Counselling Corner newsletter – July 2023
Grief
The whole month of July we’re talking about grief which comes naturally when you lose a loved one. We discuss what grief is, what emotions can be triggered when grieving (think guilt, anger, regret etc), how to take care of your-self when you lost somebody or how to support others.
During Tuesday Facebook Live talks, Wednesday free workshops and Friday articles we try to explain how to cope with grief. We also talk about different kinds of grief as it does make a difference if you had time to say goodbye or if the loss of a loved one was abrupt or violently.
Grief can hurt in many ways. Grief counsellors help people understand that there are several ways to express and come to terms with grief.
Did you miss the introduction talk about Loss & Grief by counsellor Cherish? Have a look here: Understanding Loss and Grief (Sr Counsellor Cherish Pui) – YouTube
In addition to the weekly Facebook Talks on Tuesday, Counselling Corner organises free workshops on Wednesdays that encourages participants to express their grief. Have you lost somebody recently or maybe years ago yet you haven’t fully digested it? Join one of these workshops; it’s free and can help you.
A pathway to inner peace – workshop at Kokkoya Organics
A few weeks ago we did the first workshop at Kokkoya Organics combining mental health self-care through art with physical self-care through yoga and of course the healthy food from Kokkoya. On popular demand, we decided together with yoga instructor Min Poe Zin Win | Yangon Private Yoga to run another workshop on Wednesday 19 July.
The interactive program starts at 7:30 am and includes yoga session, breakfast, an art workshop with Counselling Corner counsellor and lunch. 70,000/- Kyats per person. Fill in the form to sign up: https://forms.gle/F6MBXKZ7rN6CdUvU8
Animation movie and public service announcements
Counselling Corner produced a few months ago our first animation about mental health with as main character “Mr. Peanut” who is also showcased on the banners we distributed last year in IDP camps, companies, clinics and other places. The aim is informing people that it’s normal to have a lot of emotions and which 10 things you can do yourself to stay mentally strong.
The private channel MNTV recently broadcasted this animation during their popular breakfast show reaching millions of households in Myanmar. The channel is very much interested in mental health and decided to start the production of 10 more public service announcements on different topics concerning mental health including depression, suicide, grief etc.
Also some garment factories decided to show an animation video on mental health to their workers as part of a program to educate workers on how to take care of their own mental well-being. The animation is public on our YouTube channel and can be easily shared: How to stay mentally healthy – Animation videos about mental health – YouTube
Weekly in person clay and art workshops
A recently study by the Dutch university of applied science conducted together with Counselling Corner Myanmar showed that “perceiving emotions” has improved by people who did an emotional workshop. Perceiving emotions is the ability to interpret and understand the emotions of yourself and others through their bodily and behavioural expressions. People need this skill to use emotions to communicate with and relate to others effectively and constructively.
Over the last years thousands of Myanmar people have participated in Counselling Corner’s online emotional workshop and we now organise similar workshops in person, once a week at our office in Bogalay Zay street. We use paint and pencils or simply Myanmar clay from Twante to help you putting your thoughts and emotions into words.
Don’t hesitate and join. Sign up through our Facebook page.
Re-using and extending INGO projects on mental health
Counselling Corner was very glad when FHI360 contacted us as their project on mental health is coming to an end and they wondered what to do with their social media campaign: Nay Thit Khun Ah. The social media campaign tackled issues on stigma, created more awareness and has a lot of good content about mental health, presented by Myanmar celebrities.
Counselling Corner will be continuing running the Facebook page, add more content and cross-share content with the Counselling Corner Facebook page.
It gave us the idea to be open to discuss also with other INGO projects on mental health and brainstorm how Counselling Corner can re-use, recycle or extend the time frame of the finished projects. Let us know when you are running a project on mental health in Myanmar that is soon coming to an end and we can discuss how to use the project longer for the benefit of the people in Myanmar.
Cyclone Mocha – mental health support
The physical damage of the cyclone in North Rakhine state is huge and all kind of help is needed and luckily also provided. Counselling Corner worked with several INGO’s to send some of our counsellors to Sittwe, Maungdaw and Buthidaung to hold workshops and individual consulation sessions with staff of INGO’s. The resilience we see of the people is fantastic, yet it’s not always easy to deal with all the emotions including stress, depression, feeling burnt out and anxiety.
We are also talking with local organisations how to help them setting up mental health centres by training people in the community during 3 months with the aim to become a lay counsellor under weekly supervision from professional counsellors. In the coming months we continue to work on this idea. Interested? Contact Counselling Corner team to hear more about possible opportunities to set-up mental health centres.
Read the Myanmar version of 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