SK Alabel to conduct writing workshop for mental health

In line with the celebration of the Mental Health Awareness Month, Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) of Alabel in partnership with the Sarangani Writers League will conduct the PAHINGA AT PAGHINGA: A Creative Writing Workshop on October 28-30, 2022, at Kasfala Hall, Capitol Compound, Alabel, Sarangani Province.

The writing workshop aims to impart the Alabelian youth with skills in the art of creative writing, helping them to translate their thoughts and emotions to words, and as an instrument of advocacy.

"While mental health issues and concerns are relative, writing in general, is a uniform style to creatively establish cognitive maps on how to cope up with bottling up emotions that can lead to psychological distress," Provincial President of SK Alabel Generose Navarro said.

The SK Alabel believes in the great potential of the youth living in the municipality, hence its decision to collaborate with the Sarangani Writers League – an organization promoting local literature and writers in the province and the region. The two institutions share the same advocacy with regard to the importance of mental health.

"It stands to reason, then, that writing is positively increasing mental health benefits because it offers a safe, confidential and free way to disclose emotions that were previously kept or ignored because of the society’s standard of emotional expression," Navarro added.

30 Alabelian youth will be given the chance to participate in this activity. For three days and two nights, the writing fellows will partake in a mental health-related session-discussion, which will be followed by writing workshops together with authors from Region XII serving as the resource speakers for this writing workshop. Aside from that, the writing fellows are also given the opportunity to publish their literary works for the upcoming SOX Zine Festival, a literary activity which is held annually.

A special session discussing the world of zine will also be a part of the session, for those youth who aspire to become writers.

"If they consent to have their works be published in the form of a zine, we are ready to give them the platform," Carlou Barroca Espedillon, one of the workshop's directors said.

"But at the same time, they also have the freedom to acquire the right of privacy, if they choose to. After all, some may find writing to be a cathartic activity, and we appreciate that. For those who look to become a full-fledged writer, we are also open to that idea."

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For those Alabelian youth who want to be a part of PAHINGA AT PAGHINGA: Creative Writing Workshop, feel free to click on this link: https://bit.ly/PahingaAtPaghinga

The deadline of registration will be on October 26, 2022, at 12 noon.

For further inquiry, you can send a message to the official Facebook account of SK Alabel, or Sarangani Writers League.