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| Youth Peer Helpline Launched |
| Teen peer-counselling group RapPort, has launched what it dubs Peer-to-Peer Helpline – an avenue where young people can call to have their problems aired and get assistance. The programme was launched on Wednesday, June 3, at the Edward Gartland Youth Centre in Providenciales. The commissioning of the helpline was officially launched by Minister of Home Affairs and Human Services, Hon. Karen Delancy, who commended RapPort for seeing the need for the intitative, saying that the youth now have an avenue to express themselves, help others, since the helpline will now be the voice for the voiceless. |
She said that far too often, young people have no avenue to air their problems, and with the launch of the helpline, they would have someone to listen to them and give them advice.
In introducing the programme, Keziah Nash of the National Aids Programme, said the launch of the Peer-to-Peer Helpline was an answer to the many challenges that young people of the Turks and Caicos Islands face, and need a comfortable avenue through which they could express themselves.
“To this end, we think that it is necessary for us to bind ourselves together, and to save our young people because they are the future of the Turks and Caicos Islands,” Nash said.
Saying that the initiative is geared to foster overall behavioral change, Aldora Robinson, Coordinator for the National Aids Programme, said the aim of the Helpline is to provide the youth of the country with a confidential and safe space to air their views, and also to confront the many issues faced by them at home, school and society in general.
She noted that the peer-counselling avenue came about after a recent assessment of the needs of the youth recently carried out by her office, where a great deal of discovery was made, and so as to address those challenges, one of the mechanisms coming out of the assessment was the helpline. “Coming out of that, we realized that youths need to be informed, and not just by adults, but more so by their peers. They accept more and listen more to their peers, so hence RapPort, which is the youth arm of the National Aids Programme,” Robinson said. According to her, one of the aims is to address all the needs concerning sexually transmitted infections, HIV/AIDS and social problems. “So, they (RapPort) give them the skills and information to influence their decision-making, so that they have the support to make health choices, and informed choices – a chance to explore their value system, by speaking to their peers, and also to sustain a healthy behaviour, and enhance what they already have,” Robinson said. Robinson noted also that the Peer-to-Peer Helpline will be geared towards assessing the negotiating skills of the youth, not just sexually, but in other areas in their life, such as conversation with their parents and their peers who may be at risk. “RapPort is not only charged with giving out information about sexual behavior and STI’s, but also their value system, that will make them well-rounded, healthy, educated and informed youth, that we know that tomorrow we would have leaders that stand out for us,” Robinson said. The helpline will be conducted in three languages - English, French (creole) and Spanish - since there are heavy concentrations of Dominican Republic and Haitian national living in the TCI. Larisa Rivera, Youth Ambassador, chaired the event. |
| [ 23-06-2009 ] |
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