PAGPAKABUHI volunteers 

help manage depression 

TAGBILARAN CITY, Bohol, October 5, (PIA)—From a handful of individuals with different backgrounds and functionalities but oned in a mission to be there for people who are on the edge due to depression, stress and schizophrenia, has committed to bring out information education and communications as well as psycho-physical interventions to help people struggling from the above personality crisis. 

Now already a large group of volunteers which now include plain house helps, Paghatag og Pagtagad sa Kabililhon sa Kinabuhi (PAGPAKABUHI) firmed up its beginning last September 8, when we sat down informally to get to the alarming issue of depression and how it has caused people’s lives, said Dr, Fruserma Mary Uy, Bohol Provincial Health Office Mental health focal person. 

A group which now has Bishop Albert Uy, PAGPAKABUHI member volunteers say they share one advocacy and one vision, guided by the Holy Spirit, and would strive to be there for every one needing help while fighting out bouts of depression, she added at the Kapihan sa PIA, in time for Mental Health Month in October. 

Dr Uy admitted too that the group they are part of started as a response to the already alarming cases of suicide, which cans also be traced to depression which led to taking one’s life. 

PAGPAKABUHI is one now of the many groups coming out to help people manage their stress and depression and we are accepting volunteers who only need to have the commitment needed to get to the task, in the true spirit of volunteerism, she narrated. 

Part of the group’s interventions include promotion of mental health awareness through lectures and film, offers intervention services, psychotherapy and counseling and other adjunct therapies that also include teaching depressed people some new things to keep his mind off the struggles. 

In coping with depression, it is helpful to know what is mental health, a certain sense of disciplining the mind, regaining trust and faith in God, getting other preoccupations as escape and drawing strength from family members to be able to surmount all these, remarks Jeanine Valerie Borromeo, a PHO nurse and PAGPAKABUHI volunteer. 

The formation of the group also came in time for the passing of the Mental Health Act or Republic Act 11036, Dr. Uy explained. 

The law also mandates local government units to set aside a budget for mental health, and Bohol is joining in with the program now at the PHO and DOH. 

While Dr. Uy believes the dissolution of family relationships has upped the depression cases, she believes technology like gadgets has pushed man to lose his personality. 

She also thinks suicide is contagious so that its reporting should only be handled by professionals. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol) 

MENTAL HEALTH ADVOCACY. Dr Fruserma Mary Uy heads the PHO Mental Health Program while in a different capacity, she also co-leads PAGPAKABUHI to help people who are in the bouts of depression so they can recover. (rahc/PIA-7/Bohol)