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Mental health training for Tanapag students
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Posted on Jun 11 2021
Tanapag Middle School sixth graders participateg in the Social Emotional Development Workshop yesterday at the Hyatt Regency Saipan.
and blended learning, due to the pandemic. (IVA MAURIN)
Tanapag Middle School students are being treated to a back-to-back Social Emotional Development Workshop that began yesterday at the Hyatt Regency Saipan.
A hundred sixth graders took part in the workshop yesterday, and another hundred seventh graders are participating today, where they get to access information on mental health awareness, self-care, and mentoring, among others.
Event chair Beatrice Fatialofa said that the workshop is the brainchild of the teachers at Tanapag Middle School, who all wanted to cap the school year by helping their students cope with the different areas of their whole being—mental, physical, emotional, and social.
“Our main goal is to teach our students how to take care of themselves socially, emotionally, because a lot of them go through anxiety, they go through stress, even in school, with everything that we have done throughout this year with online learning, with blended learning,” Fatialofa said. “This year has been a hard year for them because of the pandemic. This [workshop] is a time for them to really learn about how to take care of themselves, how to take care of their mind, how to deal with stress, how to deal with anxiety, how to deal with each other.”
Helping the students are presenters from different agencies, which included the Community Guidance Center, the Garrett Lee Smith Youth Suicide Prevention Program, LEA Community School Mental Health Awareness, the Public School System’s Personal Responsibilities Educational Program, Northern Marianas College’s Office of Institutional Effectiveness, as well as Rep. Joel Camacho (R-Saipan).
“We have presenters coming from different agencies…and they’re doing different workshops to teach the kids to take care of their selves, how they can cope with anxiety and stress, different things that they have gone through,” Fatialofa said. “This is something that we really want the students to attend so that they can go through the process and they would know where to get help, and what agencies are available to help them. Especially with their mind, with their emotions, what they go through at home, or wherever they’re at with relationships with others, there are agencies that are available to help.”
