Mental Health Program
"I feel happy because I know that my time to express myself has come, which I cannot do elsewhere. I can help myself through this program, through the love I receive while I am being listened, guided and helped. The trust is strong now".
-Patanatic rug-hooking artist
For Maya women, talking about herself, recognizing their personal history, and understanding that they are human beings just as valuable, important, and capable as a men is truly a challenge.
The Mental Health Program provides a safe space for the artists to heal, grow and become empowered individuals, promoting mental health as a source of well-being and human development. It provides the artists with skills, techniques, and methods to improve quality of life, emotional management, and emotional healing through monthly individual psychological counseling, with psychologist Nancy Cochoy.
The Art of Being Program
In 2024, Multicolores is implementing "The Art of Being Program", which encourages our artists to perceive themselves as an art piece.
Many of them previously believed that being a Maya woman meant to be quiet, and submissive, never saying no, and always sacrificing. Today, they recognize their importance, their right to self-care, and their self-control. They acknowledge their emotions and validate their experiences.
This is a significant step forward for them, as it positively impacts the different roles they have as women -in their relationships with their children, in their actions, and in their ways of thinking.
Emotion-Art, Enjoy Life Program
In February 2022, clinical psychologist Nancy Cochoy Chex launched the six-month pilot program "Emotion – Art – Enjoy Life" with the objective of promoting mental health as a source of well-being and personal development for Multicolores’ artists. The Program was highly impactful; after six months, the forty-eight participating artists reported greater emotional stability and improved concentration and focus in their work.
Recognizing that Guatemalan women are constantly exposed to personal challenges that undermine their personal, social and work development, Nancy proposed a year-long follow up: "Emotion – Art – Enjoy Life Phase II". Building on the progress of the pilot program, Phase II would continue providing artists with the skills, techniques, and methods to develop quality of life, emotional management, and emotional healing.
Mental Health Program
During the heightened stress and anxiety of the pandemic, Multicolores offered counseling with Nancy to all artists via telephone. In total, the artists received 130 hours of counseling in 2020. Nancy also prepared a mental health and well-being manual for the artists, specifically addressing the mental health challenges of COVID.
Due to the coronavirus, our first contact was by phone because most communities did not have access to a network or the internet.
Many of the artists were diagnosed with grief, depression, generalized anxiety, panic attacks, and somatization. After this initial intervention, they felt calmer, but there was still work to be done.