Empower mental/emotional wellbeing in Puerto Rico

In response to the Coronavirus Pandemic, Puerto Rico’s Governor declared a total lockdown starting on March 15, 2020.  As a result, all the activities at Casa sin Fronteras had to be cancelled until further notice.  Our team of professionals at CODAMO and Mejor Vida reacted quickly and started producing content on our Facebook and Instagram pages and the Zoom Platform as early as March 18.  We designed a weekly calendar of workshops and events promoting self care, emotional coping, and stress managing strategies using the techniques and resources of Counseling and Dance-Movement Therapy, and psychology.  Up to this day, the Virtual Family Encounters have integrated other professionals to host virtual workshops and talks, including, teachers, Social Workers, Recreational Therapists, Creative Artistic Therapists such as Music Therapist, Psychodrama Therapist, and Art Therapist.  Through Facebook lives, recorded videos, and active participation in Zoom meetings our professionals engage with the public, create a space for empathy, listening, and in turn provide tools to deal with their emotions, use mindfulness and self-care techniques, manage free time, control anxiety and deal with other negative psychological effects caused by the quarantine. Since all activities are virtual, we even had participants from other Spanish speaking countries like Mexico and Peru.

Since the quarantine was extended, people were searching for sources of income, so we designed a second phase to include in our program of activities promotional videos for entrepreneurs of our microbusiness incubator “Incubadora Semillas”, and  other local micro-entrepreneurs. The purpose of these videos is that their stories can inspire others who are in the same position, learn how they have readjusted work to be open within quarantine reality, and promote local businesses and economy.

So far, we’ve had 35 Facebook live meetings with reproductions ranging from 111 and 1,200; 22 recorded videos with reproductions ranging from 142 to 1,300; 28 Zoom meetings with participation ranging from 1 to 22 persons; 15 local entrepreneurs’ videos with reproductions ranging from 358 to 2,200; 6 informative Facebook posts with reproductions ranging from 281 to 1,400;  and 74 Instagram posts. 

Here are some of the reactions of participants of CODAMO:

“The movements helped me relax and gave me confidence”.

“It helped me get free of negative emotions”.

“It was a totally healing experience”.

“The group process and the individual counseling go hand in hand and are perfect”.

“I realized there were many unresolved issues in my life and since that moment decided to forgive so that I could go on calm and in peace with myself”.

Links:

• Casa sin Fronteras Facebook Page