The Cultural Center of the Philippines, together with the Freelance Writers Guild of the Philippines, will hold an event on writing and mental health on February 10, 2021 from 9:00am-5:00pm via CCP and CCP Intertextual Division Facebook Pages and Freelance Writers Guild of the Philippines Facebook Page.
Write Side Up! event will be conducted online and will be a good means to release the anxiety that is caused by this pandemic.Many people each year get depressed— and many, if not most, of them are young people. All human beings have a natural instinct to survive. In depressed people, however, physical or mental illness, trauma, or long-term suffering and exhaustion can erode and override the survival instinct.
It is important to make people who are traumatized, stressed, in despair, mentally ill or suicidal feel that there are creative activities where they can safely reveal and share their pain and other toxic feelings.
Conducting this event on the online platform prevents putting the health of the participants at risk and follows the mandate of the Philippine government to avoid social gatherings. This can also be a learning tool while practicing social distancing and experiencing quarantine.
Through this project, the CCP will be able to continue in bringing arts and culture to the general public despite of the crisis happening in the country today.
Guest speakers and their respective topics include writers Maria Fatima Villena (Preliminary Research on Writers’ Mental Health), Dr. Ellay Nadera (The Practice of Mental Wellness especially for Writers and Artists with Q and A), Ramil Gulle (To Break Away Writing exercises to help calm the mind), Imelda Morales (Writing as Meditation), Anna Felicia Sanchez (How to Survive through Writing and Reading), and Dr. Vim Nadera (Arterapiya). The moderators are writers Hark Herald Sarmiento and Ina Avellana Cosio.
For inquiries, contact the CCP Intertextual Division via e-mail (ccpintertextualdivision@ gmail.com) or mobile (0919-3175708).