Success Story of Aye Chan Thaw Ein Project by Call Me Today
Offering psychosocial support to migrant workers in Shwe Pyi Thar township
The year 2022 has been the most difficult situation to deal with for all Myanmar citizens. The global pandemic, recession, and political turmoil are happening in the same year. Every worse we can imagine is happening in Myanmar. In this given context, the accessibility of mental health becomes a survival need to continue our daily lives, especially for migrants and blue-collars who are now in need of jobs, and food to support their families. Along with the referral for physiological needs from Aye Chan Thaw Ein projects, Call Me Today has provided psychosocial support to 1814 clients from 2020 to 2022.
During these three years, 2022 is the most difficult situation to provide psychosocial support to beneficiaries due to the providers’ safety and branding challenges. Call Me Today utilizes our phone line network along with local facilitators to reach out to beneficiaries. Since practitioners cannot go to the field for clinical sessions, the therapeutic relationship between clients and practitioners is hard to build over phoneline. However, Call Me Today bypassed these difficulties by introducing our services to partners in Shwe Pyi Thar as well as via facilitators who make group discussions about our service before starting their session with practitioners from Call Me Today.
Despite the difficulties, Call Me Today has provided successful psychosocial support to beneficiaries along with support from Aye Chan Thaw Ein consortia, Helvetas Myanmar, and People In Need Myanmar. Call Me Today’s practitioners played a vital role in this contribution. They reached out to each and every individual using phoneline to build therapeutic relationships, provided psychoeducation and psychosocial support, and referred to the necessary third-party organizations for their clients' needs. This year, Call Me Today has provided 417 clients with over 501 sessions.
Some might argue why there is psychosocial support over physiological needs. It is undeniable that food and job safety can make the mental state to be stable. However, after working for a year, Call Me Today has learned that the motivation and healing from the beneficiaries' minds is the kick start for solving their family problems. Sometimes, a person needs another person who would not judge and would encourage them to overcome the problems. Call Me Today has positioned at the right place in helping with their mental state.
One client, Khin Phyo Thu said that she had relieved her stress and anxieties from her mind and head after the session. It is like releasing tension from her shoulders. She feels refreshed and relieved after opening up to Call Me Today’s mental health practitioner. Another client who owns a small business, Cho Sandar Lin, gave feedback to Call Me Today psychosocial support that she realized what is next to do in her mind after the session. She has got resilience over the financial problems and her stress. Most importantly, she has been practicing the physical exercises she has learned from the conversation with her practitioner. Moreover, she adds that she can now support her children and also can offer donations to monks in her communities.
Call Me Today believes that our beneficiaries would remember what they have discussed and their learned experience related to psychoeducation during the session. From these, they can self-care for their mental well-being and have a positive outlook on life. Call Me Today would be within every Myanmar citizen’s reach via online, phoneline, and textline counseling and psychosocial support for many years.
