Language Roles in Mental Health Crisis Support: Lifeworld of Counselors in Focus

Maico Demi  B. Aperocho,; Erika  Codilla,; Kyrie  Monday,; Luther  Torrente,

Language Roles in Mental Health Crisis Support: Lifeworld of Counselors in Focus

Erika Codilla | Kyrie Monday | Luther Torrente | Maico Demi B. Aperocho

Abstract:

Facing mental health crises, guidance counselors and facilitators play crucial roles in supporting and empowering students. They are the ones who listen, understand, and guide students, promoting their overall well-being. For them to effectively perform, good language use is important. By using Alfred Shutz's concept of lifeworld, this paper explored how guidance counselors and facilitators use language in different contexts, specifically personal, professional, social, and mental health crisis support. This qualitative study is approached phenomenologically, focusing on language's role in the everyday lives of counselors from a selected higher education institution (HEI) in Davao City. Seven participating guidance counselors and facilitators were interviewed using photovoice and interview. As a result, similarities in how they make use of different languages in different contexts were revealed. The language used in their lifeworld was categorized and discussed in seven themes, which are the language used for expression, the language used to build understanding, the language used to build relationships, acknowledging the fluidity of language functions in society, realizing that language use can pose invalidation and other risks, choosing context-specific language use and communication means, and maximizing language to inform and motivate, while four in supporting mental health crisis namely instructional/directional, corroborative, motivational, and expansive. In conclusion, the language use of guidance counselors and facilitators varies depending on context. They must consider how risky communicating is and know that it is one of the most effective methods in supporting mental health crises. With how the study turned out and considering the risks and possibilities concerning mental health, it is recommended that everyone be mindful of the words being spoken and the actions being done.

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