Forty-Two New Parent Mentors to Graduate in November

The National Parenting Support Commission (NPSC) has trained and equipped 42 new parent mentors to serve communities.

Under a 13-week programme undertaken in collaboration with the Citizen Security and Justice Programme (CSJP), the community volunteers were empowered to provide guidance and support to families at risk or in need.

The mentors will be incorporated in the training and support programmes offered by the NPSC, where they will impart their newly acquired skills to parents.

Speaking at a recent Think Tank at the JIS headquarters in Kingston, Chief Executive Officer of the NPSC, Kaysia Kerr, said the entity is “excited to welcome a new batch of mentors into the fold”.

“They play a critical role in achieving the positive community-level impact that we seek to have. We implore others to come on board and volunteer in a similar fashion,” she said.

The graduation of the new mentors, which is scheduled to take place on November 28, is only one of the many activities to be undertaken for Parents Month 2017 under the theme ‘Be the Influence’.

“We intend to involve in a major way our parent mentors… to provide support and guidance during our scheduled activities,” Ms. Kerr noted.

Activities for the month will begin with a media launch on November 1 at the Terra Nova All-Suite Hotel in Kingston and a church service scheduled to take place on November 5 at the Calvary Baptist Church in Montego Bay.

Also on the itinerary are Street Talk Live sessions, Primary Exit Profile (PEP) sensitisation sessions as well as Parent Villages in Kingston and Montego Bay.

“The villages will act as a model for patrons, where they can observe certain parenting skills being displayed in particular scenarios staged specifically for this purpose,” said Ms. Kerr
She noted that the villages will address the need expressed by many parents for strategies to deal with challenges in child-rearing.

In the meantime, the National Integrity Action (NIA), which is a key partner of the NPSC, stands ready to lend its support during the period.

“We believe that the foundation upon which positive values and attitudes are built is laid firstly in the home, and it is because of this that we found it necessary to partner with the NPSC in this regard,” said Deputy Executive Director of the NIA, Dr. Patrece Charles.

The NIA has broadened its scope to become more of a social movement by building networks with existing groups that share similar principles of integrity.

Dr. Charles said the NIA’s mandate of promoting positive values and attitudes in society is significantly augmented by the NPSC’s focus on positive parenting.

“If parents neglect their roles in the building of positive character traits, the void will be filled by negative forces, which will lead to the outcomes that the NIA continually lobbies against. This is why the partnership is a natural fit,” noted Dr. Charles.