Higher Ed Wellness and Testing Center Culminates KAHAYAG ‘26 with Light and Inclusion
Ateneo de Davao University capped its fifth Mental Health Festival, “KAHAYAG 2026: Embracing Light, Empowering Lives, Igniting Hope,” with a full-day culmination at Arrupe Hall on 28 October 2026. Spearheaded by the College Wellness and Testing Center (CWTC) through its Life Always Matters Program (LAMP), the festival ran from September to October.
A sustained response to mental health needs
Now in its fifth year, the Mental Health Festival has grown from a single-day awareness activity into a University-wide observance. This year’s celebration ran from September to October, coinciding with World Suicide Prevention Month and Mental Health Awareness Month, to offer the community sustained support rather than a one-time response.
The theme draws on “kahayag,” a Bisaya word for light, which the festival uses as an image of hope, warmth, and clarity.
Learning sessions, advocacy, and community activities
The program reached different sectors of the University, from security personnel and employees to students and the wider public, through learning sessions, advocacy, and wellness activities.
On 26 September, security and auxiliary personnel joined “Alert and Grounded: Sustaining Mind and Body,” a self-care learning session with Mr. Glenn F. Evangelista, RGC, LPT, organized together with the Facilities Management Office, which aimed to equip participants with practical self-care and coping skills.
Two days later, on 28 September, 204 participants gathered at Arrupe Hall and the Bapa Benny Tudtud Auditorium for the Suicide Prevention Month culmination and KAHAYAG launch. The program included a learning session, “Every Learner Matters: Building Competence in Understanding Neurodiversity,” led by Dr. Monique Francesca N. Cagape, DSBPP, which aimed to deepen the community’s understanding of neurodiversity in learning environments.
The festival then moved outward and inward, reaching the wider public through advocacy before turning to the well-being of the University’s own employees.
On 4 October, the CWTC joined SPMC-IPBM, the Physical Education (PE) Department, and the Office of Student Affairs in an advocacy run open to students, employees, and the public, in support of mental health and suicide prevention awareness.
On 16 October, faculty and employees attended “Keeping the Light: Pause, Care and Connect,” a psychological first aid session with the University Center of Psychological Extension and Research Services (COPERS) Director Dr. Marie Joyce V. Tupas, RN, RPsy, alongside the “Rekindling the Light” wellness caravan. Both were organized with the COPERS and the Human Resource Management and Development Office, and aimed to prepare employees to support themselves and their colleagues.
Pickleball games in October gave CWTC staff and partner mental health support offices a lighter way to build connections.
Culmination and commitment to inclusion
The culmination drew 221 participants, including learners from the Davao School for the Blind (DSB). It was organized with Samahan, the Psychological Association of the Philippines chapter, SAMASIKOFIL, the Graduate School, the ADDU Fitness and Wellness Center, and the University Libraries.
The festival’s reach across the community reflects the University’s Jesuit mission of forming men and women for others, and its core values of cura personalis (care for the whole person) and magis (the pursuit of the greater good). It also supports the University’s Fortiores 2030 Strategic Framework and several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, most directly SDG 3 on Good Health and Well-Being.
This year’s KAHAYAG stands as an invitation for every member of the ADDU community and beyond, from students, employees, and security personnel to partner learners, to become bearers of light for one another, including those often overlooked in mental health conversations.
