Following up with this month's theme of health, this weeks blog is about mental health. Thanks to the generous grant from
the Oficina Económica y Cultural de Taipei, it will be possible to run a full
scale health program next year, which will also include a mental health component.
Not only physical health, but also mental health is a very important issue that HOOP would like to address in the community of Flora Tristan. HOOP will collaborate with the psychologist Marisol Pacheco Pacheco in the following year to implement this program. She is a very experienced psychologist, and already knows the community well.
HOOP volunteers are always happy to listen and give advice to the HOOP students and their moms, but they are not qualified to address issues concerning domestic violence or counselling for example. For that reason we are happy to have such an experienced psychologist on board now. During
this past year Marisol already volunteered her time to run all kinds of monthly psychology sessions, but we are pleased to be able to extend these sessions to weekly sessions now.
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| Marisol during one of her psychology sessions |
Written and photos by Charlette Voss