Contributing Writer
asha.javeed@guardian.co.tt
Dr Tonya Abraham is setting herself a tall task—to actively tackle mental health in young people.
It’s a call, she hopes, will be answered and echoed throughout the country as it aims to strengthen suicide prevention for young people.
For Abraham, one of the country’s in-demand dermatologists with over 20 years’ experience, it’s an imperative born out of treating patients during COVID.
Within her fraternity and in conversations with colleagues, they estimate that one in five young people have mental health issues and 40 per cent of Trinbagonian students have considered self-harm.
She recalled one nine-year-old patient who walked into her office during the pandemic wearing a hat.
“And when her mother gently asked her to take it off so that I could examine her scalp, she burst into tears. I can still picture her standing there. A little girl who should have been worrying about school, playing with her friends and enjoying the innocence of childhood.”
Instead, she was carrying an emotional burden so overwhelming that she had pulled out almost all of her own hair.
“And I remember thinking to myself… How can a child so young be suffering so deeply? How many other children are out there, carrying burdens that we simply cannot see? That little girl came to see me because of her hair. But what she needed was so much more than a dermatologist. She needed understanding. She needed reassurance. She needed compassion. And she needed to know that there were people who could help her,” she said.
Abraham, 49, the head of Serpentine Dermatology and the GreenHouse, said issues she encountered pre-COVID were different during and after the pandemic ended.
“As the world shut down and our children became increasingly isolated, anxious and frightened, I began seeing things in my practice that deeply troubled me. Children who previously had relatively mild skin conditions were suddenly presenting with severe, widespread disease. A little patch of eczema that might once have been managed with a simple topical cream had become an extensive, inflamed, sometimes infected condition affecting much of their body. And increasingly, I realised that treating their skin alone simply wasn’t enough. Because what I was seeing on the outside was often a reflection of something much deeper happening on the inside.”
It’s her dual role as physician and mother that’s fuelling her passion to bring national awareness to youth mental health.
Abraham is a mother of four and as she describes them- four very different personalities, at different stages of their lives, each with their own dreams, challenges and hopes for the future.
“As they grow older, I find myself increasingly aware of just how complicated the world has become for our young people. The pressures they face. The expectations placed upon them. The influence of social media. The constant comparisons. The fear of failure. And sometimes, that overwhelming feeling that they’re simply not good enough. As parents, we do everything we can to protect our children. But I often wonder whether we’re paying enough attention to something equally important. Their emotional well-being. Are they truly happy? Do they feel secure? Do they know that they are loved, not because of what they achieve, but simply because of who they are?”
For her, it marked integrating other medical disciplines into dermatology. She told We Life and Culture that she then began to work more closely with colleagues in psychiatry and psychology.
“I saw children becoming increasingly preoccupied with their appearance, having spent months staring at themselves on screens, scrutinising every blemish and every little imperfection. I saw children struggling with anxiety, body image concerns and overwhelming emotional distress. I saw children hurting themselves. And I saw children pulling out their own hair, strand by strand, in an attempt to cope with feelings they simply didn’t know how to manage,” she observed in an interview at the GreenHouse last week.
“It made me increasingly aware that sometimes the signs of emotional distress are visible. Sometimes they appear on the skin. Sometimes they appear in a child’s hair. But so often, there are no visible signs at all. And that is what worries me most. How many children are suffering in silence, right in front of us, without anyone realising just how much they’re struggling? We hear heartbreaking stories of young people losing their lives to suicide. We see growing concerns about anxiety, depression, bullying, school violence and social isolation. And we know that mental health challenges do not discriminate. They affect children from every background,” she observed.
A call to action
It was during a drive to the airport with a fellow medical colleague who she studied with in Ireland that Tonya heard about “Darkness into Light.”
In 2009, it started as an initiative from students in Ireland who had lost a friend to suicide - a five-kilometre walk which begins at 4.45 am- to walk together as the sun rises, symbolising the journey from a dark place back into the light.
What began with 400 people has now grown into a global movement with more than 150,000 participants across over 150 local and international venues spanning Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and North America.
The charity is dedicated to suicide and self-harm prevention.
“When I heard about it, I thought to myself… Why can’t we do something like this here?” she pondered.
For the local chapter, she titled it: Where The Light Begins.
Yesterday marked the first inaugural walk around the Queen’s Park Savannah.
“Our hope is to establish an annual national walk for children between the ages of ten and seventeen. Imagine schools across Trinidad and Tobago participating on the same morning. Children arriving before dawn, surrounded by their friends, teachers and families. And at five o’clock, while the world is still dark, they begin to walk. Not to compete. Not to win a prize. But simply to be together. To talk. To laugh. To enjoy the beauty of the morning. And to experience the symbolism of moving from darkness into light. And as the sun rises, I want every child to understand the message behind that walk. No matter what you are going through, you do not have to face it alone. There is always someone who cares. Someone who will listen. Someone who wants to help. Following the walk, the children will return to their schools. And I think that part is particularly important, because every school should be a place where children feel safe.
“I dream of a morning when thousands of children across Trinidad and Tobago are walking together as the sun rises. From Port-of-Spain to Point Fortin. From Arima to Mayaro. From San Fernando to Scarborough. Children from every background, every community and every school, united by one simple message. No one walks alone. And perhaps, one day, this little movement that began here at The Greenhouse at Serpentine will inspire similar initiatives throughout the Caribbean. Wouldn’t that be something wonderful? For Trinidad and Tobago to lead the way. To show that even a small country can create something truly meaningful, because we cannot make this happen on our own. We need your guidance. We need your expertise. We need your encouragement. And we need your support. We want to do this properly,” she said.
“Now, I know that a walk once a year isn’t going to solve all the mental health challenges facing our country. Of course it isn’t. But I believe it can be a beginning. A beginning of conversations that perhaps weren’t happening before. A beginning of greater awareness. A beginning of stronger connections between children, their schools, their families and the people who can help them,” Abraham shared.
