With a cycle of virtual conferences that will be held week by week, the Mental Health area of the Health Directorate of the National Army strengthens and reinforces the knowledge of psychology teams in a large part of the country's military units, especially in this time that has brought great challenges in Mental Health for Colombians, as well as for our military and their families.
This cycle of videoconferences began with the theme: Mental Health in times of crisis, in which psychological care and first aid tools were provided to more than 400 people belonging to the 138 Military Health Establishments of the National Army, as well as to the teams of military psychology, with which the channels of care for our heroes and their families are strengthened.
This initiative comprises three phases proposed by the Mental Health section to face the covid-19 pandemic, these are: The first, oriented towards prevention and containment, especially aligned with working with healthy inhabitants, providing strategies for managing work, family and social relationships in the frame of the changes in habits that have been taking place.
The second phase, mitigation, aims to deal with the psychological effects of the disease both on isolated people suspected and those already diagnosed positive and finally a third subsequent phase that is oriented to residual effects after the covid -19.
In order to adequately implement these phases, an effort has been made to train professionals to implement these processes with the support of different schools and sectors that are experts in crisis management and psychological first aid, as tools to strengthen their professional skills at the service of users.
Currently, the care strategy disseminated by the different media and consisting of prevention tools through booklets such as "Fourteen Days to Grow", newsletters, videos, radio spots and radio programs, among others, is already being implemented. In the same way, trainings have been generated using technology to preserve biosecurity standards focused on generating tools to confront and identify irrational thoughts that can increase emotional discomfort.
Source: Press - Directorate of Military Health
