voters and mental health

I know, this isn't something that is always on candidates or voters' minds when election period comes up. Still, it's something worth considering. Are there candidates who will make it a point to promote mental health and wellness in the Philippines?

I mean this in several ways. Firstly, there is the need to provide better interventions and support for various sectors in our society who have difficulties with cognitive-psychological matters. I refer to the differently-abled both young and old, the elderly in our hospitals, hospices, and homes for the aged, those diagnosed with psychological disorders, people who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder due to trauma from calamities or violence, and people who need reintegration in their communities following displacement, release from prison and other circumstances. Our doctors, nurses, community workers, staff in mental-health institutes and wards, teachers and even caretakers need to be taught how to help these individuals achieve what they can in our society. Opportunities need to be created for people who are differently-abled and the elderly so that they can adequately contribute to society instead of being somehow shut away at home or in special institutions. Our local government units need to provide systems to help families and groups rehabilitate themselves using their own resources and capabilities instead of relying on hand-outs.

We also need candidates who will understand the need for holistic health-care, employment and educational systems that will not just equip Filipinos with the rudiments for survival, but also encourage them to develop their full-potentials (self-actualize as psych people like to say). Our health-care needs to address not just disease prevention and cure, but even familial and community attitudes towards communicable diseases, mental disorders, and physical disabilities. We are so used to marginalizing and stigmatizing those who are unwell. We are steeped in ignorance about how to properly care and support those are on the road to recovery. We need to integrate the Filipino moral and spiritual beliefs with ongoing scientific practice to promote the overall welfare of the sick.

Our employment system needs to look beyond the aspects of fair compensation and benefits, but also at the possibility of human resources development. We need to train our workforce to achieve more than just competency, but also a sense of purpose and a willingness to know more and improve in their chosen occupations. We need to improve our vocational and technical training so that opportunities and advancement will still be possible for those who will be unable to pursue anything beyond a high school degree. We also need to look into the social support that our overseas workers and their families receive. Along with the need to protect and care for our OFWs, we also need to help their families cope with the stresses caused by separation from their loved ones, and ensure the integrity of the family even over distances.

Our educational system also needs to acknowledge the various strengths and capabilities of individual Filipino children, and use these good points to prepare them to become sound, contributing individuals to society. From an early age, we need to encourage children to develop confidence in their own academic abilities, to ask questions, investigate for answers, and interact cooperatively with their peers instead of worrying about what facts they know and how they measure up to other students. By increasing their thirst for knowledge as well as giving them the logistical, material, and mental means to critically and constructively examine the world, our young people will eventually be able to pick up the knowledge they will need in their academics. In a country where teachers may not always be present, it is important for those already in the field to give our children the means to become their own teachers, in a more experiential, practical way. Our educational system also needs to examine the reasons for our high dropout rate, and look at practices that will care for students as whole individuals who will be willing and able to pursue their studies. We need to consider family factors, community difficulties and mindsets, and even physical problems that may deter the youth from studying. Otherwise we will be looking at our youth as merely statistics and test scores.

Lastly, but definitely not the least, mental health and wellness can be promoted by upholding the roles of psychologists, psychiatrists, psychometricians, social workers, SPED teachers, and other specialists concerned with the mental and psychological growth and interventions in the lives of Filipinos. We need to regulate our mental-health practitioners and ensure they are properly licensed.We also need to provide means for our specialists to deepen and broaden their knowledge in psychology, sociology, and other related fields--not just in the Philippine context. Development and added education should be available to people who seek to pursue a life in this form of helping profession. There is a need to extend the mental-health practitioner's role to more than just crises intervention (e.g. post-Ondoy scenario), but also as a part of an individual's or a community's overall growth. Our practitioners need to be able to contribute in making our social systems more humane and productive for Filipinos.

I have yet to hear of a candidate who will see these points clearly and uphold them in his or her platform. I call on my fellow psychology students, and even already practicing teachers, psychologists and specialists to please consider these things when choosing which candidates to vote for. Although our society does not place a direct emphasis on mental health, this component is nonetheless essential to the lives and continued sustainable development of the Filipino people. In these times rife with calamity and unrest, our role is not just in conflict management and distress mitigation, but it should progress to rehabilitation, reintegration and eventually adaptive development in these new circumstances. We will need political will to make this feasible---and we will need the support of our public servants to make all of this a reality.

A vote for mental health? I hope we can count on it!