My work as a Peace Corps Volunteer has come to be centered around salud mental ("mental health"), which is a topic that is, thankfully, gaining more and more attention in Ecuador. When I arrived in Cuenca, just 18 months ago there weren’t too many projects supporting mental health, but over the past year I have gotten to participate in the creation and development of many initiatives to support our community’s bienestar (wellfare).
My project is named Plan de Vida, and it focuses on bringing interventions to kids and adolescents in diverse environments in Cuenca, including schools, markets and soccer teams. We work with these groups for about 8 weeks, doing talleres (workshops) with them once a week, with a focus on mental health and life-skills. The goal of our methodology is to teach through play; to keep the lecturing and listening to a minimum; and to really prioritize dynamic, engaging activities. Honestly, it’s a super fun and rewarding job!
The goal of this project is to support the mental health of young Ecuadorians in Cuenca. But this involves much more than simply discussing our thoughts and feelings. To start our classes, we generally spend a few weeks on emociones.
