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1. Mental stress from distance learning

observed — expert
Sheila Crisostomo (The Philippine Star) - October 18, 2020 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines — Two weeks after classes started under the distance learning
system in public schools, an expert from the Philippine Psychiatric Association (PPA) is
already seeing signs of mental stress among students and their parents.

In an interview with “The Chiefs” on Cignal TV’s One News, PPA fellow Joan Rifareal
said there may be no data yet on the impact of blended learning on mental health, but
she observed a rise in consultations.

“There’s been a lot (of consultations), not only from students but also from parents
going through rough times, especially those who work from home. They wear a lot of
different hats,” Rifareal said.

She said these parents feel “overwhelmed by all the responsibilities” that they face as
they have to work at home and teach their children at the same time.

To ease their situation, parents were advised by Rifareal to “maintain a sense of

normalcy.”

“It can be really helpful if they set a daily routine, especially for those who work from
home. Start (your day) early while the kids are still asleep,” she said.

Jean Goulbourn, founder of Natasha Goulbourn Foundation, said students have also
called up their HOPEline (02) 804-HOPE (4673)/0917 558 HOPE (4673) in the past
three weeks.

“We’ve been getting calls from students saying they can’t afford the laptops, their
parents have no jobs. Little problems but to a student 10 or 14 yeas old, this means a
lot,” Goulbourn added.

Rifareal said the uncertainties brought about by the pandemic is also taking its toll on
mental health.

“There’s a sense that we are losing control of a lot of things and when this happens…
there will be anxiety, worries, depression, distress and trauma,” she said.

 https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2020/10/18/2050402/mental-stress-
distance-learning-observed-expert
 2. Supporting students’ mental health
By: Hyacinth Tagupa - @inquirerdotnet
Philippine Daily Inquirer / 05:06 AM September 18, 2020

(Note: This piece discusses matters around suicide, which may be a sensitive subject
for some readers.)
When our schools began to transition to “blended” learning, with much
of the instruction done online, most of our concerns were on logistics and
costs. In the hurried shift, little attention was left to the mental and
emotional preparedness of learners. Now, the spate of reported suicide
incidents linked to online learning reminds us that mental health is an
area we should have accounted for as well. It also highlights the crucial
supporting role of family and community around students.

For educators and educational institutions, this is a call for more

compassion, flexibility, and patience during this shift, bearing in mind
that a strange new emotional stupor affects many of us, including young
students, during this pandemic.

Pressure and frustrations can come from all directions for them:
deadlines, policies, the pace of lessons, inadequate equipment, the lack of
a social environment. It may be worth examining which areas of blended
education can be made more workable for learners—not to coddle them
or dumb down their education, but to account for the new “default” that
all of us are in.

This is also a time when counseling services, both in and out of the school
setting, should be more visible and accessible to students. While entities
like the Philippine Mental Health Association and Hopeline Philippines
offer mental health services to Filipinos in general, a school- or
community-based counselor may be more familiar to local students and
more aware of their context.
It’s important to provide students with reachable avenues to deal with
mental or emotional distress. But for such avenues to serve their purpose,
learners themselves should be aware of them in the first place, and
should understand that it’s okay to acknowledge their distress.

Back when I myself was a student, voluntarily talking to a guidance

counselor wasn’t very common. The top reason to go to the guidance
office was because it was prescribed by the school, and not because we
students felt we could open up to a qualified adult. These days, the
conversation on mental health is fortunately more open, but counseling
services for learners still need to be normalized and popularized,
especially during this pandemic.

Of course, while school counselors are vital, each student’s family should
ideally be the first refuge for them. But are Filipino families ready to
acknowledge and address mental wellness?

Discussing mental health in the Filipino setting is still often met with
some form of hesitation, disbelief, or stigma. This is now compounded
with the more tangible concerns taking up parents’ energy: their
livelihood, the household budget, protecting their family’s physical
health, rapidly changing ordinances, the list goes on. In this torrent of
burdens, it may be hard for parents to pay attention to how their children
are really doing, or to spare the time and patience to accompany them in
their learning transition.

But it is important and potentially lifesaving. Being mindful of our family

members’ experiences and aware of mental health red flags are even
more crucial now that learners are staying at home.

In his PDI column last Wednesday, Prof. Michael L. Tan shared some
valuable tips for parents to help ease the transition to the new mode of
schooling. He suggests, among others, to maintain a fixed schedule (like
with regular school), focus on one task at a time, and keep motivating
each other, remembering that “hindi ito forever.”
Aside from these, it’s a good idea for parents and other household
members to educate themselves on ways to support students’ mental
health. There are plenty of resources online; in particular, Facebook
pages like that of Hopeline PH regularly post tips and information on
coping together.

And for students or their families who may need the attention of a
trained mental health responder, here are some services to contact:

* The National Center for Mental Health Crisis Hotline (24/7 free service):

0917899-USAP (09178998727)

7-989-USAP (7-989- 8727)

* Hopeline Philippines (24/7 hotline):

0917-558-4673 (Globe)

0918-873-4673 (Smart)

02-88044673 (PLDT)

2919 (toll-free for Globe and TM)

 https://opinion.inquirer.net/133673/supporting-students-mental-health
Review:
During the pandemic, there is mostly restricted movement especially in our
education (face to face), the only things that drive education nowadays are the online
classes and other learning provisions. How can this affect our health and our lives in
this time of the pandemic? As stated in this 2 different news about the effects of the new
normal education system to us students and their parents are addressing about the
effects of the new normal education to all parties, mental health problems to the
students, and how to support each other in this time of a very stressful and dangerous
pandemic.
“If students suffer the parents suffer too” and vise versa. Parents in this time of
the pandemic are struggling with their jobs, needs, and their family’s health. Most of the
employed parents are working from home thus their responsibilities are stack on top of
one another. The most problematic is the health of their family especially their
sons/daughters and their mental health during the online learning and other learning
provisions, despite that the virus is the most dangerous threat that can kill us and the
focus but others died because of the unstable mental issues, most students are the
victims of this deadly mental health breakdown because of too much stress in studying
and pressure to do the works. How about the students that can’t afford utilities are
suffering and dismayed because they will miss the chances of learning, they are
undergoing a state of anxiety because they can’t continue their learning for their future
lives. But aside from this problem how can we change the table to be able to improve.
Despite our Filipino mind setting, which contains doubts, hesitations, and
disbelieving are some of the barriers to seeing the beautiful sight of the other side. The
“might be” solutions to these problems are the family relationship and openness, despite
many problems, your family is the key to ease everyone's burdens in this time, building
relationships and make them even stronger is the most crucial thing to have during the
pandemic because we are more vulnerable in mostly our mental health problems. If
there is a problem there are ways to solve or ease the problem, some students have no
contact with their families or problems with their family. The most approachable persons
are especially the guidance counselor of your school because they are the ones who
may understand your situation even in your personal or school problems, they always
have open arms to make your situation better. You can even rely on your friends and
even on the health responders in the line of duty because they want to help you to be
better at this time. Even we are having a very bad time during the pandemic, we should
see the light of this time of darkness because every situation has a thousand solutions.