Manila – The Institute for Labor Studies’ (ILS) Gender and Development (GAD) Committee and the Institute’s Mental Health Working Group have lined up month-long online activities for all its employees in celebration of the Mental Health Awareness Month this May.
GAD Chair Arianne Ishreen Bucar and MH Working Group lead Ronell Delerio proposed a series of activities to help raise awareness about mental health in the workplace and provide a platform for building a safe space (i.e. sense of psychological safety) where ILS staff can continue to thrive.

Specifically, the following objectives are sought from the said activities: a) Re/orientation of ILS employees about mental health and why it always matters; b) Provision of a venue for listening and talking with one another about thoughts, feelings ideas and aspirations; c) Learning of applicable daily strategies to cope with the pandemic and keep going forward; and d) Building of mental health peer groups as a community support system.

The series of online events included a bi-monthly screening of two films: “Inside Out” (May 14) and “The Perfect You” (May 27), which were followed by a post-screening sharing and reflection session. In addition, learning sessions were also conducted such as “Mindfulness as a Coping Strategy amid the Pandemic” with resource speaker Ms. Chantal Therese B. Tayaban, and “#ShareKoLang: (Work from) Home Buddies ILS Gendered Edition” or setting-up workspace and healthy boundaries with resource speaker Ms. Krupskaya Anonuevo.

Mental health infographics created by Ms. Francheska R. Castillo were also posted on the Institute’s social media pages using hashtags #HereToListen and #MentalHealthMatters.