The VPHCS staff conducted psychosocial support services for staff and members of the Board of Trustees of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente – Visayas Mindanao Regional Office for Development (IFI-VIMROD).
VPHCS volunteer nurses Irish Grace Ramirez and Edgar E. Gahisan were the resource persons for the seminar and counselling services given to 15 staff and members of the Board of Trustees of the IFI-VIMROD last August 10, 11, 2021.
The seminar was about Community Resiliency Model (CRM), a skills-based model which is created by the Trauma Resource Institute. The skills can be taught to people to help them to understand their nervous system and to tract sensations connected to their own well-being. Using the wisdom of their own bodies, the people experience rapid relief from stress-related symptoms, and an increased sense of control over future wellness.
During the psychosocial support services, the participants narrated about their life and work experiences that gave them stress and how they tried to cope with it. They were also made to apply the CRM skills learned during the seminar as they narrated their stressful experiences.
The IFI-VIMROD is the social action arm of the IFI. It has projects in Visayas and Mindanao which partner with grassroots farmers and fisherfolks as well as urban poor and women organizations to develop Kahugpungan sa Katawhan alang sa Kalambuan (KKKs) in their communities. The staff expressed their need to learn and apply CRM in order to cope with the stress related with their organizing work.
