ONE in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Depression, bipolar affective disorder, schizophrenia, and dementia are some of the mental disorders commonly known worldwide.
People with mental illnesses may be in your family, friends, in your neighborhood, or even your co-workers. However, only some of them seek or receive treatment due to the stigma attached to mental health.
Mental health is an integral and essential component of health. It is a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community, WHO said.
As such, the promotion, protection and restoration of mental health can be regarded as a vital concern of individuals, communities and societies throughout the world.
Fortunately, President Rodrigo Duterte has signed the Republic Act 11036 or the Mental Health Law, which would provide affordable and accessible mental health services for Filipinos.
However, even before the signing of the law, there is already an institution in Cagayan de Oro that caters to people with mental health conditions.
The House of Hope Foundation Inc. is a charitable institution to shelter individuals who are mentally challenged.
Established in 1997, the House of Hope, located at Upper Palalan, Lumbia, Cagayan de Oro City, has accommodated thousands of patients from all over the country, including foreigners.
It does not only provide custodial care for abandoned patients. Some of the families of the patients also remain responsible to provide care for them.
After the patients are effectively managed and serious symptoms are resolved, they are sent back to their homes with their families or will have the opportunity to look for work.
However, due to the stigma that comes with those with mental health conditions, there are cases that they are discriminated and rejected by their family or the community.
Thus, last month (September), the House of Hope has conducted a series of workshop and an art exhibit that center on helping people recovering or on their way to recovery from mental health condition and to combat stigma.
"It's more on verbalizing the feelings of the patient, to heal their emotions, especially 'yung anxiety, distress, feelings of guilt, feelings of being depress, feelings of isolation," Cleinton Ubarco, the project coordinator of the workshop, said.
"Yung goal ng activity in each day: to let the patient verbalize their feelings, not just verbally but also let them express through other ways, through art, through creating mandalas, identifying their pains through body mapping," he added.
As mentioned by Ubarco, the patients were able to express their feelings non-verbally through art and their outputs were displayed in an art exhibit in the institution together with the works created by local artists in Cagayan de Oro.
The exhibit titled Minding Madness: Images of Mental Health is a dialogue between the works of visual artists and the works of people with mental health conditions. It's a corollary exhibit to trauma healing through visual storytelling.
"Yung works is a dialogue between two perspective pero not exactly ginawa ito para sa exhibit. Pati yung mga works na nasa loob, ginawa lang nila ito kasi tinuruan silang magpinta. Walang iniisip na may exhibit after," Lina Sagaral Reyes, the exhibit's coordinator and documenter, said.
She shared how they came up with the idea of conducting an exhibit because of the workshop on trauma healing through visual storytelling.
"Nakita lang namin yung opportunity kasi mayroong workshop na tungkol sa paggamit ng visual arts para mag kwento ka. So, because of that, nakita namin yung possibility na 'gawin natin to, para makatulong tayo, para meron tayong point of reference doon sa mga sasali sa workshop' kasi mga artist din yung tumutulong sa amin," Reyes said.
Through the workshop and exhibit, the House of Hope also aims to connect patients to other patients, and patients to their families through bonding activities as this will help them in the road to healing and recovery.
Reyes also mentioned that the workshops and the visual storytelling will help not just the patients but also the families and other people to understand the people with mental health conditions and to combat stigma that's attached to them.
Annaliza June, one of the recovery patients in the House of Hope who underwent the workshop, said that she was happy and grateful to participate in the workshop as she learned a lot from it and she was able to relax.
June also shared how she was planning to put up her own business as soon as she is released from the institution.
"Plano ko po ay sumangguni doon sa kagawad sa barangay, maghanap ng hanapbuhay kasi may SSS contribution na ako, dapat i-continue yun. Plano ko pagnatanggap ko na ang pera, i-engage ko ng business, small business," June said.
Another recovery patient, Shiela, also expressed joy for being a part of the workshop.
"Happy ako sa pag attend ng workshop, marami akong natutunan. Excited din paggagawa kammi ng project. Then, yung bawat proyekto na ginagawa namin may katumbas na mga spiritual, emotional at tsaka physical aspects," she said.
Like June, Shiela also plans to put up a store after she gets out of the institution.
Amidst the darkness that envelops people with mental health conditions, there is still hope for them to recover and see the light; they only need help and people to understand them.