Bibliotherapy Guide and Module: Storytelling for Growth and Healing - Sampler: Beybi Bibe

Bibliotherapy Mini-Workshop (3 of 3)

As of writing, Taal volcano's alert level has been lowered by PHIVOLCS. From Alert Level 4, Taal volcano's seismic readings and activities have gone down to Alert Level 3. Many families were allowed to go back to their homes but children and the elderly stayed behind in evacuation centers or went home to families and relatives in Batangas. 

There are evacuation centers that have closed down and there are a few that are still operational. Our outreach and community service will continue. We are monitoring the volcano on a regular basis since its activities are dependent on our courses of action. Good weather permitting, the Librarians Association of Quezon Province (LAQUEP) had an initial visit in an evacuation center in Dolores Quezon last Sunday, February 2, 2020.

Audrey Anday, one of the lead facilitators, shared this in our Facebook Group:

PLAI-STRLC in cooperation with the LAQueP-LInc had a relief operation for Taal Volcano Eruption Victims in two ways: a) sharing of packed goods for the 120 families and b) storyelling, art and play workshop for kids. #BangonCaLaBaRZon
Thank you for your generosity fellow librarians!

This initial visit by LAQUEP fulfills one of the three plans of action discussed during the mini-workshop.

Specifically, the action plans for interested volunteers are as follows:

1. You can volunteer to join groups who will visit Dolores, Quezon and Cabuyao, Laguna. To follow are information of contact persons.

UPDATE - The evacuation center in Cabuyao, Laguna has closed. The one in Brgy. Bucal, Calamba, Laguna is still operational.

2. You can pledge donations and sponsorship. Information on what to donate and who to sponsor will be posted in the FB Group.

3. Contribute titles of books and resources for art, play, music and movement and Bibliotherapy sessions. We have created a submission form for this purpose and the link will be posted by 6pm tonight. From this list, we will create an open database of resources accessible for everyone. Your contribution to this database will be beneficial in the Bibliotherapy guide and module I am putting together.

Here is the link to the Bibliotherapy, Art and Play Center 

Keep these in mind when recommending sources and resources:

1. Our readers and learners are children in the K-3 grade levels. Consider their development stages in reading and information processing.

2. Our target readers and learners are children from Batangas who are affected by the eruption of Taal volcano. Context matters!

3. Universal themes such as hope, perseverance, kindness and the like are just as important as the readers’ context and developmental stages. Your recommended books and resources can go beyond topics and concepts on natural disasters, displacement, loss, and evacuation.

For interested volunteers and to people who wish to help, feel free to comment on this post, send an email or get in touch with us via Facebook. Check our group, Bangon CALABARZON.

Bibliotherapy Service in the School Library

One delightful discovery I had in my recent PAASCU visit to San Beda College's Integrated Basic Education Library was the Bibliotherapy Services that the school librarians conduct for their high school students. The service is part of the formation program of the Office of the Student Services that include the Guidance department and the Formation and Spirituality team. The Bibliotherapy Service was started out by Mr. Richard Sarmiento who attended my workshop on BiblioCare in Sagada in 2014. The workshop was part of the summer conference which the MUNPARLAS Librarians Association organised for its member libraries and other interested librarians from all over the Philippines.

Though Mr. Sarmiento has left San Beda, the school librarians in the high school level continue on with the service, coordinating with the formation and guidance departments. While the basic foundations of the Bibliotherapy process is kept in practice by the librarians, there are new additions to the procedure that make it a "Bedan" program. This only goes to show that innovation and creativity are actualised through collaborative work and community effort.

Having witnessed the Bibliotherapy Service as a viable strategy to help young adult learners reflect on their actions and realise their potentials for growth, I surge to revisit my existing works and writings on Bibliotherapy surfaced. Here are links of my Bibliotherapy materials and resources I have developed over the years.

Interviews on Bibliotherapy

Interview by Librarian Kevin  - Bibliotherapy 101 for school librarians

Special Education and Bibliotherapy Part 1 (2016)
Special Education and Bibliotherapy Part 2 (2016)
Special Education and Bibliotherapy Part 3 (2016)

Bibliotherapy on LibRadio and a Philippine Based Research on Bibliotherapy (2014)

For the record, it was the Philippine Association of Academic and Research Librarians (PAARL) who first dared and put their stake to have me as speaker and workshop facilitator on Bibliotherapy. This was back in 2010. The presentation slides I used can be accessed via my SlideShare Page. A year after, PAARL invited me again to broaden the coverage of Bibliotherapy as a readers' services program. The half-day workshop became a modular training on library prescription shop and bibliotherapy services for a whole day's session.

From then on until today, I had been conducting workshops on Bibliotherapy.

I facilitated a two workshops on  Bibliotherapy at the Gurong Kaakbay Conference (2011 and 2012), the PASLI Summer Conference in Baguio City (2011), the IASL Annual Conference in Bali, Indonesia (2013), BiblioCare Workshop in Sagada (2014), and the Quezon City Public Library Bibliotherapy Workshop (2016)

Materials and resources on Bibliotherapy in the school setting

PowerPoint Slides on Bibliotherapy (Stories and Storytelling for Growth and Healing)
Worksheets on Bibliotherapy (Handouts and worksheets)
Adamson University Library's Start Up Bibliotherapy Collection (Collection Development)
The Reading Passport as Bibliotherapy Tool (Reading into Writing)
Bibliotherapy for Out of School Youths (Young Adult Library Services)

There are plenty more write ups in the blog's archive. I have only selected the more important ones. If anything, the experience at San Beda College in Alabang has inspired me to reactivate this service beyond collection development in my library. Who knows, a new academic paper or even a program may come out from this rumination and reflection.