Let’s start by wishing everybody a very healthy new year; both mentally as physically. It’s a good time to reflect on the last year and Counselling Corner did that as well. It has been a busy year with individual counselling for hundreds of clients and we are very glad to be able to help people to overcome the grief of loosing lost ones, improving their relationship or coming out of a depression and seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.
During the last year Counselling Corner started more partnerships with INGO’s, civil society organisations, commercial companies and private clinics around Myanmar and we are excited to work together with more people in 2023.
Our team expanded and 2 new counsellors joining our Yangon office and 1 counsellor running the activities in Singapore. Interested to know who they are? Find here the profile of Tin Ko Latt and the profile of Eingyin Zaw in Yangon and the profile of Soe Myat Myo Shwe in Singapore.
Listen to your body for well-being
Balance your mind and body
Each month we talk about a different topic on our social media and in January we are explain how to keep a healthy balance of our mind and body as these are connected to each other.
The body responds to every emotion and every sense. Positive vibes release healthy hormones in the body. Negative vibes like stress, anger, anxiety produce hormones that could harm the body. It doesn’t matter if it happens once in a while, but if your body is constantly producing these hormones without having time to recover, it will start to harm your health.
You might not realise that your body is telling you us when your mind is under too much stress. Listen carefully to your body and you can take care of your mental health. Possible symptoms that indicate issues can be psychosomatic pain like head ache, back pain, stomach pain, heart issues, the body is shaking, sleepless nights or a loss of appetite. The pain or other body issues appear and disappear without any clear reason.
Self-awareness, self-regulation and self-acceptance can be achieved by practicing to know what you are feeling through the body, this is called embodiment. These are the things you need to have a healthy life and keep a good balance of mind and body. Embodiment practices can vary from dance to meditation, depending on how you feel and what activity you prefer.
Next month we will be talking about children and mental health on our social media channels so make sure to follow Counselling Corner.
Have a look at our website to read previous posts on mental health in Myanmar language: Counselling Corner website posts on mental health.
Ground-breaking research on depression levels in Myanmar
Counselling Corner, together with PATH, proudly lead ground-breaking research in Myanmar on depression using the internationally renowned PHQ-9 method in Myanmar language. About a quarter of the respondents self-assessed being moderately-sever to severely depressed, especially people under 41 years old suffer more and people of all gender, from all areas in Myanmar and of any education level need support. Some good news though; the research shows that people who do sports, volunteering work or meditation are generally happier. This article in Frontier Magazine (link to this: Myanmar’s mental health crisis needs an inclusive fix | Frontier Myanmar) explains more about the research and the mental health situation in Myanmar.
Free video content database
To Knowledge and reducing stigma on mental health is important and Counselling Corner is happy to share its database with hundreds of minutes of content in Myanmar language. Since the start of Covid, our counsellors have been holding weekly talks and answering questions on a variety of mental health topics.
Our body talks, suicidal though, the wounded inner child, understanding PTSD, fear & anxiety, the polyvagal theory, conditions and causes of suicidal thoughts and many more topics.
Each topic clearly explained in simple Myanmar language with a Q & A session at the end of the video.
Feel free to share with staff & communities or with friends & family and use them to talk amongst each other about each topic.
Don’t forget to subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@CounsellingCorner/videos
Talking to Nature – Emotional Gardening Workshop with Kokkoya Organics
Counselling Corner is launching a new group therapy which is unique in Yangon.
Join the “Gardening Emotional Workshop” for a group therapy under guidance of professional counsellor from Counselling Corner and a dedicated garden professional from Kokkoya Organics Farm. See how the plant will grow over a period of 6 weeks (6 Saturdays), as your mind starts to develop new coping strategies to get you mentally stronger. (can you check the font colour)
Detail:
Program name: Gardening Emotional Workshop
Starting date: Sat 21 Jan 2023
Ending date: Sat 25 Feb 2023
Time: Saturday’s from 3 PM to 5 PM
Location: Kokkoya Organics
Price: 300,000 Ks per person for six sessions
Activities at Counselling Corner
Counselling Corner’s aim is improving the mental health situation in the whole country. We believe that mental health care should be available for everybody and with the income from our paid services we subsidise other free of charge activities.
Here are some of the recurring free or subsidised activities:
Tuesday’s LIVE talk on Facebook at 7 pm
Wednesday’s Online Workshop about previous day topic: 6 – 8 pm
Saturday’s Online Emotional workshop: 6 – 8 pm
Weekend’s In person clay, art or emotional workshops (different times, subsidized price of 10.000 Kyats)
Training Basic Counselling Skills Training (Online Class)
Basic Counselling Skills Training (6th Feb 2023)
Hailed by many previous students as “the best training they ever did” and the start of a career as a professional counsellor. During this 10-days online training you learn the basic of counselling, how to set boundaries, how to listen with empathy and much more.
The training is very practical to learn and practise new skills and includes homework. A certificate is given by successful completion.
Private classes for groups of up to 20 participants or private, in person classes are possible nationwide. Get in touch or sign up now through our website and check also the other starting dates for the rest of 2023: Basic Counselling Skills Training
Read the Myanmar version of this newsletter on our website
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 from all organizations in Myanmar to discuss mental well-being openly with your team and work on improving it.
For inquiries please contact us:
Email: talk-to-us@counsellingcornermyanmar.com
Phone: 09 785 074 173, 09 784 509 916