In line with the celebration of the World Mental Health Day, the Univeristy’s Gender and Development Resource Center (GADRC) collaborated with the Provincial Government – Provincial Persons with Disability Affairs Office (PG-PPDAO), and Center for Disaster Preparedness (CDP) for a two-day webinar training of trainers on mental health and psychosocial support for the 16 female and 3 male frontliners of One Life Foundation and Dasmariñas Community Christian Bible Baptist Church last November 9-10, 2020.
Ms. Marie Shiela Antenor-Haloc, Disability Affairs Officer IV of PPDAO-Cavite, welcomed the participants of the webinar. After the welcome remarks, facilitators from CDP gave mini-activities and breathing exercises for the participants to be relaxed and comfortable with one another.
The participants were then divided into two groups. The first group was facilitated by Ms. Mayfourth D. Luneta and Mr. Jose Mari Pineda while the second group was facilitated by Ms. Jocelyn T. Samson and Ms. Leizl Love B. Jimeno.
In the breakout session, participants were asked to introduce themselves after and afterwards were given the opportunity to talk about their coping mechanisms, resilient attributes and their post pandemic hopes in the new normal.
The second day of the activity focused more on the basic concepts of mental health and psycho-social support (PSS) and the skills of a PSS provider. Tips for self-care/coping with stress was also discussed. The participants were again divided into two groups and they were tasked to do a role-playing where they will be the ones to act out as the PSS facilitator.
After the session, the participants were refreshed with the things they learned and they expressed their eagerness to relay such knowledge to their respective offices. They also expressed willingness to serve and work with Center for Disaster Preparedness in conducting psycho-social support training in Cavite.
World Mental Health Day has been celebrated every 10th day of October each year since 1992. It aims to promote mental health advocacy, to educate the public, to raise awareness and to try to prevent the stigma which is still often associated with mental health issues. Moreover, the 2nd week of October of every year has been declared as National Mental Health Week by virtue of Proclamation No. 452. The importance of mental health was even more recognized as the pandemic brought changes that led to physical distancing and increase of anxiety and stress.
