Ateneo de Naga University Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Psychology students successfully spearheaded “Healing Through Creation: An Expressive Arts Therapy Seminar-Workshop for College Students” on March 24, 2026 from 1:00-5:00 in the afternoon, at the COE Demonstration Room of Bicol State College of Applied Sciences and Technology (BISCAST). This activity, which was originally a class project in EPSY308 — Adjunctive Therapies under the helm of Dr. Ronaldo SP. Elicay, was brought to life as a full-scale psychoeducational workshop in partnership with the Center for Guidance and Mental Health Services (CGMHS) of BISCAST. The workshop was facilitated by Ron Sedrick E. Reyes, Ryan M. Rempillo, and Mary Isabelle M. Alba, and served eleven college students from various programs including those under probationary and readmission status as well as active clients of the guidance office, giving them a structured and affirming space to work through academic pressure, financial stress, and family-related concerns using guided creative activities.

The workshop was centered in Expressive Arts Therapy and conducted through six sequential activities which guided participants from emotional expression through narrative reframing and toward recognition of their personal strengths and relationships. Students produced three tangible outputs they took home: a personal emotion landscape drawing, a third-person story with a rewritten ending, and a compassionate letter written from the perspective of someone who has remained by their side. The session was received with strong engagement, with several participants remaining immersed in the letter-writing activity well beyond the allotted time. Dr. Elicay’s Adjunctive Therapies course became a meaningful intervention that demonstrated how graduate-level coursework at Ateneo de Naga University can directly serve the mental health needs of the broader community, rigorous in method, and deeply human in purpose.

Prepared by:

Mr. Ron Sedrick E. Reyes
PhD EP Student