A meeting cum webinar on “Online Counseling: Guideposts and Techniques” was held on October 25, 2021 to enhance the knowledge and skills of NCR Breastfeeding Friends (BFF) in giving quality online nutrition counseling to mothers and caregivers on infant and young child feeding (IYCF). The BFFs are trained IYCF counselors who are all members of the Association of City/District Nutrition Program Coordinators (C/DNPC) of Metro Manila. They are licensed Nutritionist-Dietitians employed in the seventeen (17) local government units in Metro Manila.
Attended by 35 NCR BFFs, the meeting cum webinar was part of the National Nutrition Council-NCR’s commitment to continually assist the C/DNPC of Metro Manila Association in their Online IYCF Counselling Project. The project was put up by the Association with the assistance of NNC-NCR in April 2020 when face-to-face counseling was difficult to do due to community quarantine restrictions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The project aims to help prevent stunting among children 0-23 months by providing mothers and caregivers correct information on proper IYCF practices through online counseling given free by the BFFs.
During the webinar, Dr. Joanne Datangel-Gallardo, Pediatrician and Lactation Clinician at Centre Medicale Internationale discussed the guidepost and techniques on how to do online counseling effectively to encourage behavior change. The participants’ queries on the topics discussed were answered during the interactive session.
The webinar was immediately followed by a meeting presided by Association President Joann O. Espiritu. Discussed at the meeting were the Online IYCF Counseling Guidelines and status of IYCF Counseling as of October 22, 2021. To date, a total of 336 pregnant and lactating mothers and caregivers were counseled on various breastfeeding queries and concerns on complementary feeding. The BFFs also shared the challenges their encountered during online counseling and gave recommendations on how to further improve the project.
In her closing message, Association President Espiritu thanked the NNC-NCR for facilitating the conduct of the webinar as an opportunity to improve the counseling skills of the BFFs. She hopes that her co-BFFs will use the new learnings to make their online counseling sessions more effective.
“Sama-sama, tulong tulong mga ka-BFF. Marami pa tayong matutulungang mga Nanay online,” President Espiritu said.
The NCR BFFs and NNC-NCR will continue to conduct regular meetings to discuss status of the project as well as case management discussions wherein members can learn from each other’s experiences, learnings and challenges encountered during online counseling. NNC-NCR will also continue to assist the Association in the conduct of capacity building activities for the continuous improvement of the skills set of NCR BFFs.
Written by:
Nutrition Officer II Theresa A. Rivas and
Nutrition Program Coordinator Milagros Elisa V. Federizo
Source: Online IYCF Counseling Project Terms of Reference, C/DNPC Assn of Metro Manila, 2021
