DepEd Psychosocial Support Activities to Learners for the In-Person Classes

Per DepEd Order (DO) No. 34, s. 2022 titled School Calendar and Activities for the School Year 2022-2023, psychosocial support activities must be conducted during the first week of School Year (SY) 2022-2023, beginning on August 22, 2022. The psychosocial support activities are imperative in promoting, protecting, and prioritizing the learners’ socio-emotional well-being as they transition back to in-person classes. These activities will be facilitated by classroom advisers or designated teachers.

Accordingly, the Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS) will be facilitating the Learning Session on the Conduct and Facilitation of Psychosocial Support Activities on August 11, 2022, for Kindergarten to Grade 6 teachers, and on August 12, 2022, for Grade 7 to 12 teachers from 1:30 to 5:00 PM via live stream at the DepEd Philippines Facebook Page. The details of the learning session are provided in Annex A.

With this, all teachers who will be managing in-person classes are enjoined to participate in the learning session by watching the live stream. Non-teaching personnel such as Regional and Division DRRM Coordinators, Guidance Advocates/Counselors, and School Heads, among others, are highly encouraged to attend as well. All participants who will complete the learning session and accomplish the post-session forms will be given a Certificate of Attendance. To support learning engagement, handouts shall be disseminated and provided via the DRRMS Official Facebook page on August 5, 2022.

In addition to the learning session, to further guide teachers in conducting psychosocial support activities, the DRRMS will also be releasing the Psychosocial Support Activity Pack for All Levels: A Teacher’s Guide, or PSAP, after the learning session, on the week of August 15, 2022, through memorandum and social media posts.

Beyond the learning session and the release of PSAP, school personnel should also note that the conduct and facilitation of psychosocial support activities will be subjected to monitoring and evaluation by the DRRMS. Thus, teachers and school heads are directed to comply with the reporting requirements through the Monitoring and Evaluation Guidelines provided in Annex B. Enclosed are the Guidelines for the Psychosocial Support Evaluation.

Lastly, for updates and more information on MHPSS activities for the implementation of in-person classes, kindly join the Facebook group at https://bit.ly/MHPSSpilotF2F.

For further queries, please contact Ms. Amina Aisa Boncales or Ms. Leandra Yu of the DRRMS through email drrmo+mhpss@deped.gov.ph.

For immediate action.

DOWNLOAD:

All Department of Education (DepEd) Psychosocial Support References, Videos, and Materials

DepEd Psychosocial Support Evaluation Guide

DepEd Psychosocial Evaluation Response Template

Psychosocial Support Activity Pack: A Teacher’s Guide (All Levels)

DepEd Psychosocial Support Learning Session Videos

Remote Psychosocial Support Through Play for Elementary Learners

Remote Psychological First Aid to Secondary Learners

DepEd Psychosocial Support Activity Pack for Teachers

Handouts on the Conduct and Facilitation of Psychosocial Support Activities

DepEd Psychosocial Support for Parents and Household Members

Details of Learning Session on the Conduct and Facilitation Psychosocial Support Activities for In-person Classes of S.Y. 2022-2023

Orientations’ Objectives

The general purpose of the learning sessions is to ensure that teaching and nonteaching personnel are equipped in conducting and facilitating psychosocial support activities for learners, to ensure the prioritization of the mental health and well-being of learners in the transition back to In-Person Classes.

Below are the specific objectives of the learning session.

• Align efforts among schools on the facilitation and conduct of psychosocial support activities for learners for S.Y. 2022-2023 in-person classes;
• Support the development of teaching personnel’s knowledge, skills, and abilities in conducting and facilitating psychosocial support activities for learners;
• Provide a comprehensive guide for teaching personnel in the end-to-end conduct and facilitation of psychosocial support activities for learners, especially in the context of return to in-person classes;
• Inform and instruct teaching and non-teaching personnel in the conduct of monitoring and evaluation activities for the further development of psychosocial support programs and activities.

Learning Session Platform, Schedules, and Target Participants

The learning sessions will be facilitated through the official DepEd Philippines Facebook Page. Only participants who will complete the post-session forms will receive a Certificate of Attendance.

Orientation	Description	Date	Target Participants
Learning Session on the Conduct and Facilitation of Psychosocial Support Activities (K-Gr. 6)	Learning session on the conduct and facilitation of psychosocial support activities for learners. It will include discussions on the principles and rationale of psychosocial support, its end-to-end conduct, creating own activities, demonstrations, an open forum, and monitoring and evaluation.	August 11, 2022, 1:30 PM-5:00 PM	Teachers of Kindergarten to Grade 6 Learners
Learning Session on the Conduct and Facilitation of Psychosocial Support Activities (Gr. 7-12)		August 12, 2022, 1:30 PM-5:00 PM	Teachers of Grade 7 to Grade 12 Learners

Flow of Activities

The learning session will cover the following:

1. Preliminaries and Opening Message
2. Understanding Psychosocial Support
3. The rationale of Psychosocial Support in Disasters and/or Emergencies
4. 7 S’ of Psychosocial Support
5. Conducting Psychosocial Support Activities in the Classroom
6. Demonstration
7. Creating Your Own Psychosocial Support Activities
8. Monitoring and Evaluation of Psychosocial Support Activities
9. Open Forum
10. Closing Remarks

Monitoring and Evaluation of Psychosocial Support Activities for the In-Person Classes

To monitor and evaluate the conduct and facilitation of mental health activities for learners, the following tools or forms for specific purposes will be used:

Post-Session Forms

a. Learning Session Feedback. This will gather the feedback of participants regarding the quality of the learning session in terms of the program, resource person/s or speaker/s, materials and/or references, and platform. It will inform DRRMS on further needs for program improvement and development.

i. To be administered by DRRMS.
ii. To be completed by learning session participants (i.e., teachers, personnel).
iii. To be completed after the learning session.
iv. To be completed and submitted through a Google form that will be provided after the learning session.

b. Learning Session Posttest. This will assess the knowledge of the teachers on the different psychosocial support information and concepts discussed in the learning session. This form is merged with the feedback form.

i. To be administered by DRRMS.
ii. To be completed by learning session participants.
iii. To be completed after the learning session.
iv. To be completed and submitted through a Google form that will be provided after the learning session.

Monitoring and Evaluation of conduct of Psychosocial Support Activities for In-Person Classes

a. Psychosocial Support Evaluation. The Psychosocial Support Evaluation Guide will quickly assess how learners respond to the activities and gauge their overall adjustment to the transition to In-Person Classes through specific items aligned with the Psychosocial Support Activity Pack. It can inform teachers which psychosocial skills to focus on and consistently conduct classroom activities. More complete details regarding the Psychosocial Support Evaluation forms are enclosed in this memo.

i. To be administered by teachers or class advisers who were trained and/or oriented on conducting and facilitating psychosocial support activities for learners.
ii. To be completed by learners participating in the In-Person Classes.
iii. To be administered and completed before the facilitation of the first psychosocial support activity and after the facilitation of the last psychosocial support activity (pre- and post-evaluation design).
iv. To be collected by teachers and then collated through this response template: https://bit.ly/PSSEvalResTemp. The collated responses shall be submitted to the School Heads
v. To be submitted by and through School Heads to DRRMS through this reporting link: https://bit.ly/PSSEvaluation2021.