Mental Health Program
“My experience working with Multicolores’ artists has been fulfilling, a true lesson on connection, constant learning, and motivation. I am honored to facilitate a therapeutic space with positive emotional energy for the artists, where everyone can overcome different life situations that demand adaptation, flexibility, and creativity. We are co-creating a space to be free and happy and to reconstruct our lives, together.”
-Nancy Cochoy Chex, Clinical Psychologist.
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 therapy sessions, with psychologist Nancy.
Program History: Psychological well-being as a part of leadership development
Recognizing that to be a good leader you have to be self-aware alongside having good inter-personal skills and emotional intelligence, Multicolores launched the first mental health initiative during the Leadership Program (2017-2020), a holistic three-year leadership development initiative.
Eight group leaders participated in monthly in-person therapy sessions with Nancy.
Supporting Mental Health During the Pandemic
Acutely aware of the mental health effects of COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis, Multicolores offered Nancy's services to all the artists, should they need it, during the months of June, July, August and September 2020. Through her 130 hours of therapy sessions (by telephone) to 35 Multicolores’ artists, Nancy identified that the artists had been affected by: confinement, loss of jobs, food scarcity, lack of transportation, over-information, collective panic due to infections and deaths of relatives or acquaintances, grief, and feelings of vulnerability.
In response Nancy provided the artists with the tools to understand, assimilate, accept and overcome the feelings of stress and anxiety caused by COVID-19 through therapy and information. She supplemented her tele-therapies with two guides for the artists and their families: ‘Psychological Tips for Long Periods at Home’ and ‘The Art of Being, and Staying Composed during Setbacks’, which focuses on self-care, staying grounded and tips on how to explain complex situations to children and young adults.
After this initial intervention, they felt calmer, but there was still work to be done.
Emotion-Art, Enjoy Life Program
Perceiving a willingness to continue working on their pshychological well-being, in February 2022, Nancy 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 and 288 hours of therapy, the 48 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" for 2023. Building on the progress of the pilot program, Phase II provided 52 artists with 468 hours of therapy and nine community mental health workshops, equipping them with the skills, techniques, and methods to develop quality of life, emotional management, and emotional healing.
The Art of Being Program
In 2024, Multicolores implemented "The Art of Being Program", which encouraged the artists to perceive themselves as an art piece. Many of the artists previously believed that being a Maya woman meant to be quiet, and submissive, never saying no, and always sacrificing.
Through nine community mental health workshops and 141 therapy sessions totaling 487 hours, the artists recognized their own 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 the artists, 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.
The Art of Being Program, Phase II
In 2025, Multicolores will launch Phase II of the Mental Health Program, "The Art of Being", with the objective of promoting and strengthening the mental well-being of the artists. This program will empower them to continue serving as agents of change by taking on leadership roles within their groups, communities, and social circles.
Multicolores will offer six community workshops to promote the program and encourage artists to participate in therapy sessions. The artists will receive two in-person therapy sessions and six remote sessions with Nancy.
Artists Testimonials
Nancy's work to build self-esteem, change entrenched behaviors, assert authority, and nurture self-belief goes hand in hand with Multicolores' capacity building programs. A frequent comment from all of the artists is that working with Nancy and Multicolores has helped them lose their fear of expressing their ideas and opinions in public and empowered them with an informed and knowledgeable voice. The artists have said:
These advances have led to improved family environments, and better group cohesion, interaction and performance. The artists have become more active in their communities and more effective in their leadership roles.
Twenty-four women now hold positions of responsibility within their communities on School Boards, Drinking Water Committees, Committee for the Improvement of Roads, Church Councils, Community Development Councils and Women’s Committees.