I feel good in myself when I can sit down and listen to someone who has a similar experience to me being in state care. Because what I have been through I can literally say to them – “I am you!” Yet, when I was going through those experiences I could not even imagine that I would be alive today, because I did have a lot of suicidal… Read more →←
I am a survivor of sexual violence. It happened to me when I was seven years old and living in Linstead, St. Catherine. My parents knew what happened and were supportive, but it wasn’t until I was in my thirties and living in Canada for school, that I felt comfortable talking about it publicly. It was at a ‘Take Back the Night’… Read more →←
I would like to tell you a story about a little boy called DJ, which illustrates the challenges that parents of children with disabilities and the children themselves have. At the age of two years, DJ’s mother became concerned about his speech. They visited their local health centre where his mother was told “boys are slower than… Read more →←
In 2017, a 17-year-old student named Mickolle Moulton was murdered. The outrage was intense, and the pain was profound. Her family, friends, teachers and those who wished to pay their respects gathered for a candlelight vigil in her honour. Despite the general atmosphere of sadness, the vigil was one that celebrated her life,… Read more →←
I was raised in West Kingston. Growing up where I did, I soon realised as a child that you got more support being deviant than being good. Good people treated you badly, and friends who were doing bad things also treated you badly. For any child who’s trying to be good in the middle of all that, life is going to be lonely. Most of my… Read more →←
Imagine having a friend who goes home to an environment where they are constantly shot at (with actual guns and bullets), sometimes the bullets hit, other times they do not. An environment where they are also exposed to physical violence, because it’s necessary to alter their behavior in a ‘more acceptable fashion’. An environment… Read more →←
For years, I thought I had no one, and believed that my mother abandoned me at a bus stop when I was six years old. Now, a month ago, I finally found my family. Here I am on the phone speaking to this woman 26 years later, having had all that as the truth in my mind, and after all those years alone in state care. Here we are talking on… Read more →←
Working in child protection, one of the things that concerns me most are the messages that we give our children about safety and particularly, who is safe to be around. In Jamaica we have the “stranger danger” phenomenon where young children are taught that it is strangers that you need to be wary of. Yet, we need to open up a… Read more →←
For me being involved in my daughter’s life from the start is an amazing role which all fathers should want to take part in. The early days are very critical for me because by being there she can feel a sense of security and confidence in exploring her surroundings, and as a dad I learn from these experiences. She enjoys being around… Read more →←
Some of you might have seen where I posted this video about me and my daughter talking about Good touch, bad touch. We are in the bathroom and the camera is on me while me and Naima-Kourtnae, aged 7, are talking. What you do not see is that I am sitting on her old potty, something which we have been doing for years. This time is a safe… Read more →←
