The VPHCS staff conducted three stress management seminars for members of women’s organizations in Cebu last July 2021.
VPHCS volunteer Irish Grace Ramirez was the resource person in the seminars which were organized by the Women’s Resource Center of Visayas, Inc. (WRCV). The latter is a non-government organization based in Cebu City which provides support services to organizing and education work among grassroots women through awareness raising, capacity building, resource building and popularizing of their concerns in selected marginalized communities in Cebu.
A total of 55 members of the seven women’s organizations that are partners of the WRCV and currently beneficiaries of one of its projects participated in the seminar. The organizations are those of Barangays Tungkop, Tungkil, Tulay and Calajoan in Minglanilla, Barangay South Poblacion in San Fernando, and Barangays Sawang Calero and Suba in Cebu City.
The seminars were organized by the WRCV since the women had expressed anxiety and stress following reports of increase in COVID-19 cases in their barangays, resulting also to granular lockdowns that prohibited them and their families from going to work, thus affecting their means of livelihood. They also had stress resulting from their personal hardships in life.
Ramirez taught them 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.
