COTABATO CITY (December 4, 2022) –The Bangsamoro Youth Commission (BYC) through the Office of BYC MagCotSGA Commissioner Nasserudin Dunding in partnership with the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative (YSEALI) conducted Project Liwanag to various youth organizations in Cotabato, on November 30- December 2, in this city.
The said activity aims to strengthen mental and reproductive health awareness among youth through incorporating topics on various health issues.
YSEALI Mental Wellness Fellow Cherie Rose Ang shed light on the importance of mental health, its challenges and stigma.
Carmencita Teresa Costales Cang, a certified psychologist and pyschometrician, discussed Depression, Stress, and Anxiety, its causes and symptoms.
Joveylove Bacang, RPm together Ms. Ang laid out topics on Resilience, Self-Compassion, and Self-Care while Angelita Sandro, RPsy, RPm enlightened participants on Stress Management.
Meanwhile, MOH Nurse Yasmin Kabi explained Adolescent and Health Rights; Analyn G. Dimapanat on Responsible Parenthood and Family; and Margie Fiesta, PhD on Mental Wellness and Family.
BYC Commissioner Nasserudin Dunding encouraged the participants to impart the knowldge they have learned to their fellow youth advocates.
” It is very important that we should not be selfish with the knowledge we have gained. BYC is expecting that after this, we would see you going back to your respective organizations and share what you have learned,” Dunding said.
” This is BYC’s commitment that trainings like this should not end here. We are looking forward to institutionalizing these mechanisms through policy formulations and policy recommendations,” he added.
Project LIWANAG is a follow-on project of the YSEALI Regional Workshop on Mental Wellness for the Reduction of Narcotics Use fellows in the Philippines.
The activity is supported by the Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative, through the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy Rangoon, in partnership with the International Consortium of Universities for Drug Demand Reduction (ICUDDR) and Mahidol University in Thailand, in coordination with the American Corner – Cotabato and IMARC Psychological Testing and Wellness Center. (BYC PR Unit/AAA)
