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OFWs find comfort in 'online counseling'

abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/25/2009 7:11 PM

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Filipinos based overseas face difficulties everyday either due to cultural differences, problems at work, personal or family matters.

“I lived in different countries and I know how difficult it is. And there are a lot of research that says going abroad causes a lot of difficulties for both the OFWs and their families. So, we wanted to be able to respond to that,” said Dr. Gina Hechanova, executive director of the Ateneo Center for Organization Research and Development.

Dr. Hechanova said that they decided to use information technology by putting up a website called “OFW Online” in order to reach out to more OFWs in need of counseling.

“It’s a free service and we do both English and Filipino. So it doesn’t really matter if you don’t speak English,” Dr. Hechanova said. She was a guest on ANC’s television program, Crossing Borders, hosted by Immigration Lawyer Mike Templo.

Through the site, OFWs can avail of the free psychological counseling support, chat with their family or join a forum--a mechanism for them to connect with other OFWs.
 
It took them more than a year before they were able to launch the site in July.

“It took us a year to look for funding and half a year to set up the site. So far it’s been great. We’ve been online for two months and we have a steady traffic on our site,” Dr. Hechanova said.

She revealed that 64 percent of their users are based in the Middle East followed by Asia (13%), North America (7%), Australia and the Pacific and the Philippines (5%) and then Europe and Africa.

“Every week, we get around 10 to 20 people doing counseling. Surprisingly, male. That's surprising for us because a lot of the typical profile of people going into counseling tend to be female. But were getting males,” she said.

As of August 20, 2009, the website already has 65 users composed of 75 percent male and 25 percent female.

Most of the cases they handle involves around family and work-related problems.

“From the simpler, ‘I am homesick; ‘I miss my family’ to the more complex abuse, marital difficulties, sexuality issues, difficulties with children,” she added.

Another objective of the site is to help children of OFWs cope with the separation from their parents.

“The difficulty is the estrangement. It’s difficult to establish that bond again; even when the parents come once a year, their strangers practically,” she said.

Majority of the users prefer “one-on-one” counseling sessions from any of the 16 Ateneo-trained counselors who are online from 9 a.m. to 12 midnight, from Monday to Sunday.

“It’s liberating, the anonymity. Nobody needs to know that they've been counseled or that they are being counseled. We don’t even know their faces, we’re not even sure they're using their real names, but they can seek our help,” she said. With Aiza Torio Lumbuan, Crossing Borders