Be a Heart, Mind and Hand: A Training Workshop about Psychosocial Support
Written By: ELLA ARVY V. CUAJAO, RPm
Psychosocial support is very important because we work with people who might be dealing with crises and there are some events and experiences in life that actually make it harder for us to recover and we need a bit more support to make it back onto our feet. With all that is happening now, it is very timely to have a training and workshop entitled ‘’Psychosocial Processing and Have a Fresh Look at Counseling’’ to provide us with better interactions for our students and as well as be the catalyst of help to reach their optimal mental health and well-being; with Dr. Rogen Ferdinand E. Alcantara as our esteemed resource speaker and the chairperson of the Psychology Department at the Siliman University in Dumaguete City. It was held last September 1, 2022, from 8:00 AM – 2:00 PM at the TDCI AVR.
This training workshop was facilitated by the Guidance Services & Testing Center together with the support and initiative of our President and CEO Manuel Dennis E. Molina, MBA. The workshop was participated by program coordinators of BSN, BSMLS, BSPHARM, and BSRT, Human Resource personnel, senior high school faculty, SHS and College OSA, GSTC personnel, NSTP coordinator, and the school nurse.
During our training and workshop, participants learned three phases of Psychosocial Processing, the 1st phase is Heart (ventilation) where the facilitator builds rapport by making a connection by introducing oneself, explaining the purpose of the session as well as being an active listener, and show compassion, the 2nd phase is Mind (facilitation) giving them facts, assurance and highlights their strengths to help them and cope effectively and in last and 3rd phase Hand (action)helping them plan to move on, help one another, tap institutions or agencies that can further help them in their healing and recovery.
To make it easier to remember, the heart symbolizes the seat of all our emotions and provided us with our wisdom which makes us compassionate. The mind is where our reasoning and decisions take place as it also reminds us to be fully aware of our own capacity lastly, the hand as it reminds us to leap for the daylight and be a blessing to someone. As one of the participants in the training workshop, I was reminded that in every life crisis each of us is capable of helping. Mental Health advocacy is for everyone, it could be anyone of us, and just listening with all ears is the best help that we can offer.