Adolescent mothers will have the opportunity to learn positive parenting techniques and skills during a symposium set for Friday, May 9, at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston beginning at 9:00 a.m.

The event, hosted by the Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF) under the theme ‘Transforming Families, Building Communities’, is part of ongoing efforts to support adolescent mothers and contribute to national development.

The symposium will include expert-led sessions, interactive discussions, and play-based learning activities designed to equip young mothers with positive parenting skills and knowledge.

Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia Grange, and  Minister of Education, Skills, Youth and Information, Senator Dr Dana Morris Dixon, are expected to speak during the event.

Other slated speakers include Lecturer and Clinical Psychologist, Dr Jhodi-Ann Bowie-Dean; Senior Lecturer and Consultant Paediatrician/Adolescent Medicine Subspecialist in the Department of Child and Adolescent Health, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona, Dr Abigail Harrison; Consultant Psychologist, Georgia Crawford Williams, and officers from the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA).

Topics to be discussed include learning through play, building self-esteem, stress management, child development and safety, self-care for young mothers, and the different types of parenting.

Executive Director of the WCJF, Novlette Howell, told JIS News that the inaugural symposium will provide adolescent mothers with tools, resources, and professional guidance to support their journey into parenthood.

She noted that teen mothers attending the event will be the first beneficiaries of the training, which is expected to be expanded islandwide. “We [hope] that the success of this [symposium] will allow us to get additional funding for others to come. We are hoping to go across the island,” she said, adding that the forum is sponsored by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports and Education (CHASE) Fund.

Howell also highlighted that the development of the WCJF’s Parenting Programme was funded by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Caribbean Institute for Health Research at the UWI. The symposium is part of the Foundation’s ongoing commitment to national development through education, family support and youth empowerment.