New appointments at Catholic Commission for Social Justice

The Catholic Commission for Social Justice (CCSJ) has appointed Darrion Narine and Tameka Romeo to the positions of Programme Coordinator, Archdiocese Ministry for Migrants and Refugees (AMMR) and Case Management Officer— Alternative Care, AMMR respectively. Both took up their positions on December 1.

Narine replaces Simone Francois-Whittier, CCSJ’s former AMMR Project Coordinator. Francois-Whittier has been appointed Court Administrator, Civil Courts, Port of Spain. She remains, however, committed to supporting CCSJ/AMMR and has joined Rhonda Maingot, Rochelle Nakhid, Fr Simon Peter Ango, and Leela Ramdeen, Chair of the CCSJ and AMMR, on the committee that Archbishop Jason Gordon  had appointed to guide the AMMR.

Narine’s role has been enhanced and he will be working across the Archdiocese managing the programmes/projects undertaken by the AMMR in its work with Parish Ministries for Migrants and Refugees (PMMR); liaising with the international organisations with whom AMMR has partnership agreements; arranging and conducting training for PMMRs.

Romeo will work closely with partners with the aim of providing protection and assistance to any vulnerable migrant or refugee in need, including seeking to establish family and community-based alternative care arrangements for unaccompanied, separated and trafficked minors.

The CCSJ has partnered with UNICEF on a one-year project that will focus on the protection and well-being of children on the move in T&T, working in particular in the five parishes in which there are child-friendly spaces in the Archdiocese.

Darrion Narine

– considers himself a global citizen and a social justice advocate;

– served as the Vice Chairperson for Inclusion and Engagement on the Commonwealth Youth Council, which serves 1.2 billion youth across the globe; – holds a BSc in Psychology (Special) with a minor in Theatre Arts from The

University of the West Indies (UWI);

– is the former President of the UWI Guild of Students 2018/2019;

– is a National Youth Award recipient for Leadership from the Government of Trinidad and Tobago;

– is also a performer, entertainer, actor, singer and spoken word poet with several recorded and released songs/poems.

Tameka Romeo

– Legal Psychologist, Clinical Psychologist, and Informed Practitioner in Investigative Psychology;

– received a Joint Doctorate in Legal Psychology from Maastricht University, The Netherlands and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden;

– received the award for Best Paper 2019 in the Journal of Memory & Cognition by the Psychonomic Society;

– an alumna of UWI, St Augustine, she read for the degree of Master of Science in Clinical Psychology (distinction);

– has participated and volunteered in various restorative justice projects in the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service;

– research interests include memory in child sexual abuse victims, memory in child-oriented sexual offenders (paedophiles), decision-making in legal professionals, gender-based violence, sexual assault homicides, and psychopathy;

– since 2016, she has worked to remedy the psychological and social impact of violent crime on the individual and collaborative psyche of citizens in T&T, through her NGO, Mothers of the Missing and Murdered (MOMM).