The Ministry of Public Health yesterday launched a support group for parents of children who are differently-abled as a means of offering support and building coping skills of parents.
Director of Rehabilitation Services at the Ministry, Ariane Mangar, revealed that the session brought together 25 parents from various parts of the country and featured presentations focused on coping skills by a psychologist attached to the Georgetown Public Hospital, among other activities.
“We chose to bring parents of children with disabilities, more specifically those with microcephaly which is endemic due to the Zika virus in Guyana…Disabilities will not go away, it is lifelong, and so they will need the psychological support because they will develop a lot of anxiety and depression; it is not an easy thing to have a child that is disabled, someone who, you in most cases have to basically do everything for, for the rest of their lives. It’s hard and they need the support so we are here to offer them just that,” Mangar said.
