The Psychosocial Support Activity Pack: A Teacher’s Guide (All Levels) is a DepEd resource that helps teachers run psychosocial support (PSS) activities for learners during in-person classes. It was developed by the Department of Education, through its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS), together with MAGIS Creative Spaces, Inc. The pack offers play and arts-based activities that support learners’ recovery after disasters and emergencies and build their social and emotional skills.
On this page 6 sections
Where to get the pack and related materials
The activity pack, its Evaluation Guide and Tool, and video recordings are shared through DepEd’s Google Drive folders:
- Psychosocial Support Activity Pack, Evaluation Guide and Tool, and video recordings
- Download the Psychosocial Support Activity Pack
Why learners need psychosocial support
Disasters and emergencies hit the education sector hard. Common effects include:
- damage to school buildings, equipment, and materials
- schools being used as evacuation centers
- suspension of classes and school closures due to lockdowns
- overall disruption of teaching and learning
These losses and sudden changes in daily life affect the mental health and well-being of learners and school personnel. People may feel distress, have trouble functioning, or grieve. Long breaks from learning, isolation, and lost social life in school can leave learners overwhelmed and anxious, struggling with learning, or upset by changes in routine. Some learners may have experienced violence or neglect, causing trauma. Children from low-income families are more vulnerable to the economic losses that disasters bring.
Because of this, teachers and school personnel are asked to meet learners where they are: keep learning going while putting learners’ recovery and well-being first.
What psychosocial support means
Psychosocial support refers to specific processes and actions that promote the holistic well-being and resilience of individuals. Holistic well-being includes learners’ access to learning opportunities and their capacity to achieve in learning.
Schools and temporary learning spaces (TLS) are among the best places to carry out PSS, especially through play and arts-based activities. These activities bring learners, teachers, and parents or guardians together to create a supportive environment that helps learners:
- recover from the effects of disasters and emergencies
- improve their psychosocial well-being
- continue learning successfully
How PSS builds social and emotional learning
PSS activities also develop competencies in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL). These core competencies include:
- recognizing and managing emotions
- setting and achieving goals
- appreciating the perspectives of others
- building and keeping positive relationships
- making responsible decisions
- handling interpersonal situations constructively
In this pack, these SEL-related core competencies are called the 7 S’ of Psychosocial Support.
The illustration below shows how these processes and components work together toward learners’ recovery and learning:
The pack’s two aims, recovery and SEL development, lead to one overall goal: fostering learning and resilience. When school communities hold PSS activities, they support learners’ readiness to learn and their capacity to overcome, be strengthened by, and be transformed by future difficulties.
How to use this pack
- Teachers: Use the play and arts-based activities in the pack with your learners during in-person classes, especially after a disaster or emergency. Use the Evaluation Guide and Tool and the video recordings in the shared folder to guide your sessions.
- School heads and personnel: Use the pack to plan PSS activities that put learners’ well-being alongside learning continuity.
- Parents and guardians: PSS activities are meant to involve you too, so take part when the school invites families to join in building a supportive environment.
Frequently asked questions
Who developed the Psychosocial Support Activity Pack?
DepEd developed it through its Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Service (DRRMS), together with MAGIS Creative Spaces, Inc.
What kind of activities are in the pack?
The pack contains play and arts-based psychosocial support activities designed to help learners recover from disasters and emergencies and build social and emotional learning competencies.
Is the pack for in-person or distance learning?
It is meant to guide teachers in conducting psychosocial support activities for learners in the in-person learning modality.
What are the 7 S’ of Psychosocial Support?
This is the pack’s name for the SEL-related core competencies it aims to strengthen, such as managing emotions, setting goals, appreciating others’ perspectives, building positive relationships, and making responsible decisions.
Is there an evaluation tool that comes with the pack?
Yes. The shared Google Drive folder includes the activity pack, an Evaluation Guide and Tool, and video recordings.
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