Indigenous Women's Leadership Program

If you watch or read the news you will find articles about the COVID pandemic and mental health. The pandemic is putting a strain on all of our resources; economic, physical, emotional, and social. Every aspect of our lives is under stress of some sort or another. We are stressed, tired and have little patience when it comes to solving problems with others in our society. The internet is full of videos of people going ballistic in service venues. On a recent trip, my family and I witnessed three women losing control and yelling, hollering, and pushing past security to board a plane that was closed to boarding. My daughter and I sat agog, unbelieving that such behavior could occur in a public venue.

As leaders in our community, it is important not only to lead but to tend to our own needs in these stressful times. To this end, our program offered a six-session course on mental health and self-care. Here in Mexico mental health is a topic that is only slowly coming out of the shadows. Talk therapy has been considered not needed save for the "crazy" people, so there is shame involved in seeking help, especially outside of one's family. This is now changing, but slowly. Mental health topics are new to many people so we felt these sessions were vital to our community.

With the support of Dr. Silvia Araya Fischer a psychologist who works in individual and group settings, we offered the six sessions starting in mid-October of last year. The topics included Mental Health First Aid, Panic, Anxiety, Loss, Grief, and Inner Child work. The sessions were held on Zoom and attend not only by women in our Women's group but their family members as well.

An activity that was most commented on by our participants was the inner child work. Participants were asked to picture themselves as a child in a favorite place from their childhood. Observe that child for a while and then introduce their adult self to the child. Many of the participants were impacted by the energy and enthusiasm that they saw in themselves as children and were interested in doing work to find that inner light again.

Due to your support, we can bring these workshops at an affordable price to the participants. A workshop of this type is normally priced at two or three thousand pesos, but we were able to offer the course at 500 (25 USD) pesos or less, with many participants on full scholarship. Thank you for your support in bringing this type of program to our women.