THE Ateneo de Davao University’s Social Work Department and Committee against Illegal Drugs and Sagop Kinabuhi in partnership with the City Anti-Drug Abuse Council (Cadac) had its two-day Community Resiliency Model (CRM) Training at a university last on January 18 to 19.
The Philippine Association of Community Resiliency Model Skills Trainers Inc. had conducted the training with Carmen San Jose of PhilActs as Coordinator, Rainera Lucero and Rosario Sequitin, the PhilActs president, as facilitators.
PhilActs is a non-stock and non-profit organization which was established to support groups and individuals in transforming their persons and communities to attain lifetime resiliency through age-sector-ability-size appropriate training and service provision on the Community Resiliency model or CRM.
The parents, teachers, caregivers, community leaders and service providers such as the policemen, firemen, EMT, veterans or active duty military members, chaplains or pastoral counselors and everyone can benefit from the CRM. Its goals are to learn simple biologically based skills so adults and children can get back in body, mind and spirit and to create “trauma informed” and “resiliency informed” individuals and communities.
The first day of the training touched about the six community resiliency model skills that include tracking sensations, resourcing, grounding, gesturing, and the shift and stay, among others. The primary focus of the skills-based, stabilization program is to re-set the natural balance of the nervous system and to learn to read sensations connected to the person’s own well-being which the CRM calls the “resilient zone.”
The second day of the training had helped the participants to better understand CRM. There were actual role plays that best demonstrated how to utilize CRM in handling people under stress.
Doctor Gene Gulanes MD, FPCAM – Center Manager of Davao City Treatment and Rehabilitation Center for Drug Dependents and Ronaldo Rivera of Cadac, shared their expertise about stress and problems leading to drug addiction.
The participants of the training are composed of people from the different sectors in Mindanao. Some of them are Doctor Melba Manapol, the Herds ADDU Program in-charge, John Bryan Bajado of Cadac, Colonel Tony Rivera, Doctor Reagan Joseph Villanueva of Southern Philippines Medical Center, Oliver Navales, Grecel Sagpana, Reynaldo Garote, Marvilen Gancio, Emily Joy Delgra , Lealita Arranguez, Merced Coloma and Jessie Ann delos Reyes.
The training concluded through motivating participants to utilize CRM model for those people experiencing trauma and chronic stress. They can now identify the difference between feelings and sensations. They are also ready to do resourcing which includes helping to find peoples’ source of strength and also grounding which is the “here and now” skills. They also learned the skills to do gesturing.
Let us all then continue to believe that it is our response to stress that is harmful to us and not the stress itself – remain to be at your thinking mind.