La Consolacion College Bacolod recently launched an advocacy program for mental health.
The school underscored the importance of promoting mental health awareness at this time, when people are suffering the devastating effects caused by the economic and social paralysis prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sister President Maria Garcia said that among the pillars of the school’s continuity plan is to provide mental health support for students, faculty, personnel, and even parents who are bearing the brunt of this crisis.
The advocacy program provides a series of webinars on mental health, and “therapeutic, stress-relieving activities” for all students, personnel, and parents, scheduled for the entire school year until June 2021.
Romela Aujero, vice president for personnel and alumni relations, said that the aim of the program is to educate people on the signs and symptoms of mental health problems, strategies to manage stress, and develop coping abilities.
The program, handled by psychologists and guidance counselors will provide online and tele-counselling services, the school said in a Facebook post.
Sr. Joan Infante, VP for academic affairs, who also addressed the school’s faculty and personnel, stressed the “need to notice our thoughts and how they influence our emotions that guide our behavior.”
“I am not a mental health expert, yet I am convinced that our actions are directed by our thoughts. Our words are an outcome of what we feel and think. Thus, our outward expressions are all a product of our minds,” she said.
She called on the faculty and personnel to be mindful of their thoughts especially amid the pandemic, which can induce fear.
“We are thinking beings, and just as our physical bodies become what we feed it, so do our minds become what we feed it daily. During crisis situations, our perception could be blurred and events could be blown out of proportion,” she said.
She added, “how do we counter this? Let us remember that we do not exist in a vacuum. Our minds, our thoughts, our ideas are influenced by the company we keep, by the stories we hear, the videos and shows we watch, and the articles we read.”*