Sagip Babae Foundation Vows To Make Safe Spaces and Support For Women Online

Many types of abuse of women, like domestic violence, sexual abuse & emotional harrasment and more continues to rise with victims don't know where to go for help and report their situation. A new organization called Sagip Babae Foundation steps forward focus on this violations and help women with support and safe spaces helping them recover and provide support with their unfortunate experiences.

Founded by Francesca Fugen and Melissa Rina Profeta, the foundation is also formed with their own personal experiences and sees that ther is need to offer assistance to women, 18 years old and above nationwide. Any incident of abuse can have severe short- or long-term effects on victims’ mental health and overall well being.

Many victims feel they they are alone with their struggles and trauma, some even don't have support from family or friends, find themselves helpless that leads to depression, demotivation, and suicidal tendencies, thus pulling them deeper to a rabbit hole of despair and helplessness. 

The overall socioeconomic effects of the pandemic have created situations that render women more vulnerable to abuse. A recent study by the Commission of Population and Development (POPCOM) found that 25 percent of surveyed Filipino adults consider violence against women one of the more citical issues during the current health crisis.

Sagip Babae Foundation’s Facebook community will hold webinars and bi-monthly group sessions, and offer self-care strategies, wellbeing education, as well as more information on meditation and holistic healing. It will seek the best possible path of recovery and healing for beneficiaries by carefully matching them to the appropriate partner experts and practitioners. The foundation will shoulder all expenses for therapy and medication within their first month of participation, as well as half of the costs in the second and third months. 

The foundation will have a dedicated counselor for the initial session with beneficiaries. Core team members, along with volunteers for the foundation, have undergone mental health first responder and psychological support training to ensure that each beneficiary receives competent treatment during their time with the foundation.

Sagip Babae commits to providing mental healthcare through its partnership with experts in the field such as Mr. AJ Sunglao, a licensed psychologist and mental health advocate, and Ms. Charlene R. Lucas, a registered psychologist and international clinical traumatologist. For a more extensive approach, Sagip Babae has also consulted with Third Eye Wellness, a provider of holistic healing services, and Ms. Jenny Umali, a life coach and Reiki practitioner. 

There are also individuals and groups that support Sagip Babae’s cause, they are a slew of mental health professionals, officials from relevant government agencies and organizations, and influencers will attend the launch. These include Ms. Carmen Reyes Zubiaga, an advocate for gender equality and chairperson at Angat Persons with Disabilities United 2030; Ms. Angel Dei, a social media content creator and women’s advocate; Ms. Cassie Uyoco, an influencer who advocates for destigmatizing mental health; Ms. Joyce Pring, a TV presenter and podcaster; and Cheris Faustino, a social media content creator and mental health advocate. There was also a recorded video message from Senator Bong Go that was also be shown at the event.

Sagip Babae was officially launched on July 29 at Bondi&Bourke in Makati. The event also marks the start of Sagip Babae Foundation’s online Facebook community for women survivors of abuse, giving them access to various activities and resources that may prove beneficial in their journey towards healing and recovery.

Though they may start with limited resources, they make use to power of the internet and a network of professionals that will ensure that they can provide the best support and treatment for the women that will take care of. They also look forward to have a facility that can help them serve more women and also provide a actual safe space that they can go to.

As abuse in women are still happening and still more freequent than men, Sagip Babae Foundation is indeed what we need to reach out and help victims, provide safe spaces, and eventually help society to stop the abuse, violence, and emotional damage done to victims. 

For more information, visit their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/sagipbabaefoundation and website https://sagipbabaefoundation.com/