Coffeesations with Your Counselors

This final episode of the year—and the season ender for Coffeesations with Your Counselors—invites you to slow down and find rest amid finals fatigue, holiday pressure, and the post-finals slump. We’re joined by two members of the OGC family, Sir Jett and Ms. Judie, as we talk about stress, the holiday blues, and simple ways to recharge and protect your peace this December.

In a world where everything can go viral, how do you protect your peace? In this episode, we talk about social media as a space for expression, accountability, and outrage — and how to stay mentally grounded while navigating call-out culture and online debates.

This episode encourages a positive mindset toward failure, focusing on how college students can learn from setbacks, grow stronger, and build resilience, rather than being discouraged by challenges.

This episode focuses on the intersection of mental health and LGBTQIA+ experiences, addressing challenges that often go unspoken, such as discrimination, internalized stigma, and the impact of societal rejection. It encourages deeper conversations around the mental health struggles within the LGBTQIA+ community, aligning with both Mental Health Pride Month and IDAHOBIT.

With exams and deadlines looming, stress levels can rise. Together with our special guests, Max and Zach--both undergraduate Psychology students, this episode discusses ways to manage stress effectively, from creating a time management plan to practicing mindfulness techniques. It emphasizes the importance of mental wellness in academic performance and offers advice for staying calm and focused during exam periods.

College students often feel overwhelmed by academic pressures, social expectations, and personal challenges. This episode could explore how to recognize signs of burnout, practical tips for managing stress, and strategies to find balance between academics, personal life, and self-care.

Dating today is a whole new ball game—ghosting, situationships, the “talking stage” that never ends... it’s a lot. In this episode, we’re diving deep into the modern dating landscape, breaking down the trends, traps, and unspoken rules that define relationships (or the lack thereof).Why do people breadcrumb? Is hard launching a thing now? And what’s the deal with commitment issues in the digital age? Whether you're navigating the chaos or just observing from the sidelines, let’s decode modern love—no filters, no cap.

Effective communication is more than just choosing the right words—it’s about making sure your message is heard and understood. In this episode, we explore the key elements of clear and impactful communication, from identifying your communication style to navigating difficult conversations with confidence.We’ll discuss practical strategies for active listening, setting boundaries, and improving digital communication in an era where texts and social media can make or break connections. Whether you're struggling with group work, personal relationships, or professional interactions, this episode will help you communicate more effectively and with purpose.

Coffeesations with Your Counselors is back! For our first episode in Season 2, one of our OGC counselors, Dr. Aaron Lumbao, talks about Play Therapy and some remarkable insights on how this approach can support your mental health as students. This episode is a must-listen for future psychologists, counselors, or self-development enthusiasts!

We always hear the importance of being kind to ourselves, yet it seems to be a really challenging thing to do. A famous group shares with us the message of embracing the way we lived in the past, even if it was harsh or bad. We are happy to share in this episode an appreciation for BTS while looking at the Psychology of their songs and how it connects with us on a personal level. 

As we start with the year, we continue our Relationship Series Episodes. We get to have an awesome discussion with one of our colleagues and friends, Brian Barretto as we discuss relationships. He shares with us his insights and experiences particularly on the difficulties and the myths in a LGBTQIA+ relationship. He also talks about the importance of a safe space for relationships to grow and develop. 

It hurts because we love. Three stories of heartbreak, healing, and growth. In this episode, we feature stories from our students of healing from a heartbreak. We also explore questions we ask ourselves in times of suffering and heartbreak: Why do we ask ourselves, "What did i do wrong?" "How can i move forward despite the heartbreak?" 

As we are close to the end of the year, we are excited to share with everyone a new series of episodes that we have planned and are preparing for you, our students, and listeners. We are starting the Relationship Series with a discussion about what can help and challenges to face in a new relationship. We are joined today by one of our colleagues in the Ateneo, Janine Sy. She openly discusses her own experiences and insight on how a new relationship can be according to her own relationship with her partner. She also talks about how it’s like to start a new relationship in this pandemic which can really be challenging. 

With the incoming new school year, we continue to face the challenges brought upon by the pandemic. We've learned a lot from our previous experience in the past year and we continue to adapt as we all go through this experience together. We are joined today by one of our students, Mavi Avendaño who has experienced the online college setup last year. We'll talk about the online school year that was, what we lost, what we gained, and what can be helpful in navigating the Ateneo college journey.

As we continue to experience the effects of the pandemic, we continue to miss out on a lot of things, people we spend time with, places we usually frequent, and experiences that we tend to miss out on. In this episode, we get to talk about that, specifically the concept of "Fear of Missing Out". As we discuss different literature, frameworks, and strategies to manage this, we get to have a closer and personal look at FOMO for our students and ourselves as well. Join us as we uncover  the Psychology of FOMO, learn ways on how to manage it, and discover other related phenomenon such as FOGO and FOJO. 

With the challenges of not being able to move a lot, we'll discuss in this episode the challenges and importance of body movement as well as tips on how we can keep our body engaged even during the pandemic! Our guest in this episode is one of our colleagues and an expert in movement, Ms. Ivy Martinez. She gets to share with us the practical ways of moving and how it can also help our minds based from her knowledge of the matter and her own experiences.  

This episode is all about ...do-re-mi-usic! We get to talk about the therapeutic and healing outcomes of listening to music as well as creating it! We are joined by our friend and colleague in this episode, Ms. Faith Moral to share with us her research as well as how music can be good for our well-being! 

This episode is a puuuur-fectly cute one. We get to talk about our hooman companions and special loved ones... our pets! We are joined by two guests in this episode, Doc Mimi Asuncion and Tanya Granados. In the first part, we are joined by Doc Mimi where we get to talk about Animal Assisted Interventions and how they work. Doc Mimi also talked about the impact of the human-animal bond on our mental health, and how her bond with her pet Keeper exemplifies this kind of gift to well-being. In the second episode, we are joined by one of our own students, Tanya where she gets to share with us about her very cute dog, Nimits! We get to have that adorable "tail" on how he warms up the hearts of not only Tanya but the whole household.  

This episode talks about social media and how it influences, affects, and plays a role on the mental health of the youth. With the frequent use of social media and how it's role has become bigger during the pandemic, we get to explore the mindful use of social media as a practice of slowing down, respecting boundaries, and opportunity for self-awareness. Listen to some concrete steps to practice safety and boundaries in using social media while keeping healthy connections in this time of pandemic. We are joined by Claudia Barretto, an undergraduate student in her 3rd year majoring in AB Psychology  to discuss with us this topic.

This episode talks about resilience, motivation, acceptance of our grief towards our big and even small losses this year, and our shared journey toward inner strengths, especially of the youth, teachers, and parents in this volatile and uncertain time. This episode also explores the different notions of resilience from personal, environmental, and even cultural standpoints (i.e., Filipino Resilience), and presents approaches to cultivate resilience. We are joined by Dr. Gina Hechanova, a professor in the Ateneo de Manila Psychology Department, Executive Director for Center for Organization Research and Development, and Chief of Party with USAID to discuss with us this topic.

In this episode, we get to talk about Resiliency and what it means for Filipinos to be resilient. We also get to discuss some of the most recent events brought by the storms that have hit us from the point of view of one of our students. We are joined by Lynyrd Peras, a 3rd year ME student who's also a Deputy for Finance officer for Ateneo Gabay and a scholar himself to discuss with us this topic.

In this episode, we get to talk about Mental Health and Suicide Awareness. As we face different storms in our lives, let's find out how we can manage them  by being more aware on how to take care of our mental health. We are joined by the Director of LSOGC, Mr. Gary Faustino to discuss with us this topic.

In this episode, we get to talk about the importance of Self-care and specific ways on how we can apply them. We are joined by one of the Guidance Counselors in LSOGC, Mr. Lito Nillo to share more light on this topic.

In this episode, we get to talk with Ateneo de Manila's Batch 2020 Class Valedictorian, Yumi Briones. We'll talk about the challenges of transitioning in online learning and tips that may help manage them.