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The Civic Welfare Training Service (CWTS) component of �Ǹ���� virtually launched the CWTS Mental Health Support Initiative, November 28, 2020, focusing on mental health education and introduction of self-help tools to support the mental well-being of CWTS cadets and other sectors in the community.

Self-help tools and coping mechanism activities include sessions on art and music therapy, understanding the “sexual self,” meditation, and stress management.

Dr. Betty Cernol-McCann served as the guest speaker during the virtual launch. She talked about “Mental Health in the Era of COVID-19 and Online Distance Learning (ODL).”

McCann, a registered and licensed psychologist, discussed sources of stress among students and shared suggestions on how students can take care of their mental health.

“If we find it difficult to manage how we think, how we feel, or even how we behave, with respect to the daily stimuli and stresses that come our way everyday, then there could be a sign of poor mental health. Mental health awareness will allow us to have our own internal check so that we will be prepared to deal with the situation. We can only solve a problem if we know what the problem is,” said McCann.

McCann emphasized the importance of being proactive in taking care of one’s mental health and keeping a good mental health environment, especially in responding to stress brought by the pandemic and ODL.

“There is nothing we can do, from our own personal side, regarding the COVID-19 pandemic; but there is something that we can do in the way we respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and even the way we respond to online distance learning,” said McCann.

McCann also encouraged students to take the mental health assessment checklist with the University’s Guidance and Testing Division, where students can get mental health and counseling services.

“No matter the problem that we face, we must realize that help is available in a form that is appropriate to a given place, location, or country,” McCann said.

Dr. Giovanni T. Macahig, CWTS coordinator, and Novee E. Maestrecampo Jr., CWTS assistant coordinator, authored the project concept.

The project began engaging with CWTS cadets and will be extended to a partner sector or community in the second semester of the school year 2020-2021.

“The mental health initiative supports the civic engagement and service mission of CWTS, now emphasizing on mental health particularly at the time of challenges from academic demands of online distance learning and also from the greater community. Also, we want to make CWTS a community of care, but to achieve it, it must start with our cadets taking care of themselves,” said Macahig.

Macahig said during the virtual launch that the project was inspired by the “Your Mental Health Amid Corona Virus” Facebook page created by alumni of the SU Psychology program in April 2020 as a platform for people to communicate with and contact psychologists and psychology practitioners, as well as for them to have a support group where they can “verbalize and express” anxiety and stress brought by the pandemic.

(With reports from the SU CWTS office)