Mandeville, Jamaica…[Byron Buckley/IAD]
A center which treats sex abuse victims opened Oct. 23 in Central Jamaica. The opening ceremony was officiated by Minister of Justice Senator A. J. Nicholson.
The Community Counseling and Restorative Justice Center, located at Northern Caribbean University (NCU), is a joint project of NCU’s Behavioral Sciences department and other local agencies such as the Victim Support Unit, the Center for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Carnal Abuse, and the Manchester Resident magistrate Court. NCU provides the counseling staff, while the other agencies refer clients to the center, which has counseled some 200 people since operations began 10 months ago.
The counseling center provides marriage and family counseling, grief and loss therapy, drug abuse counseling and mediation counseling. Also, the facility proves training in assertiveness, stress reduction, problem solving and decision making, relationship enhancement, conflict resolution and anger management.
