A MAN who admitted assaulting the mother of his children was ordered to keep the peace for one year.

Police arrested Pedrow Poitier after he punched the mother of his five-month-old baby in her face and about her body on May 23. #He owned up to the offence when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis. #The court was told that on that day, the complainant told police that her child’s father had forcibly gained access to her home and assaulted her once he got inside. Officers investigating the complaint arrested Poitier a short time later. When he was questioned in custody, he admitted being involved in a verbal altercation with the complainant, but denied putting his hands on her. #During the hearing, Poitier told the magistrate that he went to his “baby mother’s” house to “kindly” ask her to see his son. He said she was being difficult which made him angry so he “held her by her hands”. He insisted he never punched her about the body. #In response, Magistrate Rolle Davis said men are supposed to protect women and not attack them. He also told the accused that if his former partner was not allowing him to see his child, the proper thing to do would have been to come to the courts. #As a result, he bound Poitier over for one year. As a part of the agreement, the accused is not allowed to go around the complainant for any reason. Magistrate Rolle Davis said anything related to their child would have to be done through a third party and warned Poitier that if he breached the conditions of his release, he would be fined $1,000 or sentenced to 14 days in prison.

Police arrested Pedrow Poitier after he punched the mother of his five-month-old baby in her face and about her body on May 23.

He owned up to the offence when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Derence Rolle Davis.

The court was told that on that day, the complainant told police that her child’s father had forcibly gained access to her home and assaulted her once he got inside. Officers investigating the complaint arrested Poitier a short time later. When he was questioned in custody, he admitted being involved in a verbal altercation with the complainant, but denied putting his hands on her.

During the hearing, Poitier told the magistrate that he went to his “baby mother’s” house to “kindly” ask her to see his son. He said she was being difficult which made him angry so he “held her by her hands”. He insisted he never punched her about the body.

In response, Magistrate Rolle Davis said men are supposed to protect women and not attack them. He also told the accused that if his former partner was not allowing him to see his child, the proper thing to do would have been to come to the courts.

As a result, he bound Poitier over for one year. As a part of the agreement, the accused is not allowed to go around the complainant for any reason. Magistrate Rolle Davis said anything related to their child would have to be done through a third party and warned Poitier that if he breached the conditions of his release, he would be fined $1,000 or sentenced to 14 days in prison.

 

AS hurricane season approaches, Grand Bahama residents are being urged to pay close attention to their mental health due to the post-traumatic stress experienced after Hurricane Dorian two years ago.

Psychologist Dr Gregory Swann said Dorian was a traumatic event for many people, which can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). #PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it — and most people who go through traumatic events have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping. #According to Dr Swann, there has been an uptick in mental health depression in Grand Bahama that has a direct correlation between exposure to the storm and the coronavirus pandemic. #“Suicides and suicidal attempts, those numbers are up over the years prior to Dorian,” he said. “And we think there is a direct correlation between exposure to Hurricane Dorian and having to suffer during the (COVID-19) pandemic. #“PTSD is when someone may have been exposed to a traumatic event – they witnessed it or were confronted or involved in one. And clearly, Dorian would meet that definition.” #Dr Swann said people with PTSD may have received a serious injury or witnessed death during the storm, etc. He noted that PTSD persists for a period of about three to six months and individuals may experience recurring thoughts, flashbacks, inability to sleep, and abnormal behaviour. #“While this is mental health month, I think it is important that, particularly in our community of GB, we pay attention to our welfare,” he said. #“It is important that persons who would have been intimately exposed to Hurricane Dorian two years ago, mitigate any issues associated with their physical and psychological well being in the upcoming hurricane season,” Dr Swann added.

Psychologist Dr Gregory Swann said Dorian was a traumatic event for many people, which can trigger post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

PTSD is a mental health condition triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it — and most people who go through traumatic events have temporary difficulty adjusting and coping.

According to Dr Swann, there has been an uptick in mental health depression in Grand Bahama that has a direct correlation between exposure to the storm and the coronavirus pandemic.

“Suicides and suicidal attempts, those numbers are up over the years prior to Dorian,” he said. “And we think there is a direct correlation between exposure to Hurricane Dorian and having to suffer during the (COVID-19) pandemic.

“PTSD is when someone may have been exposed to a traumatic event – they witnessed it or were confronted or involved in one. And clearly, Dorian would meet that definition.”

Dr Swann said people with PTSD may have received a serious injury or witnessed death during the storm, etc. He noted that PTSD persists for a period of about three to six months and individuals may experience recurring thoughts, flashbacks, inability to sleep, and abnormal behaviour.

“While this is mental health month, I think it is important that, particularly in our community of GB, we pay attention to our welfare,” he said.

“It is important that persons who would have been intimately exposed to Hurricane Dorian two years ago, mitigate any issues associated with their physical and psychological well being in the upcoming hurricane season,” Dr Swann added.

 

Some artists live to paint. Dyah Neilson lives amidst her paintings. To get to a drawer for a t-shirt, she has to shuffle past art supplies before she juggles canvases leaning up against the dresser. To climb into bed, she crawls over works in progress.

Dyah’s bedroom-aka-studio is her safe haven but the industrious artist who also holds a nearly full-time day job at Oasis furniture and décor store is bursting out with more work than she has space to contain and more desire to paint than she has hours in the day.

“I usually start in the late afternoon and work well into the evening, sometimes until 1 or 2 in the morning,” says the petite 25-year-old who looks like she would be as comfortable on a couch with a puppy as she would be beachcombing. She exudes the same almost ethereal quality that fills the canvases of her work, a juxtaposition between the real and the surreal.

In one large piece, a young man with long dreadlocks and eyes closed seems only mildly aware that he is holding a giant grouper while another is atop his head. The theme of animals imposing themselves, competing for attention, even dominating humans, is a main feature of many of her portraits.

Says Neilson “My work is creative portraits that combine animals and people, compositions where the person is the focus but the animal is used to symbolize different things throughout history, or culturally and spiritually. In a commissioned piece called Kingfisher, the prominent-beaked birds by the same name adorn a dark-skinned woman. We know little about her from the painting despite the intense detail showing thick, coiffed hair, a cowrie shell strand around her neck, strong breastbone structure. We sense an inner strength, but what we do know is about the birds that have chosen to land on her shoulders and over her head. The artist chose kingfishers because they are symbolic of prosperity, abundance, wealth and peace.

Although portraiture is her favourite, the young Bahamian artist who holds a Bachelors’ degree in Fine Arts from York University in Canada is equally comfortable with wildlife and historic sea life. Her depiction of sea turtles swimming is so lifelike you want to slide into the clear blue-green sea and swim with them, her grouper so real you are torn between wanting boiled fish and saving the species for another day. What seems different from the rest of her work, as if she lived a previous life in another era, is the body of work she calls seascapes. In that, she paints two-masted ketches, wooden hulls, rounded bow and stern like a double-ender, full sails but struggling, always a hint of trouble ahead.

Neilson started painting as a child.

“I never thought about it. There was never a moment that it was not part of my life,” she said. “I have proof from when I was in kindergarten.”

That’s when she wrote on a bear the teacher gave her to colour “I want to grow up to be an artist and be happy.” Her parents saw her interest and encouraged her, her dad creating a gallery wall to hang her pictures on. Her mother showed artistic promise, something she is just getting back to now after a decades-long break, and dad and sister both have a passion for photography.

Neilson studied with Sonya Isaacs and Kim Smith when she was young, did an internship at NAGB before leaving for college, had a successful one-woman show at Doongalik Studios and her work is in private collections from California to Canada.

In the twist of fate that she portrays with her acrylics, she reflects on the fact that she originally intended to study interior design.

“I love design and I worked at Restoration Hardware in Canada for a while,” she explains. Now, she is the store manager at Oasis with unique, contemporary indoor furniture at Sandyport and an outdoor style location on East Shirley Street.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” says Neilson. “I am around beautiful things all day, the owner, Brooke Pyfrom encourages me to display my work and supports it, refusing to take any commission, and I am able to keep working more every evening at home.”

According to Pyfrom, blending a furniture, décor and gift store with art is natural. “When what the eye sees brings a smile to your face, that’s what matters. It may come in the form of a beautiful hand-crafted table, the fragrance of a candle or a canvas that Dyah created. It’s all about hitting that certain happy place in your heart.,” says the proprietor. The only problem for the artist herself is squeezing so much art energy into a day that holds only 24 hours and so many supplies into a narrow room built for sleeping.

Qualified youth leaders are needed now more than ever, as the country wrestles with a surge of increased social ills among youth which has been accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Minister of Education, the Honorable Jeffrey Lloyd.

Minister Lloyd made the comment while sitting as one of six panelists who recently consulted with Commonwealth of Learning (COL) representatives to discuss ways to tailor an online program to suit the needs of youth workers in The Bahamas. The Bahamas Technical and Vocational Institute (BTVI) will deliver the program. Lakehead University is also playing an integral role in the launch of the COL Professionalizing Youth Workers Programme.

A suite of micro courses to build the capacity of youth workers to better understand youth will be offered. The program, expected to launch in fall 2021, will also develop and utilize strategies to support them in their development to becoming fully engaged and contributing members of society. The micro courses will roll out every six weeks. Topics include but are not limited to good governance in youth organizations, health and well-being, youth entrepreneurship and youth civic and political participation.

During the consultative meeting, Minister Lloyd commended BTVI President, Dr. Robert W. Robertson, who leads the charge in facilitating the courses locally. He highlighted the “stratospheric growth” BTVI has seen under Dr. Robertson’s leadership. He therefore emphasized BTVI’s role in the youth workers’ program, as the government’s commitment to empowering youth as a top priority.

“As sound youth training is vital, so is the sound training of youth leaders who have a direct influence on the growth and development of our young people. In The Bahamas, our government places major emphasis on the expansion of youth organizations and youth development programs,” said Minister Lloyd.

“I cannot stress enough, the importance of equipping our youth leaders to inspire a strong generation - a generation of hope, a generation of financial, mental, and social wealth, a generation of competent citizens, problem solvers, compassionate beings, who work in unison for the betterment of all,” he continued.

COL’s Education Advisor and one of the leads on the project, Dr Kirk Perris, is confident in the projected outcomes.

“We have every confidence that the project will yield impactful results to support youth workers in The Bahamas who operate on the front lines of youth development. We have a youth expert in Dr. Gary Pluim of Lakehead University in Canada to lead the co-design of this initiative, drawing on experience from a similar intervention in the Pacific. And of course, there is Dr. Robertson and BTVI – whom we are delighted to work with – in addition to other partners on this initiative,” said Dr. Perris.

Following the consultation to launch the online workshop series for youth workers, Dr. Robertson noted that BTVI is more than committed to developing a program that is not only effective but will aid in creating forward-thinking young men and women.

“Accelerated certification programs have been our focus for some time now, especially as it relates to unemployment and upskilling. We recognize that it is especially crucial that this program is curated in such a way that youth workers can not only empower young people but connect with them in a way that the youth develop the mindset of self-awareness, innovation and integrity in order to elevate the country. With the guidance of COL, the Ministry of Education and Lakehead University, we hope to do just that,” said Dr. Robertson.

A survey will also be conducted to aid in developing the customized youth workers program and can be accessed via the link: https://bit.ly/3yKkwtY.