In Touch Introduces Penelope Case Management System
We are pleased to announce that our Penelope Case Management system is now LIVE.
In Touch Volunteer
In our modern world, we learn many words that describe our life especially words that tell how and why we feel during particular situations. Yet, among the majority of the Filipinos, depression seems to be a jargon that revolve only amongst mental health specialists. There also seems to be a pre-conceived notion of what depression really is. It can be demotivating for an individual who is suffering from this condition if we will not make an effort to be aware of how and why depression occur.
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Contrary to popular belief, depression is not just an emotion that go away with time. It can happen in various situations in our life and can be directly linked to our physical health. As a renowned physician once said, “there is no physical without mental health”.
You are what You eat
Are you fond of avidly eating potato chips or binging in too much sweets? If the answer is yes, it increases the likelihood of you developing mental health issues. There’s a saying you are what you eat. Clichรฉ as it may sounds, recent studies show that we eat can really affect the way we feel. It is in the sugar and fats that define our emotion.
A munch on your favorite chips will not affect much. But when eating foods high in fats and sugar become habit-forming, it can deter our mental health in the long run.ย It can be an additional factor in affecting our thinking patterns.
Oftentimes, we enjoy potato chips at night sipping our favorite milktea while watching our favorite Netflix shows. We may cancel our exercise routine in exchange to this. It is a domino effect that we tend to forget which can create negative impact both in our physical and mental health.
We may brush off the fact that fats are just the normal part of our daily diet. recent studies revealed how high fat diets can cause inflammation to our vital organs. In the long-term, it showed to increase the risk of developing non-communicable ailment like cancer, heart disease, kidney disease and osteoporosis.
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What will be the effect on our mental health? It is linked to have cause depressive symptoms who developed non-communicable disease. Depressive symptoms does not mean that you are diagnosed with depression. Itโs just a manifestation of symptoms which can lead to depression if left unaddressed.
Itโs the reason why we need to really look into our lifestyle if we want to avoid mental health repercussions brought by careless decision. We need to modify the food we eat on a daily basis. Itโs basic to our knowledge that fruits, legumes, nuts and vegetables promote a healthyย body. We also need to commit ourselves to regular physical exercise for at least 30 minutes a day. Another study showed that positive social connection can improve our well-being and provide long-term benefits to our physical health. It is said that without positive connection with others, the physical effects are similar to smoking 2 packs of cigarettes.
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It is a commitment to prioritize lifestyle modification and it can be challenging at times. But with the advancement of evidence-based studies, a new field called lifestyle medicine has been created. It uses lifestyle therapeutic intervention to prevent, arrest and often reverse chronic conditions.
It is fascinating to know that there is a field dedicated to making us totally committed to healthy lifestyle.
Here at In Touch, our counselors will help you in developing materials that will improve your lifestyle. We also have expert resource speakers on lifestyle medicine, should you wish to impart mental health awareness to your organization, company or community.
โIfย you want to know more, feel free to email us at intouch@in-touch.org.
About the Author
Noel “Noe” Blanco started his mental awareness journey during the pandemic at In Touch Community Services, Inc. He is a licensed professional teacher. He loves cooking and writing poetry. He’s currently taking up a culinary medicine course at Philippine College of Lifestyle Medicine.
He was also chosen by Limitless Labs to be a Master Trainer for the Digital Literacy Program of ASEAN Foundation and Google.org. One of his goals in life is to be a licensedย counseling psychologist. He is a mental health advocate and aims to initiate research on the utilization of expressive arts in counseling.
We are pleased to announce that our Penelope Case Management system is now LIVE.
In Touch has specially designed the training to ensure takeaways included learning different tools that will help trainees provide a safe space for people to work out their stressors and learn the benefits of workplace counseling.
Kindly be advised that In Touch Community Services will be operating at a limited capacity during the holiday season (December 18 – January 1).
Keeping In Touch: (from left) In Touch Head of Psychological Services Unit Dr. Julian Montano, Mental Health Services Lead Myrtle Almando, US Embassy Medical Unit rep Mimi Thein, US EMU Regional Medical Officer Psychiatrist Andrea Ross, In Touch Executive Director Mike Calleja, In Touch Foreign Liaison Program relationship managers Marielle Mikkelsen and Daisy Pope-Brien.
In Touch Volunteers attended Bridging Mental Health: The Pursuit of Well-being webinar series by Makati Medical Center, last October 2022. From these webinars, we came to learn many key mental health facts and information.
Noel Blanco shares his takeaways here.
For any immediate or in-the-moment emotional support, call our 24/7 CRISIS LINE. Our professionally trained responders are on standby to assist you.