We hope our newsletter helps a bit to mentally support colleagues, family and friends. During this challenging period we are open from Monday till Saturday (and Sunday’s on request) and operating online through Zoom application or face to face at our counselling centre on Bogalay Zay Street. Please do contact us if you need any help or have questions. Read the Myanmar version of this newsletter on our website
2 hours free workshop that will benefit your child, your teenager and yourself!
We continue our free emotional workshops, every Wednesday from 6 – 8 pm, for anybody interested in the topic of the week. This December month the main topic is about the development and mental well-being of children and young adults. Learn what you can do yourself to work on a healthy and stable mental environment for the ones you love. Upcoming topics:
Wed 8 Dec: Mental development stages of children (mental, physical)
Wed 15 Dec: Understanding teenagers & their mental stage
Wed 22 Dec: How childhood stress effects on adulthood (attachment theory)
Wed 29 Dec: How to manage stress for children (4 types of parenting)
It’s free of charge, but we ask you to sign up in advance, as there are limited places available so check the announcements on our Facebook page.
New counsellors joining Counselling Corner
From the very start of Counselling Corner 3 years ago, we have been working on expanding counselling throughout Myanmar. There are no formal training institutes in Myanmar that teach counselling (it’s only psychology and psychiatry), so we decided to start training people ourselves and steadily review their essays, supervise the self-reflection practices they do and support them all the way to become professional counsellors.
3 excellent counsellors have been going through our training and coaching program, worked as volunteers at Counselling Corner assisting with training, webinars and workshops and will be joining Counselling Corner part-time. A warm welcome Yu Mar Thinn, Marlo and Julie Moenge San to the team.
A new Basic Counselling Training starts on Monday 13 December and we still have a few spots left. Cost is 150.000 Kyats per person. Contact us if you’re interested to join.
For corporate clients: we do encourage you to play Santa Claus and sponsor a scholarship for somebody in Myanmar who is interested in psychotherapy and counselling. Contact edwin@
December is the month for reflection
The last month of the year has started and obviously it has been a stressful and emotional year for you and all your colleagues. The month of December is a good time to reflect, express and talk about all emotions experienced in the past year.
This can be done in individual counselling sessions or in small groups of people. We noticed that in Myanmar society, it’s actually most effective to organise an emotional workshop in small groups of 20 persons. People feel encouraged by others to think and talk about their emotions and immediately find relief hearing their peers have similar emotions.
If you think it’s better to do something creative rather than talk, Counselling Corner organises art workshops (online or in person at your company). We provide canvas & paint and ask each participant to express their feelings in the artwork they make during the session. Our counsellor will facilitate the workshop and ask participants to explain in the group why they made this specific artwork and how they feel about it. Contact us to discuss what we can do prepare all staff to start 2022 with a clean emotional slate.
Reimagining workplace happiness engagement – article Scott Coates
Every now and then, you read an article and think; that’s exactly what every manager (in Myanmar) needs to know right now. That’s what we thought when reading Scott Coates article about workplace happiness (read the full article here). It talks about the need for any company to build trust, show empathy towards employees and create psychological safety at a workspace.
Other takeaways from the article:
- Effectively cultivating trust in an organisation can reduce stress by 74%, resulting in 50% higher productivity, 13% fewer sick days and 76% more engagement.
- Psychological safety is most important in any organisation: feeling comfortable to share ideas, speak out, and be yourself is paramount to successful teams
- Acknowledging as a boss that employees are people, who have good days and not-so-great ones is important.
- Promoting and supporting employee well-being is bound to become part of the ‘new normal’
- Showing empathy, truly caring about your teams can come in many forms:
- Access to an employee assistance program
- Promotion of exercise and workplace proximity to green spaces
- Positivity as the social norm
- Facilitating many personal connections
- Create space for casual, not-work-related chats amongst colleagues
- Understanding and living of company and personal values on a regular basis
Read the complete article Reimagining workplace happiness engagement and start implementing it at your company, organisation or INGO.
1 Jan 2021: Toxic positivity workshop
It’s ok to cry, it’s ok to be emotional and it’s ok to show vulnerability. Join us on a special workshop on the first day of the New Year that talks about toxic positivity. As usually the talk is in Myanmar language, it’s interactive so make sure your microphone and camera works and it’s presented by Counselor Su. When talking about this topic previously, she discovered that it came as a surprise to many Myanmar people that you don’t always have to “be positive” or “be strong”. Too much positivity and not letting go of your emotions means that the negativity is built up in your body & mind and becomes a real issue.
Join this workshop, especially if your new year’s resolution is about taking care of yourself. The workshop is free of charge yet there are very limited spaces available as we want to have a small group to ensure we can keep the workshop interactive. Saturday 1 January from 2 – 4 pm through Zoom.
Our brochure is available to download online in English and also in Myanmar language. It explains about counselling in general and answers questions on confidentiality, training we give, our counsellors, clinical individual sessions, our advocacy activities and everything else we do at Counselling Corner.
Please do share / like and contact us if you have any questions or suggestions on the above or want to know more about our services. We want to make it easier for people to talk about mental well-being and we need help for all organizations in Myanmar to discuss mental well-being openly with your team and work on improving it.
You can see the Burmese version of this newsletter on our website.
For enquiries please contact us:
Email :info@
Phone: 09 785 074 173, 09 784 509 916