Ugat Foundation
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| Established | 1987 |
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| Location |
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| Affiliations | Society of Jesus |
| Website |
ugatfoundation |
The Ugnayan at Tulong sa Maralitang Pamilya Foundation, Inc., also known by its short name Ugat Foundation (stylized:UGAT Foundation), is an organization based at the Ateneo de Manila University in Quezon City, Philippines. It was founded in 1987 to render all sorts of personal and group guidance and counseling for the poorer members of Philippine society. It also advocates for the human rights of these people.[1]
History
In 1987 two Jesuits, a Good Shepherd sister, and five laypersons who were working among the poor discussed addressing emotional and social problems in a more systematic way. Their work with Overseas Filipinos (OFW) intensified after 1962, leading gradually to a host of seminars given to individuals and families, at home and at their worksites abroad.[2]
Since 1994 Ugat has organized the Bayaning Filipino Awards, where the organization has presented "hero" awards in three categories: individual, family, and community. These are to recognize Filipinos who rise above concern for themselves and serve as role models in going out to others.[3]
Programs
Overseas Filipinos and their families
An estimated 8 million Filipinos are working abroad. Personnel are trained in counselling and in running seminars to assist at every stage of the separation process. There are seminars for spouses of those working abroad (KAISA), their children (ANAK), for spouses of seafarers (KAPILAS), for the guardians of children of the workers (KALASAG), and dependency seminars (PLDT), as well as seminars to prepare for separation (PANATAG) and to reintegrate after the return of the workers (KAPMU). At the worksites UGAT teaches migrants to be supportive of one another. Also, for those working with migrants, basic and advanced two-day workshops are offered on skills related to counselling of migrants and on helping with marital and employer-employee relationships and conflict resolution. Another teaches workers to nurture their family from a distance. Emphasis is given to the needs of the heart and for emotional healing.[4]
Caregivers / counselors of the poor and their families
Counseling for the Poor helps counselors to understand their own emotional life so that they appreciate what their clients are feeling. Videos and small group sharing are employed and an opportunity is offered to practice the skills. Separate workshops have been devised for those coming to the relief of victims of disasters and calamities. Another one-day seminar gives counselors understanding and practice of techniques for intervening in times of crisis. An acute situation and more ongoing situations of stress are distinguished and the physiological effects of crisis situations explained. Another seminar teaches the basics of Gestalt therapy, whose objective is to bring all one's powers to bear on living in the present moment. A further seminar assists those who experience traumatic separation, or those who will assist them, in situations like marital separation, child adoption, and working with the children of broken marriages. There's also a course that utilizes Gestalt work, drawings, “inner child” work, and psychodynamic therapy to liberate individuals to discover and work toward becoming their best self. More advanced skills to handle difficult cases, especially among the poor, are given through a seminar-workshop which teaches Murray Bowen’s Family Systems Therapy, Genogram Processing, Gestalt, and Dreamwork.
The Family Ministry Seminar helps those who minister to families to assess family relationships and best practices for intervention. A further seminar on marriage counselling teaches how to help couples to discover the Christian meaning of love in marriage, the decision to keep doing good by God's grace even as infatuation and physical attraction diminish; dealing with conflict within marriage is an important part of this seminar. For counseling entire families in their complex relationships the Life Space Diagram, Mapping, and Family Floor Plan Method are used. And another seminar approaches this by seeking out the wellspring and the trap to family wellbeing, using the genogram. There is also a five-day seminar for social development workers on intervention in cases of alcoholism, chemical dependency, domestic violence, migration, and delinquency. Finally the Christian foundations of caregiving are presented in another formation seminar for counselors and other caregivers.[5]
Family formation
In this area there is a seminar to instruct teenagers in the areas of love, courtship, and marriage – in self-understanding and deepening relationships. Another seminar offers immediate, pre-marital counselling. For married couples a one-day, Marriage Encounter-type experience is offered but adapted to the culture, with couples assessing and renewing their relationship, increasing their relating skills, and finding God's purpose in their marital experiences. Offered also are a basic parenting seminar, and a more advanced one which goes into values differences in these times of change. A final seminar would increase family togetherness, using games, mapping, and floor planning. Two more seminars address various mid-life crises encountered within and between married persons. Grandparenting completes this list.[6]
Hurting families
There is an ongoing program for the rehabilitation of those with drug or alcohol dependency. Another helps single parents along with their children to rise to the challenge of continuing to function as a family unit, while a further seminar is offered just for the children. Families of the chronically ill are the topic of the final family seminar.[7]
Teachers and guidance counselors
To handle the tensions involved in teaching, exercises in reflection, music, and deep breathing are taught, and small group discussions are employed. Teachers are also taught basic skills in counselling, to bring the best out of the students and to help them reach their full potential. Getting the family involved in the education of their children is the topic of another seminar directed toward guidance counsellors and school officials. A seminar directed to students would arm them with an attitude of hope and optimism in these changing times.[3]
References
Coordinates: 14°38′28.73″N 121°4′40.3″E / 14.6413139°N 121.077861°E