ADVERTISEMENT
Manila Bulletin devider Drive devider Pinoy, mind your mental health

Pinoy, mind your mental health

Published Jun 7, 2022 11:00 am

How is the Filipinos’ state of emotional and psychological wellbeing?

Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Steven J. Robinson answers the question 'What conversation do you want to start about mental health?'

The last few years have been a wild ride. With the ongoing recovery from the pandemic alongside the election season, Filipinos have had their resilience and mental wellbeing thoroughly tested. The silver lining: an opportunity to highlight the importance of mental health and the work ahead of us as individuals and as a country to end the stigma surrounding mental health.

The third week of May marked the annual celebration of the Philippines-Australian Friendship Day Festival at SM Megamall. An immersive three-day event was held at SM Megamall’s Mega Fashion Hall from May 20 to 22 and featured an array of activities and pop-ups that promoted Australian products, education opportunities, travel, and cuisine, as well as Mind You Mental Health Systems, a company promoting mental health care and support.

The event was confirmation that many Filipinos are eager to tackle their mental health and view mental healthcare support as a resource they would make use of.

Mind You is a mental health company that provides comprehensive mental health solutions to organizations in the Philippines to protect their employees with access to preventative therapy with licensed Filipino psychologists. Last year, Mind You was awarded a AUD$500,000 grant by the Australian Embassy in the Philippines to extend its services to the general public and to create online support programs for vulnerable communities, including women, the LGBTQIA+ community, and the economically vulnerable. They are eager to engage the public in an open conversation about mental health and thus take the opportunity to participate in exciting events like this one.

Mind You prompted mall-goers with the question 'What does it mean to have good mental health?'

Mind You featured an engaging lineup of activities at their booth. It offered the mallgoers the opportunity to speak to psychologists about anything to do with mental health, whether it was to debunk mental health myths, to better understand how therapy works, or just to have a casual conversation about life over a free cup of coffee.

Business owners and HR professionals looking to elevate their employees’ wellness programs were also attracted to the booth and got to chat with Mind You’s sales representatives about the packages on offer. There was a lucky dip bowl that gave people the chance to win exclusive Mind You merchandise, as well as a free downloadable copy of the Mental Health Conversation Starter Tool Kit. As part of the awareness campaign, the Mind You team posed a series of mental health questions to those attracted to the booth to help get them thinking about what mental health meant to them.

Mind You's Express Yourself board featured different mental health question everyday: on Day 3, the asked 'How are you practicing self-care today?'

On the last day of the event, Mind You’s CEO Yuri Marshall, head of operations Miguel Valdez, and senior psychologist Rea Celine Villa spoke about mental health in the Philippines, and the projects they have been working on to create generational transformation via a panel discussion hosted by newly crowned Miss Eco International Kathleen Paton, herself a vocal mental health advocate.

The event was a confirmation that many Filipinos are eager to tackle their mental health and view mental healthcare support as a resource they would make use of.

www.mindyou.com.ph

Related Tags

health and wellness Philippine-Australia Friendship Day Mind You therapy SM Megamall awareness campaign Panorama mental health
ADVERTISEMENT
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1561_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1562_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.most-popular .layout-ratio{ padding-bottom: 79.13%; } @media (min-width: 768px) and (max-width: 1024px) { .widget-title { font-size: 15px !important; } }

{{ articles_filter_1563_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}

{{ articles_filter_1564_widget.title }}

{{ item.title }}
.mb-article-details { position: relative; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview, .mb-article-details .article-body-summary{ font-size: 17px; line-height: 30px; font-family: "Libre Caslon Text", serif; color: #000; } .mb-article-details .article-body-preview iframe , .mb-article-details .article-body-summary iframe{ width: 100%; margin: auto; } .read-more-background { background: linear-gradient(180deg, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0) 13.75%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000 / 0.8) 30.79%, color(display-p3 1.000 1.000 1.000) 72.5%); position: absolute; height: 200px; width: 100%; bottom: 0; display: flex; justify-content: center; align-items: center; padding: 0; } .read-more-background a{ color: #000; } .read-more-btn { padding: 17px 45px; font-family: Inter; font-weight: 700; font-size: 18px; line-height: 16px; text-align: center; vertical-align: middle; border: 1px solid black; background-color: white; } .hidden { display: none; }
function initializeAllSwipers() { // Get all hidden inputs with cms_article_id document.querySelectorAll('[id^="cms_article_id_"]').forEach(function (input) { const cmsArticleId = input.value; const articleSelector = '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .body_images'; const swiperElement = document.querySelector(articleSelector); if (swiperElement && !swiperElement.classList.contains('swiper-initialized')) { new Swiper(articleSelector, { loop: true, pagination: false, navigation: { nextEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-next', prevEl: '#article-' + cmsArticleId + ' .swiper-button-prev', }, }); } }); } setTimeout(initializeAllSwipers, 3000); const intersectionObserver = new IntersectionObserver( (entries) => { entries.forEach((entry) => { if (entry.isIntersecting) { const newUrl = entry.target.getAttribute("data-url"); if (newUrl) { history.pushState(null, null, newUrl); let article = entry.target; // Extract metadata const author = article.querySelector('.author-section').textContent.replace('By', '').trim(); const section = article.querySelector('.section-info ').textContent.replace(' ', ' '); const title = article.querySelector('.article-title h1').textContent; // Parse URL for Chartbeat path format const parsedUrl = new URL(newUrl, window.location.origin); const cleanUrl = parsedUrl.host + parsedUrl.pathname; // Update Chartbeat configuration if (typeof window._sf_async_config !== 'undefined') { window._sf_async_config.path = cleanUrl; window._sf_async_config.sections = section; window._sf_async_config.authors = author; } // Track virtual page view with Chartbeat if (typeof pSUPERFLY !== 'undefined' && typeof pSUPERFLY.virtualPage === 'function') { try { pSUPERFLY.virtualPage({ path: cleanUrl, title: title, sections: section, authors: author }); } catch (error) { console.error('ping error', error); } } // Optional: Update document title if (title && title !== document.title) { document.title = title; } } } }); }, { threshold: 0.1 } ); function showArticleBody(button) { const article = button.closest("article"); const summary = article.querySelector(".article-body-summary"); const body = article.querySelector(".article-body-preview"); const readMoreSection = article.querySelector(".read-more-background"); // Hide summary and read-more section summary.style.display = "none"; readMoreSection.style.display = "none"; // Show the full article body body.classList.remove("hidden"); } document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => { let loadCount = 0; // Track how many times articles are loaded const offset = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]; // Offset values const currentUrl = window.location.pathname.substring(1); let isLoading = false; // Prevent multiple calls if (!currentUrl) { console.log("Current URL is invalid."); return; } const sentinel = document.getElementById("load-more-sentinel"); if (!sentinel) { console.log("Sentinel element not found."); return; } function isSentinelVisible() { const rect = sentinel.getBoundingClientRect(); return ( rect.top < window.innerHeight && rect.bottom >= 0 ); } function onScroll() { if (isLoading) return; if (isSentinelVisible()) { if (loadCount >= offset.length) { console.log("Maximum load attempts reached."); window.removeEventListener("scroll", onScroll); return; } isLoading = true; const currentOffset = offset[loadCount]; window.loadMoreItems().then(() => { let article = document.querySelector('#widget_1690 > div:nth-last-of-type(2) article'); intersectionObserver.observe(article) loadCount++; }).catch(error => { console.error("Error loading more items:", error); }).finally(() => { isLoading = false; }); } } window.addEventListener("scroll", onScroll); });
Join Our Newsletters

Sign up by email to receive news.

© 2025 Manila Bulletin The Nation's Leading Newspaper. All Rights Reserved.