Public sector workers complete HEART/NSTA Trust training

Some 260 people from six public-sector agencies have graduated from a HEART/NSTA Trust training initiative designed to equip participants with technical and professional skills.

The graduates, who received their certificates on Tuesday, were drawn mainly from the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s St Catherine South Division and the wider Area 5 command, where the partnership with the HEART/NSTA Trust was first conceived. Personnel from the Jamaica Fire Brigade, Transport Authority, Department of Correctional Services and Portmore Municipal Police also participated.

Project coordinator, Deputy Superintendent of Police Pilmar Powell said the programme had delivered both professional and personal growth through a range of training opportunities.

“We have cohorts in supervisory management, 2 and 3, we also have customer service, we also have forklift 1 and 2, dry wall 1, tiling 1 and training coordinators who are now advanced to training and assessment and development,” Powell said.

She said interest in the initiative had grown steadily since its launch.

“The project has been very successful. From we commence the project in 2024 it just shot off, we have seen more applications coming in,” Powell said.

Guest speaker Assistant Commissioner of Police Christopher Phillips, who helped develop the initiative after its inception, said the programme demonstrated the importance of leadership that identifies and nurtures potential.

Using the story of a teacher whose faith in a struggling student ultimately changed both their lives, Phillips urged graduates to recognise the transformative power of encouragement and opportunity.

“That, ladies and gentlemen, is leadership from the heart. It is recognising possibilities where others see problems, it is seeing potential beyond present circumstances, it is understanding that sometimes people do not need another person to remind them of their limitations, they need someone to awaken their possibilities,” Phillips said.

He challenged the graduates to reflect on those who had supported them and to consider how they might now help others.

“So I asked the graduants today ‘how many of you are here because somebody believed in you, doubted yourself, how many of you overcame obstacles that could easily have derailed your ambitions, and whose life will now be better because of what you have learned’.”

Phillips argued that the HEART/NSTA Trust should represent more than technical training, saying it should also embody a national commitment to developing people with both skills and compassion.

Valedictorian Nicola Brown-Reid, operations manager at the Transport Authority, said the mix of agencies represented in the programme initially seemed unusual.

“If you had told me two years ago that this would be my class, I would say that this is the beginning of a very bad joke, a police officer, a Transport Authority worker and a forklift operator walked into HEART.”

Reflecting on the journey, she said:

“From 2024 to 2026, we have been on a journey. Some of us came to learn customer service, how to smile when everything in you wants to write a ticket.”

Brown-Reid said the training had also prepared her to serve as a training coordinator, enabling her to share her knowledge with others.

Senior Superintendent of Police Leighton Grey, commander of the St Catherine South Police Division, said the acquisition of technical skills could enhance officers’ ability to respond to community issues.

“Say, for example, there is a dispute on a job site where a tiler is involved with sorting out his payment, the officer with a knowledge of tiling is better equipped to handle that crisis,” Grey said.

He praised the initiative for broadening participants’ skills while strengthening the capacity of the agencies involved.

ruddy.mathison@gleanerjm.com