To any crisis, Unang Tugon will be there to help you.
This timely cause is probably the closest to Jackie Cañizas’s heart, Haraya’s founder. This free life coaching campaign, as she described, was born out of the coaching community and took a life of its own. 

Here’s an interesting story of how this beautiful initiative was put together.
“This actually happened by accident”, Jackie said. Just days before her birthday and weeks after the pandemic stormed out, she felt that something had to be done. The stress, anxiety, depression, and hopelessness that this health catastrophe has brought to everyone especially to our frontliners and all workers, had her wondering.

“As coaches, what can we do? How do we marry what is needed to what we can provide?”, she asked her team. Initially, she thought that maybe it’s enough to reach out to a few people and offer pro bono coaching to them. But then God had greater plans for her cause.

They started reaching out to their life coaching community. It was a surprise that over 50 coaches volunteered to join her in just a short notice. That, to her, was already a win in itself.

 “That’s the coaching community that we want to have. Where it’s all about, “Let’s go, let’s help” and everybody would pitch in,” Jackie stated.

They helped unite the coaches and encouraged them to pitch in ideas. Hence, the birth of Unang Tugon. The ultimate objective of the cause is to bring light to workers in these dark times – a helpline for mental wellness made conveniently available whenever they are feeling distressed, burned out, or struggling with something.

In one of Jackie’s calls, an HR manager once told her that their old helpline is underutilized because their employees don’t want to seek psychological support. This has been an old undying mental health stigma that inhibits people to get help. This, in turn, makes life coaching a great option. 

Life coaches give employees a less daunting environment where they can just speak up freely without any fear. In fact, they received over a dozen calls from the employees a month after launching. Now, more and more private companies are signing up for the service.

“This has given us the opportunity to support companies to make sure their employees have proactive support. We are able to coach people before they get to the verge of getting desperate,” Jackie said. “I’d like to believe that’s how we help,” she added.

How did Unang Tugon help the Amang Rodriguez Hospital’s health workers?

Over the past few months, we have seen how our front liners and other health workers have struggled to save lives even if it means risking to lose theirs. The Amang Rodriguez Hospital isn’t an exception.

Jackie’s friend working in the hospital said that they are greatly challenged, tired, understaffed, sick, and mentally unstable. With these emotions in mind, the Haraya team then opened up an online Unang Tugon for the health workers of the hospital so if in case they need help, they can just easily access the mental wellness support that they need. 

Jackie has great hopes and plans for this cause. “If every coach knows that this is good, comes onboard and commits time, this will become a huge resource to be made available to more people,” Jackie said.

As what Pope Francis always says, among us, who are most capable must be in service of others. It doesn’t mean we have to wash away each other’s feet every day but we must help one another.

Jackie and her team are only few of the people who are actually willing to step out of their comfort zone and help as much as they can. You can be part of the team too. Shoot us a message if you’re interested to volunteer or if you’re in need of a life coach, we’d love to chat to find out just what you need!

“He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.” – Friedrich Nietzsche 

For Jackie and a number of Haraya’s partners, helping others gain confidence, self-purpose, and empathy among others are just some of the things they love doing as life coaches. 

Haraya has always been committed to helping others reach their fullest potential through coaching and the partners (coaches) are no stranger to that. Having a community development initiative has always been on the books for them and by asking themselves the question: “Who is it that we want to help?” it was no surprise that they took that same model and helped bring it to life in the education space as it was where they would bring the most value. 

And that was how Sibol was born. Much like its name, meaning “growth” in Filipino, once you plant a seed it will grow into a sprout until it is firmly rooted. That is what Haraya’s Sibol initiative aims to do. With the right coaching, they can help bring change in education by helping students figure out their “why’s” as well as their dreams for the future. 

Sibol: From humble beginnings 

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic swept the world by storm, Sibol was already an idea that the partners and coaches had as a tool to help and contribute in the education sector. The plan was initially catered to the students, more specifically teens from high school all the way to college, and to provide them with life skills, confidence, purpose building, and empathy building. This was to be done live in the classroom and have the workshop coaches come. 

Fast forward to today – in the midst of the pandemic – a lot of industries had to pivot to navigate its way through it and Sibol was no exception to this. With the challenge of going about things online, Jackie and the partner coaches also empathized with the challenges the teachers were facing. They realized this was an opportunity to help give the teachers the skills to contribute to a more positive and better experience to the students. Sibol was that solution aimed to empower teachers with its current partnership with some educational institutions and select schools. 

The program is focused on three specific modules for now, namely: empathy and emotional intelligence (EQ), creating a purpose, and self-care. These modules would run for 90 minutes, done online where there would be follow through coaching with the teachers in between the sessions where they can better apply their learnings to real life. 

One school’s purpose

Children’s Paradise Montessori School (CPMS) was one of the schools fortunate enough to have experienced Sibol firsthand. The owner of the school was excited about the idea of the program as she wanted to create a good environment for her school that was high on compassion and empathy. She wanted, not just the teachers, but also the staff to embody this culture that she had envisioned. 

It was more than just having the skills or the right tools, but the mindset and heartset that will touch the students with each interaction. It was not just about teaching and imparting knowledge, but also about caring and nurturing them and becoming a part of the student’s journey. 

For Jackie this is where the real value of Sibol lies: that they can help create a positive value in school that will affect the experience the students have with their teachers; and what the teachers learn will seep down to their students as a good example. Jackie recalls a story at Children’s Paradise where they were talking about their purpose as teachers. When the teachers were reading their purpose statements, they really went beyond themselves with passion about why they wanted to teach in the first place. It’s this same passion that they envision Sibol will bring to each teacher and student alike. 

A vision for tomorrow 

When asked about the kind of vision Jackie has for Sibol, she says that getting the same kind of partnership with CPMS was something she wished could be applied to as many schools in the Philippines. To go further and be partnered or endorsed by educational institutions will be a great deal of help in furthering the impact of Sibol. A “Ka-Haraya” in every school in the country including public schools and making coaching available at that level will be a great deal of help moving forward most especially as teachers have such an important touchpoint in every student’s life. 

Coaching at its heart is about inspiring people to reach their fullest potential and that is what Haraya aims to do with every session and every project. With Haraya, we believe you can. Learn more about what Haraya does in our website. 

At age 2-4, the only thing you do is complain about food or cry over toys, things you barely can remember. At age 5-10, your life is completely at bliss – no worries about getting greased or hurt. At age 12-16, a lot of your “firsts” happened. You made lots of friends, and memories, set your goals in 10 years and made a couple of unimaginable mistakes. You also once wished to skip four years of college and constantly dream about having your first day at work.

Forward to 10 years later, you just got hired on your second official job after getting your degree. Then you realize while having lunch alone that working your butt off for eight hours a day isn’t somehow worth it. Every night, while in bed, you stare at your blank ceiling and reminisce your naïve and innocent self. Then suddenly you just want old times back. 

No matter which lens you look at, life is hard. It’s a slowly developing chaos that will slap our faces one day. You can’t step through thick rain without having the best foundations to guide you through the day. That’s where good life coaching comes in. 

If you really want to succeed at whatever you are aiming for, a valuable life coach is instrumental to that. Here are other 10 core reasons why you need a life coach today: 

Trouble setting up your goals 

Having a life coach will help you find powerful reasons why you need to set goals and pursue them. Knowing what you really want in life or what you want to achieve is harder if you have no one to talk it through. A little conversation will offer you fresh perspectives and definitions of your goals and empower you to continue fighting for it rather than keeping it in your own little bubble forever. 

Get rid of unhelpful beliefs

Life is a bumpy ride. All kinds of rocks and stones are ready to take you down along your path. It may come as a surprise but these hindrances are not often caused by external things. More often, it’s our very selves that keep us away from our goals. A life coach will guide you on how to understand and work through these beliefs so you can move forward.

One day you will realize that you have already outgrown yourself. 

Don’t know where to begin?

Feeling lost or nowhere to go? We sometimes get stuck into the idea of success or wanting to achieve something but we feel so helpless and crowded that it continues to just be an idea. 

Big dreams are overwhelming. Life coaches will actively listen to your personal struggles and guide you through to your starting point. 

Anxiety and stress will be your long-standing guests

Stress is a constant part of life. Even the richest of the richest and prettiest of the prettiest go through it. It comes when you have failed at something or are struggling to get something done. It also happens when our minds are so crowded and unorganized that our brain cells are shouting “pull yourself together”.

Having someone to organize your thoughts with you and help you move forward on some disappointing or disheartening events will help you get past the drama of life. 

Unable to see a clear vision

At some point, things will definitely get blurry, especially when you feel like someone’s dictating your dreams or you are living according to how others want you to. Everyday is a battle of “I want this” and “they want that”. This is why things are getting messed up.

A life coach will help you cut through all the cacophony inside your head so you can focus and adhere to yours.  Dealing with this just by yourself can just smoke up your mind and make you do things you never liked in the first place. One day you will look back and thank God for having someone help you to surface your true self and lead you to where you want to be.

Finances, health, relationships, career is in complete disarray

If you consider yourself completely detached from all the good things in life, then you need help. When everything is so messed up, you may just end up fiddling your hair in disarray thinking how can you start again. Many people get unravel because they choose to keep their problems to themselves. 

It’s really difficult to walk through a room with no little light or without a flashlight in your pocket. It’s a struggle. You would end up falling to your feet and get hurt. But for as long as you have a flashlight to guide you, you can continue moving forward. A life coach can be your flashlight. 

Passion is gone

Losing your passion isn’t the same as losing life. It’s heartbreaking to be forced to let go of something we love doing but always know that there are things that you haven’t tried yet which you might love. Sometimes we have to lose something so better things can come. 

Life coach’s ultimate goal is to let you realize your full potential and let you grow to be someone you are destined to be. 

Distracted or sidetracked 

Oftentimes, we get stuck spinning our wheels because of things that aren’t necessarily helpful but we just can’t seem to quit. These bad habits can completely debilitate you from achieving anything.

Your life coach will help unearth those bad habits slowly and replace them with good ones – with habits that will give way to growth and success. 

Your friends and family don’t support your dreams

This is by far the hardest of all. It’s really hard to get on track with your dreams if the people who are supposed to cheer you up are the ones that throw stones at you. Unless they support you, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture. How will you move forward having no one to pat you on your back and tell you, you are doing great?

Your life coaches will fill in that responsibility. They can serve as your support system. 

When all is gone

Sometimes you wonder, why is the universe so against you? And you repel every positive thing that tries to enter your life because you are just too tired to go on. It’s the lowest and hardest phase of life so you need someone to pull you through darkness. When you are hopeless, you need someone to give you a leap of faith and hope. 

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Life is a tricky old friend. One day it’s about sunshine and rainbows and the next, it’s all darkness. Life is a constant cycle of ups and downs and sometimes you just need someone to help get you ready for what’s up ahead. At Haraya, we see everyone’s individuality and potential and help them become the best version of themselves. Curious to see what your best self is like? Shoot us a message and let’s talk it out!