‘Mental health’ app launched

THE DEPARTMENT of Health and the USAID RenewHealth project launched the “Lusog-Isip”, the first mobile application for mental health and self-care for Filipinos.

Lusog-Isip was developed in response to the growing need for mental healthcare, especially at this time of the Covid-19 pandemic when the delivery of traditional face-to-face interventions has become more challenging.

The application aims to expand access to culturally-adapted, evidence-based tools and interventions on mental health, emphasizing self-help and self-care. 

It also screens individuals so it can get a better sense of their overall well-being and how they usually cope with stress, before recommending ways they can help themselves through workbooks, exercises, audio guides, journaling, mood tracking, or simple self-care reminders.

If users feel they really need to speak to someone, they can also access a list of mental health and psychosocial support service providers near them or online.

“This app is a timely innovation and we thank our partners at USAID for making this a reality. As the DOH and our health workers strive towards coping and living with this pandemic, we must find ways to care for the mental well-being of our fellow Filipinos who continue to suffer because of this current circumstance.”

“Lusog-Isip is a self-care app and one way we can make mental healthcare more accessible to those who need it,” said Frances Prescilla Cuevas, Chief Health Program Officer of the DOH Mental Health Division.

The application is available for both Android and iOS devices through the Google Play and Apple App Store.

The development of Lusog-Isip is also timely in Zamboanga City where the number of suicide cases is high due to depression. And only last week, two young men hanged themselves separately due to depression.

Official data of national and local suicides cases were not immediately available, but last year, there were at least 20 cases of suicides in Zamboanga that prompted Mayor Beng Climaco to order the City Health Office to formulate a mental health program and for the City Budget Office to fund the project.

City Health Officer Dr. Dulce Amor Miravite attributed these incidents to many factors, including stress due to the current health crisis. “With what is happening right now due to the pandemic, this contributes to our stress. Those who cannot cope with or handle the stress well get depressed and some of them commit suicide,” Miravite said.

 

“We are sad over the number of suicide incidents due to frustrations as a result of Covid-19, but as mayor of Zamboanga City together with the department heads and 98 barangays, we do everything possible to help alleviate the plight of our people, especially during these trying times of the pandemic. There is hope in our efforts in God’s grace,” the mayor said.

Climaco said mental health programs are important, especially during this time of the pandemic. “Our local government requested the City Budget Office to study the program together with our mental health professionals,” she said.

She said a team of medical officers from the City Health Office and other agencies have already met and will come up with a program addressing mental health issues. “We are concerned with everybody’s mental health and mental health awareness is very important and we need to raise the collective consciousness about mental health,” she said. (Zamboanga Post)