The wars of Cambodia’s recent past have left people depressed and afraid, emotions that sometimes surface in the psyches of children, Mam Bun Heng, secretary of state at the Ministry of Health, said on Wednesday.
Women lost their husbands during the Pol Pot era. Children became orphans. Today, those who suffered but survived live in sorrow, he said.
Parents should spend time with their children to improve their psychological health, said Mam Bun Heng, who spoke at the inauguration of the Parent Training and Family Cottage at the Center for Children’s Mental Health at Chey Chumneas Hospital in Kandal’s Takhmau district.
“Psychology is a major problem. It can change a person’s life,” said Mam Bun Heng. “Both normal and unusual children should be encouraged in the same way by their parents and government.”
The current generation of parents has difficulty raising children because they themselves weren’t parented, but were raised in the Khmer Rouge’s “Children’s Groups,” officials at the inauguration said.
The parent training center offers accommodation for parents so they can stay with their children, who can get assessments and therapy at the hospital, officials said.
The center also houses a pharmacy, a one-way mirror room for observation of patients, a training hall and an eight-bed “Family Cottage” built at a cost of $62,000, said Dr Kong Chhunly, the hospital’s director.
The parent training center also aims to teach parents to pay more attention to their children and those of their neighbors, with the help of Switzerland-based Graziella E Gianetto Ambrosoli Foundation.
The training center was built at the Center for Children’s Mental Health, itself a collaborative project between the Dr Marcel Charles Roy Foundation, Caritas Cambodia and the Ministry of Health. The mental health center opened in 1991 to serve children with neuropsychiatric and developmental problems, Dr Kong Chhunly said.
A five-member CCMH team works with villages and schools in Kandal province to implement community and school-based child mental health programs. The new center for parents will help, he said.
“This is a great asset to the hospital, as it is in the process of developing ‘one-stop-service’ for children with multiple handicaps,” Kong Chhunly said, “particularly children with neuro-developmental handicaps.”
But some people said they were afraid they would be asked to pay a lot of money if they seek service at the center. Neak Sokha, 35, a bread vendor at Chay Chumneas Hospital, said she has no time for parent training.
“I’m so poor. I have no time to get good advice. But I’ve never threatened my child,” she said.
Another mother said she didn’t understand the need for the training center. “It was not necessary to create a camp to train us,” she said. “Before I got married I knew how to take care of my future child.”
Others supported the center. “I would die if my children became unusual or crazy,” said Eng Somanith, 42, of Takhmau.
Domestic violence is an influential factor in the mental health of children, said Professor Ka Sunbaunat, chairman of the Health Ministry’s Mental Health Subcommittee. When a husband hits his wife in front of their children, the children remember the violence and often repeat it in their own lives. In some cases, children lose confidence and become fearful.
“The parent training center is very important to help mothers develop the skills to take care of their children when their children face mental health issues,” said Ka Sunbaunat.
