March 29, 2024

Two events that will bring together supporters, advocates, carers, and the community that will help workers with mental health issues are slated on Oct. 20 and 27.
“We are hoping to unify the different groups who have a common agenda for the benefit of the workers with mental health problems by bringing them all together in two events dubbed as ‘Keep Going,’ which means continuing their lives,” Leslie Dulfo, co-organizer of “Keep Going! A gathering for mental health” said, Monday.
Keep Going was used as a tag to literally encourage those suffering from mental health to continue with their lives as persons, members of the family and especially as a worker.
She said on Oct. 20, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., there will be a talk, music, and poetry to inspire those in the sector to go on and keep going.
The event will be a mental health awareness campaign at the Baguio-Benguet Community Credit Cooperative multipurpose hall that will bring together around 100 advocates and carers. There will be three speakers who are expected to share their expertise on the topic.
One is an advocate who survived post-partum depression, a resident doctor of the Philippine Mental Health Center at the Baguio General Hospital and Medical Center, and an advocate who will share about anxiety and panic disorder.
An advocate who used poetry as a therapy to cope will also share works with the participants.
The contestants for the Mr. And Miss Summer Capital will also join the event to learn more about mental health.
For the Oct. 27 event, Aki Inway Reyes said the Run for Mental Health is hoped to bring together about 300 runners-supporters of mental health.
He said the fun run is a fundraising event with a registration fee of P350 for the three-kilometer distance; P450 for the five kilometers; P550 for the 10 kilometers, and P650 for the 21 kilometers.
“The funds we will raise will be used to jumpstart the creation of a non-government organization that will cater to mental health issues and form ‘Project Kampana’ where a website and an application will be created to aid those in the sector,” Reyes said.
He said several persons in the sector have approached them asking if they know of an employer who understands the plight of a person with mental health.
He said the question prompted the idea to create a website where those in the sector can submit their resumes, which will be linked to employers who understand what those in the sector are going through.
“This is especially true for those who have been clinically diagnosed,” he said.
The “Keep Going” fund raising will also allow them to raise the money for the continued conduct of mental health awareness in the workplace and in the community. – PNA