WOMEN'S
CENTRE
OF JAMAICA FOUNDATION
The WCJF has served approximately 46,000 teen mothers, many of whom have successfully completed their secondary education.
Sisterhood of a 2nd Chance
Programme for Adolescent Mothers
VISION:
Adolescent Resource Centre
Counselling
Adolescent mothers are particularly faced with a myriad of issues, several of which find root in the circumstances surrounding their pregnancy. Adolescent mothers will be provided with specialized counselling, inclusive of psychotherapy, to help these young mothers come to terms with their issues.
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In addition, counselling sessions will be specially designed for adolescent males; with a view to helping them better understand male SRH issues.
TESTING & screening
The ARC provides testing for sexually transmitted infections (STI’s) as well as HIV. Referrals for treatment will be made as needed.
contraceptive methods
Contraceptive counselling sessions will be delivered by trained counsellors, and, a wide array of contraceptive methods will be made available for the adolescents. The parents of the adolescent mothers will be included in the contraceptive counselling sessions, and they will play a pivotal role in the decision of the method that is best suited for their daughters.
The Women’s Centre of Jamaica Foundation (WCJF) is the Government agency with the mandate to provide continuing education for girls who drop out of school on account of a pregnancy. Although the delay of a second pregnancy is at the heart of the work of the WCJF, attention is also paid to the delay of first pregnancies among adolescents. With the latter in mind, the WCJF opened and operated an adolescent clinic, Knowledge and Education for Youth (the KEY), on the property that houses the Administrative Office and the Kingston Centre in 1992. The services offered at the KEY included: individual counselling, group counselling, limited medical services, contraceptive counselling/commodities for the adolescent mothers, as well as training in peer counselling. In-school youths were the primary target population of the KEY.
Due to the cessation of the funding in 1998, the activities of the KEY were reduced, the name of the facility was changed to the Kingston Centre Counselling Clinic (KCCC), and the adolescent mothers attending the Kingston Centre became the sole recipients of the services that were offered. In 2014, the KCCC ceased to exist as a facility, and the activities were subsumed under the general activities of the Kingston Centre.
Although the WCJF discontinued the operation of its youth clinic, it remained acutely aware of the need for adolescent friendly spaces that address the wide and varied needs of this population. Adolescent mothers, in particular, have the specific need for spaces within which they can have their specific needs met outside of the rebuke and reproach of adults. On countless occasions, the adolescent mothers relate personal stories of the less than desirable treatment that is delivered to them as they visit the public clinics. Added to this is the fact that the young mothers often miss valuable class time to access the services provided at the public facilities. The opportunity that presented itself for the reopening of this unique space, was therefore wholeheartedly embraced, and maximally explored.
The opening of the Adolescent Resource Centre (The ARC) registers the WCJF’s response to the constant call for adolescent friendly spaces that address the wide and varied health needs of this particular population.