Need to support mental healthcare
From the Cabinet of the Prime Minister- The Prime Minister of St. Maarten the Honorable Sarah Wescot-Williams attended the opening of the Mental Health Conference at the Sonesta Great Bay resort on Monday. The PM has continuously stressed that the Mental Health Foundation and mental health care in general is something that requires the wide scale support of the community, especially in light of recent events within the community; “As I have already expressed that, although there is no excuse for violence, murder or ill treatment mental healthcare in our community is something very essential. We have a Mental Health Foundation doing extremely good work but one that is faced with challenges. The Foundation is subsidized by Government but indeed the needs of the organization are great. I have requested that from Government side that we look into the finances of the Mental Health Foundation upon learning of the issues that they have been dealing with.
“There are a lot of issues that are faced by people on a daily basis; some persons can conceal this state but others not. More can be done on St. Maarten but we must also acknowledge that we have come a long way, not to long ago we had absolutely no care for those suffering from issues related to mental health on St. Maarten. During our island territory days things needed to be done but our legal parameters were not in place yet. Some persons got together and provided that service and Government subsidized the activities of that foundation but there are still some legal issues, including picking up persons and forcing them to have care, which must be looked at. This was a crime and you cant just attack someone, but if it is true that the person needed care in terms of mental care that care should indeed have been given,” commented Prime Minister Wescot-Williams.