‘Parenting’ must be factored into UG’s Psychology curriculum – stakeholders

DPI, Guyana, Thursday, November 16, 2017

A symposium, focusing on Youth Violence, Suicide and Professional Psychology, was held to gather public input for the drafting of a study curriculum for the recently launched University of Guyana, Psychology programme.

The seminar held last Thursday saw stakeholders representing faith-based organisations and mental health institutions engaging in critical analysis.

The general consensus derived from the meeting was that the importance of parenting needed to be factored into the psychology curriculum from the certificate level. Parents have a responsibility of reminding their children of the value of human life hence the reason for stakeholders to take this stand.

Stakeholders, as well as panelists representing various Caribbean institutions offering psychology courses, agreed that the training must include a re-education of the value of parenting and its positive impacts on the nurturing of children.

It has been found that predisposing vulnerabilities for adolescents are peer pressure, the desire to ‘fit in’, the psychological changes they experience, and the fact that they are emotionally driven at this stage in their life. Most of their actions are usually impulsive.

One stakeholder remarked, “We have a lot of angry children, out there!” adding that this has contributed to high rates of suicide and violence particularly in the Caribbean region. It was noted that parents have an important role to play and must be targetted in the effort to reduce statistics associated with these two scourges.

The main goal of the psychology programme is to aid in the reduction of the high suicide rate in Guyana while having an increased number of qualified psychologists available locally.

The University of Guyana will be offering the Certificate and Diploma in General Psychology, the Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and the Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology in 2018.

 

By: Delicia Haynes

 

 

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