In September, Zanmi Lasante reached an important milestone in its commitment to bringing mental health care closer to children and adolescents in Haiti. Thirty-four teachers from two Hinche schools took part in mental health training, enabling them to acquire essential skills to better support their students and strengthen a system of care that often begins in the classroom.
Teachers are on the front line of children’s lives. They spend more time with them than almost anyone else, and are often the first to notice when something is wrong. Yet in Haiti, where access to mental health services is already limited, teachers rarely receive specific training in recognizing the early signs of psychological distress. Without this knowledge, many children remain invisible, exposed to the risk of academic failure, aggravated health problems and difficulties that can mark a lifetime.
Thanks to this training organized as part of the School Mental Health Project, teachers now know how to identify symptoms linked to anxiety, depression or other disorders, and how to refer students to Zanmi Lasante structures for appropriate treatment. By strengthening this link between the education system and the healthcare system, ZL is creating an essential safety net so that children are not left out in the cold when they need help.
Mental health is an all too often neglected component of public health in Haiti. For several decades, Zanmi Lasante has been working to transform this reality by integrating mental health into primary care, community services and, now, schools. The goal is simple but essential: to build communities where psychological well-being is understood, supported and treated with the same importance as physical health.
For the children of Hinche, this initiative means the presence of adults capable of listening, recognizing when something is wrong and taking action. It also means learning in an environment where their difficulties are not ignored.
At Zanmi Lasante, we believe that every child deserves to grow up in a community where care is at hand, whether for the body or the mind. Training teachers is one more step towards that future.
Supporting children’s mental health means giving them a chance to succeed in school and in life. Make a donation today.