Our mindfulness-based programs are group-based, making them affordable and accessible, with strong evidence for efficacy. Through our programs, we plant the seeds of being present, gratitude, acceptance, empathy, and kindness to the other, hoping these will bloom to develop happy, healthy, compassionate individuals, families and communities.
Mindfulness at FriendlyCare is a community of facilitators and volunteers helping to enhance a person's, communities' wellbeing through mindfulness programs.
It is slowly emerging as the source of Mindfulness programs and training in the country. We started in 2016 when the Centre for Mindfulness Studies came to Manila to train us to deliver Mindfulness-based programs to workplaces and communities with meager resources.
In 2018, Mindfulness at FriendlyCare organized the 1st and up to 2021, the only MBCT Certification and training in the country. Since then we continue to collaborate and work with CMS, the University of the Philippines Diliman, and other partner organizations. We continuously train and provide peer feedback using the MBI Teacher Assessment Criteria to enhance skills, help ensure adherence to the protocol and strengthen embodiment of mindfulness practices.
To date, our facilitators have given xx MBCT programs, offline and online, and had developed with CMS a Mindfulness-Based curriculum for college-age Filipinos--Mindfulness for Health and Well-Being (MHW). In 2022, we will again partner with CMS to train a new group of facilitators on MBCT and MHW. The pandemic has not only exacerbated the scarcity of accessible mental health interventions but also exposed our weak institutions in education and health. We know mindfulness training can help build awareness, emotional mastery, allowing empathy and compassion to arise--qualities so very much needed in our country.
Check these out & register:
Mindfulness for Compassion and Well-being Partners
Are you a school admin interested in building your students' capacity to care for their well-being and contribute to the community?
Email us at mindfulness@friendlycare.com.ph
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy
3-hour sessions for 8 weeks
Starts Mondays September 11, 2023
Sign up at https://bit.ly/MBCTSignup2023
FriendlyCare’s Team is composed of individuals who are trained to deliver Mindfulness programs, we also have volunteers working with us to bring the programs to universities, companies, individuals and organizations. Increase in well-being, improve access to Mental Health interventions and the allowing of self-compassion and empathy to arise in individuals has been the force behind our programs.
Tess is an economics graduate from the University of the Philippines Diliman and was in the corporate world for the most part of 30 years in the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore in the areas of general management, sales and marketing. When she joined FriendlyCare Foundation as its CEO back in 2013, its clinics' capabilities were anchored on providing primary care and reproductive health, so expanding to mental wellness through mindfulness-based programs with a strong evidence base was timely and needed, bolstering the Foundation's mission to offer affordable, accessible, quality physical and mental healthcare to more Filipinos.
She started her path to her mindfulness practice in 2016 after the Centre for Mindfulness Studies Toronto came to the Philippines to capacitate FriendlyCare on stress reduction for wellness. She became a certified facilitator after further training in the Centre for Mindfulness Studies Toronto under Dr. Zindel Segal---one of the developers of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Dr. Patricia Rockman and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction under Susan Woods of the University of California San Diego. When her dad passed away her personal practice was a source of refuge and deepened while participating in various programs for individuals, educational institutions and workplaces. Work on the recovery of the Foundation's clinics due to the effects of the pandemic and a vital research project to bring a Mindfulness course to colleges for well-being and flourishing of compassionate character traits occupies much of her time nowadays.
A falling leaf and the sound it makes as it touches the earth and Psalm 46:10 (you can read and remove every word till you only have the first word left) best describes how mindfulness has informed and allowed Tess to merge her beliefs and her mindfulness learnings.
Nex has multiple skills, talents and capacities that form a synthesis through process facilitation, which she considers her expertise and a manifestation of her gift as a healer.
She graduated with a degree in BS Family Life and Child Development (BSFLCD) and Master in Community Development (MCD) from the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, and has since pursued her passion and academic qualifications in diverse fields of services. In 2011, she started Conscious Heart Creations, an initiative to support individuals and groups in their processes towards healing and empowerment using different tools and practices that have worked for herself and others. Within this initiative, she has created and developed a new form of social technology called the Emergent Theatre process. Mindfulness practice and soul-work are at the core of what she does.
Currently, Nex is one of FriendlyCare’s senior facilitators certified to deliver Mindfulness-Based Programs by the Centre for Mindfulness Studies since 2016. She leads curriculum design, development and training while providing support to the team in other capacities, as needed.
Iris was introduced to meditation with Centering Prayer in 2000, she joined silent retreats in Manila (under the late Fr. Basil Pennington), at Our Lady of Joy Abbey (Cistercian Monastery) Lantau Island, Hongkong.
She trained in Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, under MBCT Program Developer Dr. Zindel Segal and Dra. Patricia Rockman of Centre for Mindfulness Studies (CMS) in Toronto in 2017. She completed Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Intensive Training with Susan Woods and Dra. Rockman in 2018. Iris is certified to facilitate Mindfulness-Based programs and has been delivering programs since 2018. She has developed and delivered Mindfulness programs to companies and organizations, had developed programs & plans to implement these for medical professionals of NCMH
Dr. Chu graduated from the UP College of Medicine and is currently in the last phase of obtaining a degree in Doctorate of Education in Counseling. She works with individuals, couples and groups. She has served as a resource person on topics related to emotional health and spirituality in both private and religious organizations. Dr. Chu is a certified mindfulness facilitator: the certification was conferred by the Center for Mindfulness Studies based in Toronto, Canada.
Venj Pellena is a certified yoga and meditation teacher trained by Ananda Marga Pracaraka Samgha under Ananda Marga Special Academic Institution. He is trained to facilitate Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Program by The Center for Mindfulness Studies, Toronto. He is one of the facilitators of Practicing Mindfulness Program – an asynchronous course designed by FriendlyCare Foundation and The Center for Mindfulness Studies for Guang Ming College.
Venj is a committed yoga and meditation practitioner which started as a way to de-stress from his work as a screenwriter and TV Network Consultant. He believes that everyone has the capacity to be more productive, more compassionate and more joyful through the practice of yoga and meditation.
Trained and certified by the Centre for Mindfulness Studies (Canada) and FriendlyCare Foundation (Philippines), Louise Far co-facilitates Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Mindfulness-Based Wellness for Stress Reduction (MWSR), and Mindfulness for Health and Well-Being (MHW) programs in person and online. She finds solace in Anthroposophy-inspired photography, Holistic Biography Work and a warm cup of tea.