeking support and trying the worst rather than remaining open to different possibilities can involve our negative impact on the women developing good habits will improve mental well-being so that we are better prepared to face challenges when they arise how can you improve mental well-being? connect with other people relationships will... relationships will have an impact on our mental well-being they can contribute to feeling of self-worth provide emotional support and allow us to share positive experiences with others to build stronger relationships try and take time out of your day to be with friends and family interactions on social media cannot really act as... cannot really act as... a substitute for meaningful relationships so try and get into the habit of meeting friends in person if it's safe to wish exercise being physically active improves mental well-being by enriching self-esteem helping you to achieve goals and making chemical changes in the brain which promote good mood finding a way to be active with friends is a good way to improve mental well-being learn a new skill learning something new also raises self-esteem by promoting a sense of... think of different hobbies you'd like to try and use online resources to support you don't put any pressure on yourself to be good at the activity and make sure it's something you enjoy be kind and give to others kindness creates positive feelings and helps to connect with other people even small acts of kindness like spending time with people who need company and offering to help others can improve mental well-being be present in the moments, mind flows paying attention to the present union makes life richer and more exciting with your mind less likely to wander towards negative thoughts it will improve your mental well-being and help you understand yourself better what is emotional well-being? emotional well-being refers to a person's emotional experience it concerns everything feel and relate to ourselves and others people who are emotionally healthy can manage their own thoughts, feelings and behaviors keeping problems in perspective and coping with challenges emotional well-being doesn't mean a person is happy all of the time but rather they're aware of their emotions and can manage negative feelings tips to improve emotional well-being try and be aware of your emotions and reactions express feelings in appropriate ways rather than holding onto them or reacting angrily give yourself time to think before acting use techniques like breathing and meditating to manage stress focus on the positive things in your life and don't push yourself too hard exercise regularly and look after your physical health connect with others what are the benefits of positive mental health? by having positive mental health, you can lead a much happier life by being more productive and more positive towards yourself and others and enjoy increased levels of motivation for doing whatever it is that you love to be thank you wow, wow, wow, thank you, thank you, my friend thank you wow, wow, wow, thank you, thank you, Madakai and I see another Dr. Swamy in the making you are so eloquent, so articulate wow, and I'm sure our participants, our Zoomers I want to call them and our YouTubers and I understand we might be on Facebook as well I'm sure you're quite impressed with the presentation here by little Madakai he will not be able to answer your questions from a technical perspective but perhaps we can encourage him by writing your comments in the chat thank you so much, Madakai, thank you, thank you Mrs. James, I suspect you want to say something to Madakai I would just like to say thank you, Madakai I was here smiling and giving you the thumbs up and it is no wonder Julie said that he is the Unicoma Courts OECS Reading Competition Winner but awesome job, I am so proud of you yes, and you know he said one thing every year several things stood out, but one of them that really stood out for me Madakai was when you said you have to look out for others and importantly you said we need to see about ourselves, self-care and I know that Mrs. James is very big on self-care and so often we forget ourselves and we know in the efforts in the case of taking care of others we tend to neglect ourselves at the expense of taking care of other people but Madakai reminded us this afternoon that self-care is very important we cannot afford to neglect that very important aspect self-care Thank you so much Madakai and we have some comments in the chat we have the participants cheering you on we have comments like good job, wonderful job, great quite articulate, you know so we have some we have awesome, very eloquent continue to strive, continue striving well done and several other comments Madakai so you have done very, very well this afternoon and I look forward to hearing from you again yes? yes, you'll come again? all right okay at this time we want to turn our attention over to we have in place of is it Shans Rivier? you would have seen that but we have another person substituting for him and that is Daya Ajuda and he will be doing it in the testimonial yes, Daya Ajuda okay, I already speaking because I can't hi, hi Daya hello all right so we now have yes we'll now hear from Daya Ajuda with a testimonial you can go ahead and unmute yourself Daya unmute yourself, unmute yourself please I could see your mouth moving but we can't hear so it means that you are still muted we still can't hear you, can you hear me? just respond in the chat if you can't hear me because we can't hear you okay let me see, do we still have him here? I think we must have love, still need to okay, he's back okay, can you unmute please? I'm there is it the case where he can't unmute himself? Mrs. James wants to unmute Daya he actually has to unmute himself after I give the prompt so after I've given you the prompt Daya go ahead and unmute yourself I could still see his mic is muted I could still see that I'm not sure what is thanks for what might be the problem so maybe we can do another giveaway whilst we try to rectify it okay okay, I could still see hmm all right, so let's do another giveaway let's see who will be the lucky person right now okay, so here's the next question hmm what department does the EAP employee assistance program fall under? what? ah ah ah okay oh my Mrs. James, will you monitor in the chat? that's the moment I believe I'm so involved but this is the wrong answer oh at 3021 Francis not at Francis, at 306 public service um which was, you think we should give it to you we just said public service. We need the correct department. Okay let me see all right we're looking for hmm all right I think we have three or seven Alexander department of the public service we'll give that. Mrs James are you there? Yes please. Yes we can. Yes Alexander department of the public service. Yes drumroll? Okay before we go on to say what the price is um I think Daya was saying that he's not allowed to unmute so can we get one now? Okay so we can. Daya are you there? Is he there? Daya you can go ahead. All right so let's just say before he goes ahead let's say what the price is um Alexander might be wondering what have I won okay um all right um Alexander you've won given free renewal of license for a nurse or nursing attendant but it at $120 and that price complements um the nursing general nursing council so that part was sponsored by the the general nursing council so Alexander you've won yourself a renewal of license for a nurse or nursing attendant valued at $120 so if you're not a nurse Alexander or you're not a nursing attendant um just be generous and you can um you know donate that price to a nurse or nursing attendant yeah and like I said earlier you can call the EAP unit on how you can collect that price all right so let's let's um go ahead let's move on and now we have Daya who is ready to speak with us can you hear me can you hear me yes we can loud and clear all right all right all right um here we go positive mental health is easily one of the most important aspects for the minds of young and aspiring individuals it enables us to do things with vigor and triumph and triumph over challenges as we can see all around us however people suffer from negative mindsets or are unable to develop positive ones at some points at some point all of us may be led astray to fall victim to these negative states of mind this results in the opposite of the previously mentioned benefits of a positive state of mind this is why I believe one of the most important things we can do in life is realign ourselves on the track of positivity and stability so today I want to share with you my pieces on how I believe we can put ourselves back on track back on this track and stay on it often we are told delusion is negative something that severs our existence from the rest of the world enabling us to exist in a false reality I argue however that there is much positivity that can be derived from delusion our species is one of imagination striving to do the impossible from boats to planes to spaceships we continually aim for higher impossibles it goes the same that one can achieve this in one's own life and mind believe things will get better to make things get better as you continue to persevere you should set your mind to something and strive for it from this you wish to develop drive something to push you on this road we call life in this pursuit to become something more things around you will follow suits including yourself as you continue to build yourself you must identify a strong blueprint for the best construction of your being find a role model whose aspirations coincide with yours and also has a strong moral character bob the builder to jesus christ any individual who pushes you to become the highest and goodest version of yourself ought to suffice this will be to the benefits of all around you and ultimately only doing good for your psyche before things get too esoteric however we must double down on the very thing that our mind and actions can fight in caring for one's body is an extremely important step in the development and preservation of one's mental health this especially applies to young people who are filled with hormones challenges and new experiences having an adequate body to navigate the world and moderate one's emotions will prove extremely valuable in the development of a positive young and aspiring mind validation is singlehandedly the most important aspect in human social structure this is I I'd like to believe this is true it proves it's it proves and provides us with a purpose of function a reason to exist something that is so fundamentally part of our collective experience must be understood if we are if we wish to live positively and fully the development of social bonds of very strong social bonds with those who can provide you with validation is immense to the benefit of a positive mindset also you should be grateful to them as well because for the extra goodness it'll make you feel better if you're grateful right however what triumphs above all for the fortification of a mind is love and respect for one's self if you yourself are enough justification for your existence you will never be found wanting if you do everything stated before will pale in comparison to self love if you can love yourself you will not need anything else in the world and that is my thesis on how to live a happy life and have a positive mindset wow thank you so much thank you so much dear and you know from the presentations this afternoon from our student presenters I think we can confidently say that we are in a good place where mental health is concerned and if we have those young people so so unfair with the information about mental illness and mental health I think you could do what's good in San Lucia and I think we are getting there we will get there and we have hope that our people come in time to come you know we'll be a kind of people who would say well you know we have those issues yes but we have we have the answers we have the solution the problems might be there but we have the solutions and and very soon we have a lot more people who will be interested in inserting inserting mental wellness and to educate our people on how to get there at this time I we want to call on our next presenter who is already waiting I hope you can unmute yourself this time are you there yeah and that is Samantha Joseph who is also an author hello over to Samantha yes I can hear you loud and clear and now she will do for us a testimonial but let me make an apology I think for day I did said it was an apology I'm sorry I did say it was a testimonial and I want to apologize he did mental wellness from a youth perspective and so we want to move over to Samantha who will do for us a testimonial let us let us give her our undivided attention it's not easy when we could come um before people that we don't know and speak about ourselves about um a subject that is still taboo in St Lucia so over to you Samantha good afternoon everyone I am so well over gratified to be in such an enlightening forum this afternoon because I believe there is something very powerful when one opts to become vulnerable and transparent to share their weaknesses you know to share your weakness is to make yourself vulnerable and to make yourself vulnerable is to show your strengths healing takes place when courage is expressed don't ever believe that you are weak because you are experiencing a challenging time in your life no life is free from crisis therefore do not feel like you are less than because of your challenges shame dies when stories are told in safe places a year and a half ago I had a brush with anxiety and depression although it was for me a really brief experience it was too long upon receiving a grave diagnosis as it relates to my mom's health and me being her sole care taker I had an encounter with anxiety heart palpitations it saw me a feeling nervous having a sense of impending danger every single day panic and doom but with all those physical reactions that I felt one of the emotions that really stood out more than anything else was I felt really embarrassed and ashamed I felt like I lost my identity because if you were to ask most persons to describe me the words positive and strong would be on top of the list however I felt weak low and and every single second was a struggle months into trying to figure out what was wrong with me I experienced another traumatic event which sent me further downhill and experienced depression so in addition to me figuring out anxiety I am now experiencing depression and anxiety the same which I thought I was going to die literally on certain days there were days I even wanted to die I wanted to throw in the towel because I could not understand why I was feeling so bad I thought I was going crazy no one understood the severity of what I was going through there were times I literally had to park my car because waiting in traffic would just really trigger me and I thought walking I would get to my home quicker than just waiting in traffic you know um my heart would beat so fast and my throat would get so dry it was like I was a few seconds away from death every single day I began to feel hopeless like I was in a very dark place with no light in sight there were days I had a paralyzing fear of going outside just outside I would just be crippled because I couldn't face outside there were the days were long and they were heavy you know I long to have a quick fix but I realized it's most often it's not like that it's usually a long slow uphill battle you know and I don't think I had the patience because all I know I wanted to get well I didn't know where to find help without being recognized because I was afraid of being judged knowing that the stigma that is attached to such mental health issues one which meant institutionalization and someone probably in our local language parlance we would hear persons offering us coconuts and by the way persons make fun and say things like if you go to the you know wellness center I will bring you coconuts coconuts actually is a very good cognitive health food it's good for your health so there is no downplay on that this condition controlled my very thought every single action every thought causing me to experience physical pain and intrusive thoughts depression is an invisible illness one can mask it so well the many times I had to utter I am fine when I was slowly dying inside was just my everyday life everyday living no one heard the unspoken words no one understood what I was going through even when I had the courage to say I am not okay I was even labeled victim weak for persons who just told me get over it you know and persons I am I am most people go to people come to tell me everything and persons were reaching out to me to solve their problems when they did not even realize that I needed help because I was relentless in trying to keep my identity as positive and strong actually began for me when realized I also remind myself that I'm okay and to take it one day at a time I try to focus on the now on the present in the moment rather than going rather than what's going to happen later however one of the most beautiful things because I always like if there is a problem there's also a solution there's always something that happens in beautiful happens beautiful things happen in the midst of chaos so one of the most beautiful things that happened from the pit of my struggle was that I became more compassionate and sensitive to others and so many persons have reached out to me telling me their stories and I'm bravely enough because they know I understand I have made it my mission to to reach as many people as possible who are struggling with anxiety and depression and hopefully inspire them with my own experiences my journey a few months ago I could not walk without having a panic attack I'm a hiker and I remember one particular hike I almost thought I would die because all I saw was danger and nobody around me could tell what was really going on with me and I could not explain today I can be part of something powerful such as this to bring awareness and shut down shame I never thought I would be comfortable enough to do that realizing my struggle has not been for you know in vain that I can share that I can motivate others and inspire them in closing I want to take some time to encourage someone who is battling with anxiety and depression or both or any form of mental issues that you are not alone one of the most pronounced things I realized was that people could not connect with me they did not know what to say to me so this prompted me to write my second book titled hear you which is a book basically if no one no one can speak life into your life whilst you are going through that you can encourage yourself a few quotes and phrases and if it's for persons you don't know what to really tell them because it's kind of difficult to reach out when you do not understand so telling somebody to get over it may seem to be the easiest thing to tell them or the easiest thing to do but they really can't so this book will enable persons to know what to say how to say it you know I am thankful that I made a comeback it wasn't easy so I know it isn't easy for you who are going through be gentle with yourself you're doing the best you can it won't always feel like this trust the process it takes courage to show up the way you are showing up today and your depression and anxiety does not do not define you there is hope even when it doesn't feel this way you were enough yesterday you are enough today you will be enough tomorrow there is a path to recovery and you too can overcome your anxieties and depression and live a fulfilling life also I would like to guide those who are going through who are not going through depression and anxiety but know someone who is to be mindful of what you say and how and how to say it the best way to respond to an individual who is struggling with depression and anxiety is with support be kind on purpose help is always available remember you are never alone because our problems are our problems are not uncommon they are just stories unspoken thank you wow well thank you Samantha thank you for sharing with us thank you for your courage and there's a quote I would like to take with me and you said healing takes place when courage is expressed when courage is expressed and secondly you said shame dies when stories are told in a safe place thank you so much you started by saying that your depression emanated um when you were taking care of your mom and that brought me back to something that Malika has said about self-care self-care thank you so much Samantha I've asked some of our participants to you know place something in the chart a question or would have encouragement and I'm just to encourage you Samantha I would like to read some of the comments here once someone says thank you for your courage great job my friend thanks for sharing your experience where is the book being being sold god bless you on your journey and these are some of the the sentiment and encouragement coming from our participants this afternoon so Samantha perhaps you could tell us so let us know where we could find copies of that book okay thank you books are being sold at currently at mnc drugs store both on bridge street and the bivouac wall and you can get it directly from me I want to leave a contact number 730 8098 okay say please just repeat for persons who might want to take it down 730 8098 okay um thank you so much Samantha I just want to encourage you to keep on keeping on thank you positive and of course you will get exactly where you you are headed yes thank you fire and encourage others with with your testimony with your story after what is your personal testimony so you feel it you know it it's personal it is intimate to you okay thank you very thank you so much and we we have we are getting ready to wind down this week 27 out we have our last presenter after our last presenter we have our final giveaway and at this moment we want to call on dr kachel deterville who is a medical intern and she will be sharing her perspective with us so let us give her our undivided attention and this will be our last presentation for this afternoon thank you dr kachel deterville thanks for joining us you may unmute yourself can you do that sure I think you are there now well okay you may go ahead yes good afternoon to all I am kachel deterville a medical intern at san jude hospital today I want to speak on the importance of caring for one's mental health and how mental health and physical health are related so just a start off according to the woodhouse organization mental health is a state of mental well-being that enables people to cope with stresses of life realize their abilities learn well and work well and contribute to the community physical health can be defined as a state of well-being when all internal and external body parts organs tissues and cells can function properly as they are supposed to function the brain and integral organ in the body plays an important role in both mental health and physical health therefore mental and physical health are very closely related for mental health can affect your physical health negatively while good mental health has a positive impact on your physical health therefore if you make the habit of caring for your mental health you will also be positively impacting your physical health and overall well-being so why is it therefore important to care for one's mental health mental health is an integral part of the life of every individual it includes social psychological and emotional well-being mental health can affect how person relates to others how they make choices and how they act think and feel it therefore impacts our thoughts behaviors and emotions when we care for our mental health we promote a healthy emotional state which can therefore boost productivity and in fact effectiveness in activities like work school or even in caregiving self-care practices they play a pivotal role in maintaining mental health and in supporting a person's recovery and treatment if they are currently struggling with mental illness or any ongoing stress anxiety or difficult situations having good mental health also is an important aspect in the health of our relationships whether it be among between family members friends co-workers or schoolmates and partners or even with ourselves good healthy relationships then positively affects other areas of our lives good mental health also allows you to adapt to changes in your life and cope with adversity when you are mentally healthy you become more resilient and less perturbed by trying circumstances caring for your mental health helps you to look at the world through the through brighter lens that is with a more positive mindset i can definitely attest to that fact because an improved mental health helps build mental fortitude and it helps you make more sound decisions caring for your mental health helps you to manage stress it increases your energy levels and lowers the risk of illness this therefore helps improve the overall quality of life so we can look more closely at how mental health affects our physical health mental health issues often they manifest as physical symptoms some of these symptoms include fatigue lack of energy insomnia back a neck pain the canadian mental health association noted that patients with poor mental health are more likely to develop chronic physical conditions than those with a good mental state patients with a good mental state will also make better health choices decreasing their likelihood of being physically unwell this goes to show that maintaining good mental health can have a protective effect on our overall health chronic stress can cause fatigue heart attacks migraines and even trigger what we call a mental breakdown a study found that positive psychological well-being can reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes this is very important to note since cardiovascular and cerebral vascular disease have been increasing over the years depression has been linked to many chronic illnesses such as diabetes asthma cancer cardiovascular disease and even arthritis schizophrenia has been linked to a higher risk of heart and respiratory disease mental health conditions can also make dealing with a chronic illness more difficult the mortality rate from cancer and heart disease is higher among people with depression or other mental conditions people with mental health conditions are more likely to suffer from sleep disorders like insomnia or sleep apnea insomnia is either difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep apnea is more so difficulty in breathing while sleeping so you wake up very frequently while conditions like depression anxiety or bipolar disorder may lead to sleep problems sleep problems themselves can also make existing mental health conditions worse and sleep deficiency is linked to many chronic health problems like heart disease kidney disease high blood pressure diabetes stroke and obesity and persons with sleep deficiency are also at a higher risk of injury in adults in teens and in children it's also noted that people with mental health illness are also more likely to smoke and we know that smoking can cause issues like lung cancer it can also cause what we call chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or COPD as well as cardiovascular disease according to the US Department of Health and Human Services smoking is an important risk factor for stroke blindness deafness back pain osteoporosis and peripheral vascular disease bleeding to like amputations of legs and so forth and it's also noted that smoking in both men and women can reduce fertility therefore poor mental health can lead to poor decision which affects us physically it may also be more difficult for people with mental health conditions to take care of their physical health when someone has a mental health condition it can be hard to seek care take prescriptions regularly or get enough exercise this therefore puts them at a higher risk for physical illness in these cases it is good for them to have support not only for their emotional needs but to just help to keep the individual on track it is also good to note that having physical illness can lead to mental issues for instance it has been noted that psoriasis it's a dermatological condition so it affects the skin is associated with acute stress and depression persons who are diagnosed with cancer or who have had a heart attack can also also have feelings of depression or anxiety it has been found out about one third of people with serious medical conditions will have symptoms of depression such as low mood sleep problems and loss of interest in activities thyroid disease can also result in mental health issues for example hypothyroidism which is low levels of the thyroid stimulating hormone can cause depression or mania and hypothyroidism which is high levels of the thyroid stimulating hormone is linked with dementia as well as mania this is why it is very important for us to care for our mental health also when we observe signs of mental illness in other individual individuals we should try to help get them the support that they need because many times when people are struggling mentally they feel very alone and most times they are afraid to reach out to others so i just want to leave us some tips for taking care of your mental health so regular exercise is very important not only to maintain physical fitness but it also elevates mood exercise improves mental health by reducing anxiety depression and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function these improvements in mood are proposed to be caused by exercise induced increase in blood circulation to the brain and by influence of hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis so this is basically like organs in your brain as well as the adrenals which sits on your kidneys as well as the improvements in the physiologic reactivity to stress so it will help improve things like our memory and our responses to stress and just our mood and motivation especially it has been noted to that aerobic exercises such as jogging, swimming, cycling, walking, gardening and even dancing have been proved to reduce anxiety and depression exercise is especially important in patients with schizophrenia since these patients are already vulnerable to obesity and also because of the additional risk of weight gain from the antipsychotic medication exercise for at least 30 minutes three to five times a week have been shown to be beneficial it's also good to have you know your balanced diet you're eating less refined sugars less processed food with more whole grain more vegetables and fruits some have noted that the Mediterranean diet has some strong evidence of promoting better mental health and combating anxiety and depression also decreasing excessive use of alcohol and quitting smoking is also good getting sufficient rest is also a must for mental health relaxation techniques such as deep breathing they help relieve anxiety and stress and just promoting good healthy practices like focusing on positive rather than negative emotions as well as coping strategies seeking help when necessary is very important talking things out with a trusted friend or family member can help even more so seeking help from a mental health professional can significantly improve mental health so let us not be fearful to reach out for help when needed since both our mental and physical health depend on it so thank you for your time and thank you Dr Deterville for your time and for sharing with us two takeaways for me the interconnectivity of mental health and physical health and the other one is the importance of physical exercise which I think is still underrated the importance of physical exercise and of course the diet so those three in addition to the others that you mentioned I'm sure if we learn to incorporate that in our lifestyle we'll of course set us on a right path I have a question though is it a form of mental illness if somebody likes to be alone you love your own space um is that a form of mental illness oh yes I'm still here so is it a form of mental illness for someone who likes her own space just like to be alone well some people but I think it's good to observe whether they are withdrawing at all times from like social gatherings and from social interactions because it's okay for us to have a long time depending on your personality you might prefer to spend more time alone but when you notice that the person is more secluded more withdrawn they don't like holding conversations then you might have to assess okay um all right although I didn't hear the first part of your response I think we're getting connectivity issues here but I think um there's just a word of what you said I think it was it was um communicated to our participants anybody else have any question um there are some comments here um well presented nicely spoken good job Dr. Deterbio does anybody else have any question as far as the this last presentation is concerned or just mental health in general as we get ready to wrap up okay I think we have let me read that um should it be a concern when you see persons speak to themselves that's one question should it be a concern you know we see that all the time people um see to them that my mother used to say it's okay to speak to yourself as long as you don't answer yourself so is it okay um you see people speaking to themselves all the time um some people say they're just thinking aloud um what is your what is your take on that Dr. Deterbio okay have we lost her I believe she's still there Jolita however we can also um direct some of the questions to Dr. Swamy who was um Dr. Swamy is still there too okay and I see we have two hands up um is it Terry and Ramsey so let us go to that question is it um is it should it be of concern to us when we see someone speaking to him or herself okay Dr. Swamy you want to come in on this one I think Dr. Deterbio might be having internet issues okay um okay Jolita maybe I can wait you know on this question so he's asking whether it is of concern if they notice that somebody is speaking to themselves now in therapy we do encourage clients to engage in what is called positive self-talk uh which is a coping mechanism now this is why it's important to differentiate whether the person is simply speaking to themselves as in engaging in the positive self-talk or simply just speaking and you likely said that your grandma used to say if somebody's speaking to themselves um then they should not answer um we cannot say yes or no what I would add to this is that uh we will need to to note the order behavioral patterns that the person is exhibiting for example and I'm going to give you a joke um I remember a few years ago I was you know walking in town and I was speaking to myself and I started laughing and um I overheard somebody saying boy that girl has a problem that girl mad and it was just that I remembered something and I engaged myself and I was laughing at it have you ever recall something and you just you know started laughing so it's really sometimes people engage in speaking to themselves and it's nothing now if you notice that a person is constantly speaking to themselves accompanied by all the behaviors that it might be an indication that perhaps a further assessment needs to be done I know in our society we like to die and be nose on officially and we need to of course discourage that yeah okay thank you for that we have Ranzi's Lawrence your hand is up yes Miss Peter please are you yes you may go ahead you mute yourself again go ahead now yes I was I just wanted to make reference to the part she was talking about that's Dr. D'Souville was talking about how physical exercise can influence your mental and it's very good for the mental I wanted her to elaborate a bit on that because um just when she was getting into explanation I think I kind of lost the connectivity a little bit I think she was making mention of increased blood flow to the brain and how it it works immensely well for for the brain and for your mental capacities I just wanted her to elaborate a little bit more because I had kind of lost connectivity just about then okay Dr. D'Souville are you still there we have a question on the floor or perhaps Dr. Swamy can weigh in on that one okay um this is James apparently because I'm wondering how the physical exercise will help with the mental you know and she was just talking about increased blood flow to the brain I believe we may have lost her but she did mention that physical activity is important to one's overall health now when we look at the wellness will it has several components several dimensions so we are looking at the spiritual dimension physical psychological emotional so when we look at physical health and Ramesses the way somebody cares for their physical health will have a direct bearing on the emotional and psychological health so for example um she did mention that there are individuals who experience certain medical conditions I believe she mentioned cardiovascular conditions that can affect a person's emotional health now take for example a person has received the poor diagnosis or they have been told that their prognosis is very poor that can affect a person's emotional and mental health when an individual exercises frequently and we also spoke about somebody mentioned self-care all of these put together help with a person's mental health and this is why even in counseling we encourage clients to make self-care a priority and show that they take some time to exercise because it helps with as Dr. Dittoble would have mentioned the blood flow it helps with so many other organs in terms of its optimal functioning so if you are not exercising regularly Ramesses or anybody else I encourage you to make it a regular part of your of your um regimen I believe there was another question and let me just indicate let me just indicate that Dr. Swami um let me apologize on his behalf he did mention that he was on call so he was not totally sure whether he would have gotten the call whilst at the hospital so perhaps that might be a reason why he's not able to answer any of the questions you were saying Jolita well saying that um we have um two other questions they thought three um so I know that you're not a doctor Mrs. James but I know you'll try your best to answer the absence of Dr. Swami and I don't know if you've lost Dr. Dittoble um one is asking whether there is a correlation between menopause and um mental health mental illness okay so the person to the person asking the question whether there's a correlation with menopause and mental illness in my response to this I would say that there is a correlation as it relates to a medical challenge and mentally health and menopause as um women experience that transition what research has shown is that it does impact their mental health many times women report that the challenges that are associated with that developmental stage lends to mental health challenges one of the common ones would be depression anxiety and um so yes there is a correlation and not just mental just not just menopause but some other medical conditions when a person is experiencing that particular challenge it does affect one's mental health and as I mentioned earlier on as it relates to the wellness wheel and the various dimensions and this is why it is important for us to take care of ourselves holistically it is one thing to care for our physical health but if we neglect the spiritual for example the psychological of the emotional even the occupational our occupational health what happens at our workplaces would recognize that it can have an impact on our mental health yes and I'm seeing also I noticed Dr. DiTabile is back on I'm not sure she wants to weigh in a little more on that question if not we're going to I'm going to on to the other question how about constantly thinking and how about constantly okay the person just repeated the question now overthinking over analyzing can be a sign that an individual is perhaps experiencing a particular challenge now in counseling there is a term we use cognitive distortions and this is where an individual experiences or has irrational thoughts what we call on a healthy patterns of thinking what we call self-defeating thoughts an individual may find themselves always thinking about the same thing a preoccupation with the same thought or it can also be referred to as an obsession that is a sign that there might be an underlying problem because in in therapy in the field of psychology what we do when we treat our clients we always look towards what is causing what is contributing to the challenge that the person is presenting with so yes there are individuals who generally overthink but it is always wise and this is where people like myself come in mental health practitioners also psychiatrists where we do an assessment a thorough assessment to be able to ascertain whether there is an underlying problem or something that lends to a mental health challenge and you are welcome Miss Sydney okay some thanks thanks for that um someone this is Charmin Daniel let's place some important information there in the chat please contact the national health helpline 203 that's number 203 for psychological first aid when the need arises and it's a toll-free number so anyone um who thinks that um you need that in that information that help whether it be you or someone that you know a friend a neighbor someone in your family feel free to call that toll-free line number 203 all right um Mrs. James I think we're getting ready to wrap up but we have one more question we have one more giveaway and it's another fifty dollar fuel voucher and that is sponsored again by soil gas station in grossly and here's the question okay let me see how observant you are what does mh p s s stand for mh p s s what does that stand for so let's monitor the chat um Mrs. James the first person to come up with the right answer is the winner of our second fifty dollar fuel voucher compliments soil gas station grossly okay oh my goodness are we in trouble here Mrs. James I have not seen the correct answers yes okay I think I saw wow wow wow wow hmm okay all right let's see what we have here at 355 let me see who the first person was hmm Rohan Francis Julia I have not seen the correct answer okay um at 355 no we have no I think it was D John first it was D John it's mental health and psychological social services is that right Mrs. James no it's not I believe the first person to come out correctly is listen listen okay I think I can communicate correctly so go about to 355 D John mental health and psycho social services is that right no so go ahead next for next one Mrs. James who's the next one okay just a moment there are so many of them what I'm going to do is to is to identify the correct responses because I'm seeing some wrong responses so the first person to provide the correct response is I just saw it Alexander oh no you're missing the words so I'm sorry I have to take that back mental health and psychosocial yes yes the others were close but you're missing one or two words all right so it's mental health and psychosocial support services and that is Sancia Melville so of course you call the EAP for your fuel voucher all right any closing remarks with you before I move the vote of thanks um Mrs. James sure I would just like to provide um everyone who's logged in with some additional information as it relates to some support services somebody has already mentioned the suicide helpline and this is 203 just to provide you with the information for the national wellness center it's 458-6500 there's also turning point the drug and alcohol rehabilitation center 458-2076 so if you know anybody who might benefit from rehabilitation from any type of substance you can direct them to turning points there is also the crisis center 453-1521 and community mental health services these services are available at all the wellness centers in St Lucia and of course the EAP units I'm going to provide you with the numbers again 468-2269-468-2260 or 2857-264 or 2856-252 you have options if you are desirous of scheduling an appointment with the EAP or otherwise the at the health the community mental health centers please give us a call remember help is available we want to ensure that mental health is accessible to every single person and today you heard from the child Malachi from the youth um dire and we want to reiterate that we want to see every single person play their part as it relates to sensitization education and the most importantly accessing help if you are desirous of it so thank you for logging on and you have been quite a good audience over to you thank you to uh mrs james for organizing this webinar so timely so important so needed and for my part I really want to thank all our presenters and the parents of our student presenters for allowing them the time to do that you the participants joining us on zoom on facebook and youtube we want to thank you for accepting the invitation to be part of this webinar webinar and for your questions your your comments your suggestions and even your encouragement to our participants we want to thank soul gas station and grossly for sponsoring our prizes also the solution missing council we want to thank also the principles of the the principle of the saltibus combined school and also of the san mary's college and also miss christalie who's a school counselor at the san mary's college so we want to thank you so much for for coming out of course mrs james will let you know when our next webinar is going to be and what the next topic is going to be the eap is very busy very busy and she will tell you that um the program is well sought after the eap and I really want to thank her on the team for the wonderful job that they have been doing in the public service and showing that um our public officers are fit our remain fit not just for the job but to function well in society in the family and wherever they go so thank you so much and as you make your way home I pray that you get there safely and do enjoy the rest of the week thank you so much thank you so much for that I would like to say thank you to gis who ensure that we had live streaming thank you so much to the team at gis and ntn thank you to the parents of dianne and rene it's about dear meds and the juniors thank you so much thank you to all our presenters from my heart thank you to um the mhpss technical working group thank you to the sages alicia sages thank you so much for all of your hard work and thank you very much mana morta rita julita pizza for such an excellent job do have yourself a wonderful evening thank you