Training on Psychological First Aid
Since the onslaught of Super Typhoon Yolanda in November 2013, the Psychology cluster of DSS has been actively involved in the direct provision of psychosocial services to the people of Eastern Visayas as well as training various individuals and groups on how to become facilitators of psychological first aid (PFA). PFA trainings aim to capacitate lay people in terms of gaining the knowledge and skills necessary in facilitating PFA for survivors of disasters and emergencies. To date, the Psychology faculty of DSS have already trained hundreds of individuals from different organizations and agencies such as DepEd, Department of Health, local barangay government units, universities, and private companies, among others.
Delivery of Katatagan Program
Katataganis a post-disaster intervention program developed by the Psychological Association of the Philippines (PAP), which aims to teach disaster survivors skills needed to hasten their recovery and enhance their resilience. The Psychology faculty of the Division of Social Sciences were involved in the creation, pilot-testing, evaluation, and modification of the various modules of the Katatagan program. Katatagan has been piloted among UP Tacloban students in 2014 and has also been delivered among adult and children residents of a temporary resettlement site in Tacloban City in 2015. The psychology faculty of the Division have also involved their own students in promoting Katatagan by training them to become Katatagan facilitators. During the 2017 PAPJA Convention, the UPVTC Psych Circle won first place in the Outstanding Community Extension Project competition for their entry entitled “Implementation of the Katatagan Resilience Program among Tacloban Youth Scholars Affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda.” This was a project of the Applied Psychology class of Prof. Querima Deborah Jopson last May 2016, in partnership with Save the Children – Eastern Leyte Program Office.
