CREATING BETTER DAYS WITH ‘THE PLANTITA PROJECT’
IN the hopes of empowering its audience with knowledge and tools needed to thrive in this brand new world, Forest Lake — a trusted memorial care brands in the Philippines — held the second run of their “Creating Better Days” webinar series dubbed “The Plantinta Project.”
The online event hosted by Issa Litton was held just in time to kick off Mental Health Awareness Month this October with its focus to advocate the well-being of every Filipino.
Noted Forest Lake President Alfred Xerez-Burgos Jr., the ongoing global pandemic has inflicted feelings of fear and uncertainty in most people. As such, it is important to learn how to deal with overwhelming situations in order for Filipinos to rediscover clarity, calmness and confidence despite the odds.
Further explaining the program, Mawi De Ocampo, Forest Lake
Corporate Communications Head recalled, “Way back in 2018, we began our grief therapy program called ‘A Better Day: Your Journey to Healing’ where we offer grief counseling workshops to our bereaved clients. Through our counseling sessions, we actually began to notice beautiful stories of transformation. We started to witness how the program was leading our clients towards healthy, meaningful, productive lives after their loss.
“This year, we planned to take the workshops nationwide, but as you all know, the pandemic wouldn’t allow that to happen so we weren’t able to continue these face-to-face workshops. So we decided to take the program online, and knowing how the pandemic has brought about grief and suffering to a whole new level for everyone, we have expanded this endeavor as an advocacy for mental health and well-being,” she added.
Fresh from the success of its first webinar back in June, the second part of the series encouraged participants to learn how to start their own edible garden business from home.
Olive Medina, co-founder of Lorenzo’s Sanctuary, taught participants how to grow their own food and eventually earn from it; make compost and save fertilizer costs, as well as save time by learning to create their very own self-watering pots. (See sidebar).
Meanwhile, participants also gathered nutrition tips from licensed Nutritionist-Dietitian Samantha Morales to help manage their health better through best practices in handling common lifestyle diseases.
Most fittingly, Dr. Beverly Ho, Chief of the Health Research Division of the Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau of the Department of Health (DOH) took the opportunity through the event to talk about the “BIDA Solusyon sa Covid-19” campaign which aims to empower the Filipino to effectively fight the pandemic.
Also touching on the theme of the project, she continued, “This webinar is very timely because we’re celebrating Mental Health Awareness Month. What we want everyone to take away from the Awareness Month is that it’s OK not to be OK. What we’re experiencing now is different so it is okay for us to be anxious — whether the causes are from studies, work, social media, isolation, etc.
“We are encouraging everyone to make sure that we keep our immune system strong which leads to as healthy mind, healthy body and healthy spirit. The activities that the participants in this webinar are doing is one mechanism for us to relax, and to have a fresh new perspective because only in striking this balance can we come out of this stronger than before.”
Keep on planting, titos and titas.