From the Alex Panton Foundation

Date:                   Thursday 20^th February  

Time:                  10 am – 3pm, registration starts at 9.30am

Location:           The Ritz-Carlton Royal Ballroom

What:                 4th Annual Youth Mental Health Symposium

Theme:              “Youth Mental Wellness: Reflection, Recovery, Resilience”

Background:       

The Alex Panton Foundation is a Non-Profit Organisation with the primary objective of raising awareness of mental illnesses affecting children and young adults in the Cayman Islands with a particular focus on anxiety and depression. This Foundation has been established in memory of Alex Panton, who succumbed to the effects of severe depression at the age of 16. The Alex Panton Foundation aims to provide hope and resources to friends, family, teachers, classmates and careers to help save the lives of children and young adults struggling with mental illness. This year’s symposium theme, “Youth Mental Wellness: Reflection, Recovery, Resilience” will recognise the turbulent year that 2020 was for Cayman’s youth and will look back on COVID-19 and the effects of the pandemic on Youth Mental Wellness, their recovery efforts and how through their programmes they were able to help build resilience in our young people.

Agenda:

9.30am                 Registration 

10am                     Welcome Remarks 

                                Jane Panton, Chairperson, Alex Panton Foundation

10.10am               Welcome Remarks 

                                His Excellency Martyn Roper, OBE, Governor of the Cayman Islands

10.15am               Opening Address 

                                Hon Dwayne Seymour, JP, MP, Minister of Health, Environment, Culture and Housing

10.20am               Opening Address 

                                Hon Julianna O’Connor-Connolly, JP, MP, Minister of Education, Youth, Sports, Agriculture and Lands

10.25am               An overview of the 2020 mental health data of the Cayman Islands Student Drug Use Survey

Brenda Watson, National Drug Council Cayman Islands and Dr Erica Lam, Aspire and Clinical Consultant of Alex Panton Foundation

10.55am              COVID-19 and Children’s Mental Health: Lessons Learned from the Red Cross Mobile Health and Wellness Project

                               Carolina Ferreira, Deputy Director and Child Protection & Sexuality Education Programme Manager for the Cayman Islands Red Cross

11.10am               Youth Challenges and Resilience Amid COVID-19

                                Marc Lockhart MD Psychiatrist

11.40am               Panel discussion: The impact of the pandemic on youth mental health, building resilience and recovery

12.20pm               The importance of inclusion – life stories

                                Youth Ambassador Programme representatives Sadie Finch, Dylan DaCosta, Sanaa Archer, Jhadri Lumley

12.50pm               Lunch  

1.50pm                Parental attachment and child anxiety 

                                Shannon Seymour, The Wellness Centre Clinical Director and Clinical Psychologist

2.20pm               “Out of my mind” – Drawing light out of darkness

                                 Martina Jackson 

2.25pm                 A new approach to youth well being: collaboration of Cayman Islands Crisis Centre and Alex Panton Foundation

                                Carol-Anne Fordyce, Cayman Islands Crisis Centre Coordinator and Dr Erica Lam Aspire and Clinical Consultant of Alex Panton Foundation

2.45pm               Zippy & Apple & the Pandemic: our social & emotional literacy programme in 2020

                              Dr Catherine Day, Consultant Clinical Psychologist Aspire, Alex Panton Foundation Emotional Literacy Programme and Dr Xenia Sotiriou, BHAC Therapist and Alex Panton Foundation Emotional Literacy Programme

3.15pm              Closing Remarks  

                             Hailee Robinson, Deputy Chairperson, Alex Panton Foundation

For more information and attendance: [email protected]