The Tribune

OFFICIALS at the Urban Renewal Commission, as well as the Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development have teamed up with temperament and anger management consultant Dr Eric W Fox to provide a six-week anger management course aimed at addressing violence within communities.

Seventy-five persons have already graduated and received their certification from the programme that is facilitated by Dr Fox who also conducts follow-up sessions with participants.

Launched in December 2018, the programme caters to young men and women 18 years of age and older and is conducted on Wednesdays from 6pm-8pm at the Centreville Urban Centre.

Kellen Russell, acting director of the Urban Renewal Commission, said officials are in discussions regarding expanding the age category to include boys and girls from as early as 12.

“We also want to expand the programme to the point where we can become a referral resource for the schools and for parents who have children who are not successfully managing their anger issues,” Mr Russell said.

“Dr Fox has been doing an outstanding job facilitating the programme. We have a lot of our Millennials (persons reaching young adulthood in the 21st Century), a lot of our youth and young people have challenges with controlling their emotions, controlling and properly managing their anger, and so Dr Fox has been able to meet with them, to speak with them, to help guide and instruct them into more positive behaviours as it relates to properly managing and controlling their anger,” Mr Russell added.

Currently the executive director of Teen Challenge Bahamas, an advisor for national security, and co-facilitator for the Catholic Church Group, Dr Fox has been providing temperament and anger management counseling for the past 30 years. He has received extensive training in the United States, El Salvador, Mexico, Jamaica and Barbados.

Mr Russell said one of the aims of the programme is to get at the root causes of the anger that is being expressed through violence, which he says, can be vast.

“Persons sometimes have social issues that they have to deal with on a daily basis such as no electricity, parents died at an early age, they were mishandled at an early age — the reasons are so vast. What happens a lot of times is that their inability to effectively deal with the issues they are facing, particularly at a young age, are manifested into anger, into violence, because there is no proper way for them to express or to deal with what they are going through.

“Participation in the programme allows them the opportunity to speak with someone who has been where they have been and who can help guide them through the process towards controlling their anger and not allowing that anger to manifest into violence. That’s part of the expertise Dr Fox brings to this equation,” Mr Russell added.