Mental health support for Jamaican workers
- Jeff Tribe
- 2 hours ago
- 3 min read
Jeff Tribe
Advocate Correspondent
Three Canadian organizations are coordinating efforts to offer mental health support for Jamaican foreign migrant workers struggling to deal with Hurricane Melissa’s devastation.
Canadians and workers’ host communities quite literally benefit from the fruits and vegetables of their labour says Leanne Arnal, Manager of Community Development, Catholic Community Services York Region (CCSYR), Simcoe Satellite Office. And now, in those workers’ time of need, she feels responsibility to reciprocate.
“We are their extended family, we need to be there in support. We absolutely have to offer whatever support we can.”
A foreign migrant worker’s mental challenge from leaving home and family for months is immense under the best of circumstances. But painful and effectively powerless separation during Melissa’s deadly path of destruction and related loss of communication is other level.
“Terrible when I cannot hear,” said Wes Clarke on Wednesday, Oct. 29.
He last spoke with family in his home parish of St. Elizabeth - hardest hit by Melissa - the previous Friday. Communication with wife Colleen and their daughters Osheena, a teacher, and Judianne, who manages two hotels in Montego Bay, was cut off with the loss of infrastructure. “It’s not easy, not easy at all because you don’t know what’s going on.
“It’s terrible.”
Clarke has worked with two generations of the Koteles family for 25 years, advancing to a supervisory role. It has been tough leaving his own Jamaican family each and every one of those years, requiring what compatriot Donald Sangster refers to as the proper ‘mindset.’ A painter by trade, Clarke’s steadier income earned in Canada has built his house, provided university education for his children and allowed the purchase of a piece of property on which he grows bananas, mangos and coconuts.
“Twenty-five years… it isn’t easy. (But) it’s a sacrifice you have to make.”
Watching Melissa develop and strike Jamaica was incredibly stressful, tougher still from a distance.
“Devastating, but I don’t hear what else. Nobody can communicate with anybody.”
“There is no internet down there,” said Sangster.
He was able to ‘send phone credit’ south and hear in person girlfriend Chantal and son Donald Junior in St. Thomas parish were OK. Sangster’s house, located on a hill, survived, but his own banana, mango and coconut trees did not.
“Everything flattened out, terrible. We’ve got to replant.”
Replanting is the baseline expectation for Clarke.
“I don’t know, I don’t hear anything concrete, I just have to guess.”
Another Jamaican staying on the Koteles property learned his house sustained serious damage.
“When your roof is gone, it’s not an easy thing,” said Clarke.
“He’s got no home to go to,” Arnal added.
In addition, flights home at the end of a long season were cancelled for some workers, a backlog complicated by damage to airports.
“We don’t know when it’s going to open,” said Clarke.
He wants to believe family members in Jamaica are OK (a third daughter, Okeema, is working toward Canadian permanent residency through an agricultural program here), but being unable to hear from them directly has created a ‘pain in his heart’, loss of appetite and difficulty sleeping. Clarke tries to cope by staying busy, finding working is better than thinking too much.
“If I stay in place, it hurts more. I like to move.”
Some are turning to self-medication, ‘liquor’ providing one avenue.
“It’s not good,” Clarke understated.
A partnership between CCSYR, Grand Erie Community Health Centre (GECHC) and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) is responding to Melissa-associated mental health challenges faced by Jamaican foreign workers based not only in Southwestern Ontario, but across Canada. The response includes community and faith-based mental health supports, workshops, prayer support, on-farm visits and confidential virtual and telephone support.
“The outreach is local in-person, but accessible right across Canada,” said Arnal. Her immediate goal is informing both workers and farmers this potentially vital service is available.
Access is provided via calling Arnal at 519-277-1102, acting as referral hub.
“We’re just going old-school right to the telephone. It’s immediate.”
Arnal looks forward to being part of the broader disaster relief effort, Jamaica’s need undeniably great and ongoing.
“But right now, we just need to get people to sleep. Provide them with the mental health support they need,” she concluded.
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