CitySavings' Project #BetterMe promotes Teachers' Mental Wellness
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Driven by its core values of Integrity, Magis, and Ubuntu, City Savings Bank, Inc. (CitySavings) is committed to developing corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that address the needs of Filipino educators. One of these is Project #BetterMe: Mental Wellness Program for Teachers that the Bank started in 2020 in response to the Department of Education’s (DepEd) call for more inclusive and wider access to mental health services and programs. Project #BetterMe also highlights this year’s World Mental Health Day theme, “Mental Health Care for All: Let’s Make it a Reality”. Project #BetterMe is designed to raise awareness of the importance of mental health by promoting good mental health practices, encouraging healthy and supportive relationships, correcting the stigma, and creating a positive and accessible working environment. CitySavings partnered with MentaHealthPH, a volunteer organization of professionals from various fields who seek to champion and build mentally healthier communities throughout the country, and with AKVO Applied Psychology Center, a clinic based in Cebu that has been conducting online counseling and therapy sessions for clients from all across the globe. Professional psychologists and psychiatrists serve as the program’s resource specialists who help educators learn about and understand self-care and, in the process, also take better care of their learners. Relevant discussions also include strategies in dealing with common stress and conflict at home and work as well as practical ways to improve one’s mental wellness to develop resilience and positive connections. Understanding the impact of good mental health practices is critical to creating and sustaining a safe learning environment and, most especially, in delivering quality education in these challenging times. Sharon Eviota Gloria, Teacher III from Tagana-an National High School in Surigao del Norte, appreciates the opportunity to join one of the Project #BetterMe webinars. “Special thanks to CitySavings for your generosity in facilitating this webinar to teachers in this trying time. It is really a big help to us. Thank you so much. God bless you!” she shared. “This is a great initiative from stakeholders like CitySavings that is beneficial for teachers as frontliners,” added Maria Doris Borja, Teacher III from Porfirio R. Ponayo High School in Camarines Norte. Informative, inspiring, and timely are words that most, if not all, of the beneficiaries used to describe the webinars. Since its launch, Project #BetterMe has benefitted 2,000 public educators from 200 schools in various DepEd divisions nationwide. CitySavings looks forward to reaching out to more DepEd personnel as it continues various online webinars in support of the National Mental Health Month celebration this October.