Community Builder, Dr. Melissa Flinch, Receives GGAA

Dr. Melissa Flinch’s work in community outreach and mental health advocacy, through the Free Your Mind Foundation, was celebrated recently when she was honoured with the Governor-General’s Achievement Award (GGAA) for 2025.

She was among 37 individuals whose contribution to society were recognised in a ceremony held at King’s House on June 26.

For Dr. Flinch, her dedication to her community of Mandeville, in Manchester, was nurtured from a young age as she would accompany her mother, Dr. Merylyn Campbell Flinch, on her outreach work at the Salvation Army Hanbury Home for Children, to minister at prisons or to feed the homeless.

Her mother also extended her services to the Northern Caribbean University (NCU) where she worked in the Department of Behavioural Sciences and held the position of Director of Community Counselling and Restorative Justice.

“The fact that she was in Community Counselling and Restorative Justice, a lot of the cases that would come to her, she would realise that they were either due to poor parenting or due to child abuse. And so, she went out of her way to create empowerment training,” Dr. Flinch shares in an interview with JIS News.

“We have an assumption that once you push out a baby, you know how to be a parent and we’re failing our country as a result. So… she created these parenting empowerment seminars [and] more than 2,000 people graduated from Manchester alone within a few months of it starting,” she informs.

Like her mother, Dr. Flinch also wanted to help people. While she was always involved in volunteerism, she wanted to extend this impact, so she pursued a Doctor of Medicine degree at the University of the West Indies.

Now she is serving her community as the Medical Officer of Community Psychiatry in the Manchester Health Department.

But there was still more to be done. There were still so many people who needed help, and this was even more evident when Dr. Flinch would see her patients at clinics across the parish.

To help alleviate this, last November the mother and daughter duo had the brilliant idea to spread some Christmas cheer by handing out care packages to patients when they visited the clinics in Manchester.

“We were delusional enough in November to plan a November event to raise money for Christmas care packages,” Dr. Flinch tells JIS News.

They planned and successfully executed a Sip ‘N’ Paint event and used the proceeds to purchase items for the care packages.

Dr. Flinch says that Victoria Mutual also partnered with them, donating $150,000 towards the venture.

Each patient received items such as rice, peas, cooking oil, sanitary napkins, tin foods, hygiene products, and some specialised packages with items for babies, including diapers and clothes.

“We were able to do it in such a way where patients came to clinics as per usual to be seen [by the doctor], and they left with a Christmas care package. And based on that, we had in total about 500 Christmas care packages from our efforts [and] various corporate sponsors,” Dr. Flinch says.

From this venture the Free Your Mind Foundation was created. The initiative aims to improve and advocate for mental wellness through community support, self-care and volunteerism.

The organisation also empowers individuals to prioritise their mental health, while fostering a culture of service and community impact.

“Since then, it’s been planning events for the mentally well to stay mentally well, while funding outreach for the mental health community, or mentally unwell in Manchester especially,” Dr. Flinch notes.

“We’ve had yoga, salsa, sip ‘n’ paints, corporate training sessions where we’ve gone into the various companies and spoken about conflict resolution in the workplace, suicide prevention, about burnout. So, it’s really become a platform for change, not just for the mentally unwell but keeping the mentally well mentally well,” she says.

Dr. Flinch’s work with the Free Your Mind Foundation resulted in her nomination for the Governor-General’s Achievement Award.

She describes the honour as “empowering” as it recognises the kind of contribution people often dream of making but are usually doubtful in their abilities.

“I think we dream of the impact that can be made but we don’t think we can be the ones to make it. And I think we started making impact in the meantime, until those who were supposed to, could do it, and we became the ones without realising. I think Jamaicans know the change that needs to be made in our country… but we just don’t think we’re the ones to do it and that stifles our growth,” Dr. Flinch reasons.

“It’s empowering knowing that what you do as an individual impacts your community; what you do in your communities lifts your parish, and each parish is needed to do their best so Jamaica can do her best,” she encourages.

The recognition was a triumph for Dr. Flinch, marking the Foundation’s second achievement since its establishment less than a year ago. However, the celebration was bittersweet; her altruistic mother, Dr. Campbell Flinch, passed away on April 23 after a battle with cancer, and could not be there to share in the joy.

“For Governor-General, when the screaming did go on and my mommy’s scream was not in it, God, my heart did break a little. I had to just take a deep breath in and then release it and just be present because God knows what He’s doing,” Dr. Flinch says, her voice breaking as she describes the moment.

The Free Your Mind Foundation was the recipient of the Community Impact Award of 2025 from the Manchester Chamber of Commerce.

While the accolades have been rewarding, Dr. Flinch says the Foundation still has a far way to go.

She notes that Free Your Mind will continue assisting with local feeding programmes for the homeless; and conduct a clothing drive titled ‘Declutter for a Cause’, which will be used to launch the Foundation’s mental health charity thrift shop, ‘Closet Worthy’.

Work will also continue with the partners of the initiative to host monthly Sip ‘N’ Paint events for community building and Community wellness. Fundraising events will also be ramped up to carry out a second Christmas care package delivery to patients.

As for future plans, Dr. Flinch says: “I want Free Your Mind Foundation to be a route for employment for those who are unable to get employment otherwise because of their adjusted functioning, depending on the severity of their mental health conditions.

“The needs are great for the mental health community – food, shelter, clothing being the main ones – and by all means, we’re going to do what we can to fill the gap that the Government may not be able to take care of with public funds,” she adds.