The Min­istry of the Peo­ple, So­cial De­vel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Ser­vices has reaf­firmed its com­mit­ment to as­sist­ing cit­i­zens af­fect­ed by sweep­ing pro­gramme changes that have trig­gered sig­nif­i­cant job loss­es across the coun­try.

In the past two weeks alone, over 10,000 CEPEP work­ers lost their jobs fol­low­ing the ter­mi­na­tion of con­trac­tors, while 4,608 forestry work­ers were dis­missed, and 140 change agents at­tached to the Min­istry of Rur­al De­vel­op­ment and Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment were let go.

Amid grow­ing pub­lic con­cern and me­dia scruti­ny over the so­cio-eco­nom­ic and emo­tion­al fall­out of the mass ter­mi­na­tions, the Min­istry said it con­tin­ues to pro­vide tar­get­ed ser­vices for vul­ner­a­ble in­di­vid­u­als and fam­i­lies fac­ing dis­tress, loss, or un­cer­tain­ty.

These sup­port mea­sures in­clude pro­fes­sion­al coun­selling, psy­cho-so­cial sup­port, and on­go­ing so­cial as­sis­tance. The Min­istry as­sured that all ser­vices are de­liv­ered with “com­pas­sion, con­fi­den­tial­i­ty, and care.”

“The Min­istry re­mains com­mit­ted to its man­date of de­liv­er­ing peo­ple-cen­tred sup­port and fos­ter­ing re­silience among the na­tion’s most vul­ner­a­ble pop­u­la­tions,” it stat­ed.

Cit­i­zens seek­ing help are en­cour­aged to con­tact the Min­istry’s toll-free helpline at 800-1MSD (1673), or to vis­it www.so­cial.gov.tt to ac­cess avail­able ser­vices.