Spanish Town YMCA Seeks Support for Behaviour Modification Project

Thirty boys with special needs from communities in Spanish Town and its environs are set to benefit from a ‘Behaviour Modification Day Camp’, to be held August 13-18, at the Vision Retreat Centre in Mandeville.
The boys, aged 12-18 years, will receive training in life coping skills and participate in religious activities, music, speech and drama and sports. The camp is being organized by the Spanish Town Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA).
This special intervention initiative, led by Rev J. Anthony Brown, Guidance Counsellor and Resident Chaplin at the Spanish Town YMCA, is being held for the second time.
“We have observed, over time, that a number of them (the boys) have serious behavioural, societal, family and learning challenges and issues. In response to these concerns, we held our first non-residential camp last summer and observed that the participants were positively impacted,” Rev Brown told JIS News.
He said that the impact was evident in the boys’ performance in the 2010 Grade Nine Achievement Test (GNAT): Of the 11 boys who sat the GNAT, 8 did well enough to be placed at Dinthill, Jose Marti and Spanish Town high schools.
He noted that this year the staff, led by Principal of the Spanish Town YMCA’s Further Educational Institute, Annmarie Johnson, identified the boys who needed the intervention.
Rev Brown also expressed his gratitude to the management of the Vision Retreat Centre, for their contribution and noted that the support received in terms of human resources to assist at the camp was sufficient. However, he appealed for assistance from Corporate Jamaica to meet the needs of transportation, food and other miscellaneous items for the camp.
Persons or companies willing to partner with the YMCA in this nation building initiative are asked to contact Rev Brown at the Spanish Town YMCA at 984-7038 or 812-3845.
Among the presenters at the camp will be Ministry of Education Guidance Counsellors from Region 6, Nurses from the Mandeville Regional Hospital, Dr. Bongelo Gombele from the Kingston Public Hospital and the Mandeville Police.