Our Mission
BKC commits to helping empower communities in their mental health and psychosocial response towards kaginhawahan (wellbeing) through advocacy, capacity development and policy-building, that draws from the creative, cultural and spiritual resources of the Filipino people.
Our Vision
BKC dreams of caring communities capable of fostering their people’s resilience, psychosocial well-being and better quality of life.
We envision to be a leading partner of caring communities in delivering inclusive and accessible community-based mental health and psychosocial support.
Our core values
Our core values guide us in making decisions and acting toward our goals. These serve as an anchor that helps develop people and enhance the organization’s programs and operations. Our core values align with other external codes and guidelines, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Magna Carta of Disabled Persons, the Child Protection Policy, and humanitarian principles. The policies and regulations embodied in our Code of Conduct reflect our core values.
Integrity
BKC is committed to espousing a culture of integrity, which promotes moral understanding within BKC and is the foundation of trust among its stakeholders. As BKC members, this means acting honestly, embracing transparency, taking responsibility and accountability, and demonstrating reliability through all dealings, whether working independently, as a team, or with a community. Integrity guides BKC toward achieving the highest level of efficiency, professionalism, and governance in the organization.
Respect for all
Respect for all means recognizing and respecting every person’s rights and valuing and accepting diversity. It means welcoming people from all backgrounds and showing consideration and sensitivity towards gender, culture, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, political conviction, and other differences.
Responsible care
With a vision to be the leading partner of caring communities in delivering inclusive and accessible community-based mental health and psychosocial support, BKC commits to providing responsible care, applying the principle of “do no harm,” and proactively promoting the safety and well-being of people who deliver and use BKC’s services. An integral part of well-being is practicing responsible care by being stewards of the environment. It applies to one’s self, others, and the environment.
Learning and growth
As a learning organization, BKC highly values a learning culture that contributes to the development of BKC and the individuals and teams within the organization. For BKC, Learning and Growth mean reflexivity, openness to new ideas, experiences, and information, flexibility, and creativity. Learning and Growth allow for resourcefulness, innovativeness, and ultimately, flourishing.
Our History
In 2002, Balik Kalipay (“return to happiness” in the Visayan language), a psychosocial rehabilitation project for victims of armed conflict in Mindanao was implemented by the late Dr. June Pagaduan Lopez with a team of medical professionals from the University of the Philippines’ Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP CIDS) and the UP-PGH Department of Psychiatry. Covering 15 villages, the project, supported by the Government of Denmark, the Philippine Business for Social Progress, and Oxfam, was able to train primary public school teachers, daycare workers and more than 200 youth volunteers on providing psychosocial support to children using play and arts-based activities. The project took after O Regresso á Alegria (Return to Happiness) a similar effort for children and their families who had experienced traumatic events in East Timor, for which the Balik Kalipay proponent was a part of.
According to Dr. Lopez, who in 2001 studied the consequences of armed conflict on the emotional and mental health of the people of the war-torn Mindanao particularly of Pikit, Cotabato, to respond was both the right and ethical thing to do after learning the plight of her countrymen. And so the psychosocial rehabilitation project took off.
In a year’s time, Balik Kalipay was not just a project but a movement so sensibly stirring that it convened nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and cause-oriented groups in Metro Manila to continue the work that has been started. Such was warranted since shelling and fighting endured despite Pikit, Cotabato being already declared a zone of peace at that time. Consequently, the ill effects of the fighting between the MILF rebels and government soldiers on Northern and Central Mindanao settled deep within and was embodied by the affected people, including the innocent children.
Psychosocial support activities that can be implemented by peace advocates and disaster volunteers remained to be the best and most logical response provided that there were scarcity of psycho-trauma workers. Recognizing these givens, a child-to-child peace campaign called Bigas at Laruan Para sa Kapayapaan was launched in 2003, led by Balik Kalipay and the Kids for Peace, in partnership with Museo Pambata, Girl Scouts all over the country, the Philippine Educational Association of the Philippines (PETA), The Outstanding Women for Nations Service (TOWNS), Kaisa Para sa Kaunlaran, and UP CIDS Educational Research Program.
The project raised public awareness especially of parents and children from the urban communities about the situation in Mindanao, highlighting the ill effects of conflict and violence particularly on children caught between the wars, and about how they, despite the distance, can contribute to peacebuilding and recovery work of those affected. Children in peaceful areas were encouraged to send to children in war-torn areas messages of peace for the peace of mind of the latter, rice for their hungry stomachs and toys or art materials for their creative souls. Other arts-based activities like drawings, storytelling and drama became important components of the whole project which particularly served the objectives of the awareness campaign. A one-day facilitator training workshop conducted by the key partners capacitated adult volunteer facilitators to facilitate “peace encounters” for children.
Two decades later, in 2013, Supertyphoon Haiyan (typhoon Yolanda) brought together the same group of NGOs, plus a new generation of researchers and academicians, artists and cultural workers, as well as disaster survivors and volunteers. A stakeholders meeting was called by Dr. Lopez, which she ably coordinated while in transit from her UN Mission serving as Expert Member of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights in the Subcommittee on the Prevention of Torture. The momentous event took place in none other than the same ground as the launch venue of the child-to-child peace campaign. Museo Pambata graciously hosted the activity attended by about 40 individuals and NGO representatives seeking ways and guidance on how to urgently but systematically respond to the emergency.
While many major natural and man-made disasters including typhoons Frank and Ondoy in 2008 and 2009, respectively, the Moro National Liberation Front siege of Zamboanga, and Bohol earthquake in 2013 provided opportunities for these groups and individuals to coordinate and implement mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) services within and beyond Citizens’ Network for Psychosocial Response (CNetPSR) — a loose coalition of disaster responders convened by Dr. Lopez, it was typhoon Haiyan that created clamor for formalizing the network. Recognizing the need for a formal organization — what it can do in the field of MHPSS amidst the breadth of Haiyan’s destruction in Eastern Visayas that triggered an outpouring of international support for the recovery and rehabilitation of the disaster-stricken communities even months after the typhoon hit the Philippine ground, a new organization was SEC-registered in 2015. It was named Balik Kalipay Center for Psychosocial Support, Inc. (BKC).
Office Address
Room 315 Corporate 101 Building
101 Mother Ignacia Avenue
Quezon City, Philippines 1103
Email
ginhawa@balikkalipay.org
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