This year has turned out to be a pivotal year for Mental Health awareness. In February, DOLE released a Department Order in response to the Mental Health Law requiring companies to have a mental health program in place. In March, with the onset of the pandemic, the consequent lockdown, quarantine and economic uncertainty, Covid-19 did not only affect us physically, but mentally as well. This was verified by PVP’s own study last May which showed that there was an increase in levels of stress, anxiety and depression among Filipino workers during the enhanced community quarantine.
PVP’s Designing and Developing a Mental Health Program in the Workplace training was first designed and offered as a face-to-face workshop. The quarantine pressed us to instantly shift gears and switch online. This move has proven to be pivotal as more companies and organizations nationwide were able to send participants to the training. The pandemic has increased everyone’s awareness about mental health, and our training programs have provided companies with the know-how on establishing their mental health programs.
After three runs since June, PVP has guided 87 companies with over 170 HR practitioners, managers and leaders to develop their own mental health programs.
We thank all our participants and wish them success in the implementation of the programs that they will have designed for their companies. Next year, we will continue to offer this program in order to help more companies promote and guard their employees' mental health and wellbeing while at the same time become compliant with our Mental Health Law.