Health Workers and Law Enforcement Officers Complete Six-month Training
Health workers as well as law enforcement officers have completed a six-month course on treatment, rehabilitation as well as on reduction of drug consumption among users. Among young people, there is an increase in alcohol and drug abuse. Close to fifty persons took advantage of the opportunity to train on the different methods to reduce the number of persons at risk. They now go back to their work places to implement the appropriate aspects of the course. News Five’s Duane Moody reports.
Duane Moody, Reporting
Forty-eight persons, including law enforcement officers and care providers from across the country graduated today from a six-month Drug and Violence Prevention, Treatment and Rehabilitation Program. They all received their certification from the University of the West Indies that will allow them to provide services to individuals with problems directly related to drug abuse and violence at rehabilitation centers countrywide. Executive Director of the National Drug Abuse Control Council, Esner Vellos:
Esner Vellos
Esner Vellos, Executive Director, NDACC
“In 2011, we were assured that the program was going to be implemented here in Belize. Fast track to 2015, the National Drug Abuse Control Council gathered approximately seventy participants, frontline social workers, to be able to provide them with training, capacity building in treatment rehabilitation for the reduction of drug consumption and violence in the country of Belize. Of that amount, we have approximately forty-eight trainees that are today being certified by the University of the West Indies in both prevention track and the treatment tract. With the certification, the new frontline officers will be able to now go and develop programs that will be able to address the reduction of the demand of drugs. But more important, with the knowledge that they have gained, they will be able to also implement the design of the program into their own work.”
Corozal resident, Liliana Itza Chable, will be working out of Orange Walk, providing treatment for those persons that would seek help from clinics and rehabilitation centers. She says that the journey was not easy.
Liliana Itza Chable
Liliana Itza Chable, Graduate
“It was six to seven months of hard work, studying. We would usually have Thursday coming here at Belize City, which was traveling all the way to Belize City for training. It was a lot of hard work, but it has paid off. It is a lot of knowledge and skills that I have learnt and attained and I plan to use all those knowledge to help those people in need. As part of my job, I have been doing that. But with this training, I feel more prepared and able to help all those that need that help.”
Several officers from the Community Policing Unit of the Police Department successfully completed the program as it pertains to prevention. Sergeant Brent Hamilton says that there are some immediate programs that can be implemented to address the issue of drug abusers.
Brent Hamilton
Sgt. Brent Hamilton, Graduate
“We can promote universal signs where we can say no to drugs. The signs must be friendly, conducive that anybody from the different ethnic groups can understand. We can go to the schools and do presentations on drugs and say no to drugs. We can do workshops from different communities as to how they can prevent their children not to go into that angle or area of drugs. As community oriented police officers, based on what we see and what is the problem that we see, based on the results of mediation. With the training that I have now, it will allow me to go in and provide the better education and preventative measures that we can use in the communities to have a safe and better Belize.”
The PROCCER Program was introduced to Belize in May 2011 under the Secretariat for Multidimensional Security of the Organization of American States to develop and strengthen member states’ institutions for individuals with problems related to drug abuse and violence. Duane Moody for News Five.
