Service Above Self for Marisha Burgess

Despite the glaring danger of interacting with infected persons during the height of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, Substance Abuse Officer with the National Council on Drug Abuse (NCDA), Marisha Burgess, ensured that her clients got uninterrupted services.

Attached to the Eastern Region of the NCDA, Miss Burgess is tasked with providing constant counselling to drug addicts and sourcing food for those who need that type of support.

Although very concerned about her own safety, each morning when the pandemic forced her to stay home from work, thoughts of not knowing what would happen to the persons under her care pushed her away from safety. She chose instead to meet and interface with her clients.

Even if she could work remotely, Miss Burgess says it would be unsatisfactory because “people needed a human touch during COVID, especially for addicts. That’s the time that they would break. They needed to get out of the house and to talk with somebody”.

Noting that while all the control and preventative measures were observed, the risks of getting the virus were very high, “but my passion for my clients, and knowing that they would have relapsed” caused her to be on the front line in reaching them.

“I love what I do, I am in love with my profession, and the NCDA made sure that we were taken care of mentally. At the agency, it is family-oriented and a spectacular place to work. We were motivated because they made sure that we became flexible,” she states.

Stressing that when substance abusers have people around them who care, it makes a difference in their drug dependency. Miss Burgess reasons that the experience during the lockdowns to contain spread of the virus, reinforces her belief that social workers are “barriers and buffers” between the drugs and the persons who are addicted.

She recalls one of her proudest moments with the NCDA as when she was assigned to work with a mother who was a drug abuser, and she was able to get the children in a “stable” situation. Also, there was a client who on entering the programme was unable to read. He stopped drug use, can now read, and is working as a taxi operator.

“Moments like those, when you are able to help persons to move from being addicts, from substance that is blocking their progress, and then for them to reach that place of self-actualisation and accomplishing their goals” makes her want to do more each day, she says.

The NCDA has a vision of striving relentlessly for a ‘’drug-free Jamaica” in which there is a reduction in the demand, supply, use and abuse of illicit substances.

Its mission is to provide quality reliable information to policymakers, international partners and the general public, about substance use and abuse in Jamaica. This includes the nature, extent, prevention, treatment, control and underlying problems of substance abuse that negatively impact on nation-building.

The agency’s officers are dedicated to strengthening protective factors against substance abuse, in collaboration with diverse local and international organisations, through the implementation of treatment and prevention programmes.

Miss Burgess is one of Jamaica’s healthcare workers who is being recognised during July, which has been declared Healthcare Workers Appreciation Month.