In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Faculty of Psychology UGM has continuously played a role in helping broader community through various activities that have been and will be held, such as training, seminars, psychological consultations and research related to COVID-19, which all carried out online.
One of the activity that recently held by the Faculty of Psychology UGM in collaboration with PP KAGAMA and fully supported by the Clinical Psychology Association (GPA) is “Online Training for COVID Companion: COVID Peer Support.”
This collaboration based on the opportunity from the parties that involved, in order to improve mental health of the community during the COVID-19 pandemic through a wider network. KAGAMA’s wide network that spread all across regions of Indonesia considered to become a factor which could provide assistance to the community. Therefore, it is important to prepare skills that relevant in order to assist effectively to right target during the COVID-19 pandemic, like providing this training for KAGAMA members.
34 representatives from KAGAMA Regional Administrators, need around 90 people to take the training in order to have basic psychological skills and understanding as a companion for people affected by Covid-19, both directly (academically, psychologically), as well as indirectly (socio-economic).
This training held online through WebEx. The session divided into 3 stage which are held for 3 days, on April 30, May 2, and May 9, 2020 with 120-180 minutes duration for each session. As a follow up, independent training will also be carried out accompanied by IPK Teams from each province.
Prof. Kwartarini Wahyu Yuniarti, M.Med.Sc., Ph.D, Edilburga Wulan Saptandari, M.Psi., Ph.D, Psychologist and Dr.Diana Setiyawati, M.HSc.Psy..Psichologist, lecturers from Faculty of Psycology YGM have the opportunity to fill these training sessions. The material presented by the speakers focused on PFA (Psychological First Aid), which is a first aid technique for individual psychological conditions in order to reduce the occurrence of stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Edilburga Wulan Saptandari, M.Psi., Ph.D, Psychologist, one of the speaker, hopes after this training KAGAMA will be able to be actively involved and provide proper assistance, referring to the objectives and materials provided in this training.