3 July 2020, Calgary – The
Philippine Consulate General (PCG) in Calgary co-hosted with the Philippine
Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Vancouver a webinar on “Overcoming Mental
Stress During the Pandemic” on 27 June 2020.
The webinar
featured two resource persons from the Catholic Social Services Alberta (CSS).
Mr. Edwin Silang discussed the services of CSS for the temporary foreign
workers (TFWs). Ms. Janna Mullholland,
on the other hand, explained the different stressors and mental health issues
being experienced by TFWs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. She presented various physical, social,
mental and behavioral strategies to cope with them.
The webinar was
intended for the Filipino TFWs in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia,
Yukon and Northwest Territories.
In his welcome
remarks, Consul Zaldy Patron
described mental health as a very relevant topic during the COVID-19
pandemic due to its impact on people’s social and economic well-being. He
pointed to a survey done in Alberta in April 2020 which revealed that
three-quarters of Albertans said they felt their mental health had been
affected by the pandemic, with a third of respondents saying they felt
“depressed” or “hopeless” at least once a week.
“With
Filipinos in Alberta numbering to about 175,000, it is not far-fetched to
conclude that some members of our community are among that 75% of Albertans who
are dealing with mental health issues, one way or the other,” said Consul
General Patron.
Labor Attaché Margarita Eugenia Fabon Victorino, on the other hand, encouraged Filipino TFWs to take care of their health, which she said was tantamount to “taking care of their families back home.”