September 09, 2022

REACTION PAPER

Learning Session on the Conduct and Facilitation of Psychosocial Support

Activities

This learning seminar titled, “Learning session on the conduct and facilitation of
Psychosocial support activities”, is brought by DepEd-DRRMS which aims to educate
teachers to provide learners with Psychosocial support during and after a disaster.

The first topic discussed was titled “Resilience in children: Rationale of

Psychosocial support in disasters and/or emergencies”. It points out the impact of a
disaster on mental health and the response of Learners during and after a disaster
experience. It signifies the importance of teachers' psychosocial support to build
learners' resilience. The second topic was an overview of psychosocial support. It talks
about the well-being of an individual and how important is well-being to function properly
in a society. Psychosocial support and psychological first aid is a must to maintain an
individual’s well-being. The third topic was an overview of Expressive arts: The arts of
self-expression. Expressing oneself through arts is a form of psychosocial support that
helps every individual to be more concentrated on solving problems and relieving stress.
Expressive arts are usually used for healing, learning, and fun. The fourth topic was the
7S of psychosocial support. These are safety, self-awareness, self-expression, self-
compassion, self-regulation, self-esteem, and problem-solving. The fifth topic was about
the Demonstration of how to conduct psychosocial support activities. It tells the teachers
to consider the age/grade level of learners, skills and abilities, interest, culture and
background, availability of materials, and time before conducting psychosocial support
activities to become effective. The sixth topic was Understanding the SMART-Play
Table. SMART stands for Sensory, Mindful, and Art-based play. This is another
approach to the formulation of psychosocial support activities. These activities include
visual arts, writing, dance/movement, drama/storytelling, and music. The last topic was
Psychosocial support evaluation: A guide to assessing the psychosocial status of your
learners. Psychosocial support assessments improve learners’ capacity to overcome the
impact of adversities which is very important for their mental health. These assessments
were used to determine the status of every learner’s capacity and status which a teacher
can use to formulate specific psychosocial support.