The Pasig City government and MindNation renewed their mental health program for the city’s government frontliners amid the lingering impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Their initial partnership began in December 2020 in response to the psycho-social effects of isolation from family and friends, the fear of contracting Covid-19, loss of livelihoods, and general anxiety at the height of the pandemic. Aside from city hall frontliners, workers in the Pasig quarantine facilities were also included in the 2020 program. MindNation and Pasig City Hall employees (MindNation Media / MANILA BULLETIN)
The partnership renewal was formalized with an onboarding talk from MindNation Chief Product and Data Officer Cat Triviño at the Pasig City Hall. A stress management seminar was also conducted by MindNation Chief WellBeing Officer Eiza Fusingan for members of the Ugnayan sa Pasig (UsaP) Unit and the Office of the City Administrator (OCA). Through the program, beneficiaries are provided with free services such as teletherapy sessions with psychologists and online chat support with trained mental health professionals, both of which can be accessed 24/7. These services can be given through the MindNation application which recipients of the program will have free premium access to. Mental health webinars will also be made available to further guide and assist patients as they learn more about their struggles, develop health coping mechanisms, nurture support systems, and navigate their daily lives as they recover. The local government is planning on extending the program to include Pasiguenos who are small and mid-sized entrepreneurs or business owners. MindNation Cat Trivino, Eiza Fusingan, Mela Rosal with Atty. Tomic Apacible II - Executive Assistant to the City Administrator and Philippe Camposano - Executive Assistant (MindNation Media / MANILA BULLETIN)
“The importance of mental health cannot be overstated, especially from our experience during the time of the pandemic and even during our daily duties. Oftentimes, our frontliners come face to face with stressful situations, affecting us mentally and emotionally, causing new or aggravating already existing psychosocial disorders,” said Atty. Diego Luis Santiago, assistant city government department head of the OCA. “We are very thankful to Mindnation for reaching out to our local government unit and greatly alleviating the stresses of our public servant employees through their advocacies in mental health,” Santiago added. “A barrier to mental health support is inaccessibility; many are unable to receive appropriate, affordable services in a timely manner,” said MindNation Chief Impact Officer Kana Takahashi. “Community partnerships like these are key to improving access to mental health care and ensuring that people know where to go for help,” she added. In a news release in March 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) said the [“global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25 percent in the first year of the pandemic.”](https://www.who.int/news/item/02-03-2022-covid-19-pandemic-triggers-25-increase-in-prevalence-of-anxiety-and-depression-worldwide) “The pandemic has affected the mental health of young people and that they are disproportionally at risk of suicidal and self-harming behaviours. It also indicates that women have been more severely impacted than men and that people with pre-existing physical health conditions, such as asthma, cancer and heart disease, were more likely to develop symptoms of mental disorders,” said the WHO.