press release Chevron Awarded Plaque of Honor at “Academic Seminar on Well-Being: Positive Psychology in the Community through Community Mechanisms”

Recently, at the academic seminar on “Well-Being: Positive Psychology in the Community through Community Mechanisms” organized by the Path2Health Foundation and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation (ThaiHealth), Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, Ltd., represented by Pornsuree Konanta, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, received a plaque of honor from Dr. Pongthep Wongwatcharapaiboon, M.D., Director of ThaiHealth Promotion Foundation in recognition of its support as an advocate of positive psychology. The seminar is part of the “Promoting Psychological Wellness in Children, Adolescents, and Families Through Community Mechanisms” project, also known as the Sook Pen. The project aims to enhance community-wide psychological wellness through the development of competencies for Change Agents at the subdistrict level.  

The seminar took place from June 24 – 26, 2024, at Centara Life Government Complex Hotel, with over 250 participants comprising representatives from policymakers, Change Agents, academic agencies, government agencies, civil society, the business sector, and newly interested localities looking to implement the project as well. 

Given the urgent social need to address mental health problems, the “Promoting Psychological Wellness in Children, Adolescents, and Families Through Community Mechanisms” or “Sook Pen” project focuses on enhancing community-level positive psychology as a proactive means to mitigate psychiatric issues, which often emerge as consequences of underlying factors. Over the past two years, the project has been piloted in 12 subdistricts across 6 provinces: Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Sakhon, Chiang Mai, Prachuap Khiri Khan, and Nakhon Si Thammarat. This project builds on the “Promoting Psychological Wellness in Adolescents and Families in Southern Thailand” project, or the Khon Tai Yat Dai for short, which the Path2Health Foundation has been working on with Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, Ltd. for over eight years to improve quality of life and strengthen familial bonds in the southern region. In the past two years, the Sook Pen Project has developed the competencies of more than 300 Change Agents, who ventured out to share the guidelines and activities for spreading positive psychology at a level involving various households. Measurements show that over 96% of Change Agents have not only put the concepts of positive psychology to use in their own daily lives, but also pass them on to their families, service recipients, and colleagues. 

Pornsuree Konanta, Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Chevron Thailand Exploration and Production, Ltd., said at the event as an advocate of positive psychology: “For eight years, Chevron has contributed to the Khon Tai Yat Dai Project alongside the Path2Health Foundation and network partners in improving the quality of life and strengthening local communities. We have seen a shift from the individual level to the community level through the concerted efforts of Change Agents. As an energy company committed to being a good partner to Thai society for over 60 years, we recognize the importance of addressing mental health problems. The success we have seen with Change Agents of the pilot project, in collaboration with government and academic partners who have come to exchange their ideas with us today, represents power for effecting change at the national scale. This aligns with the vision of the National Mental Health Development Plan to drive citizen development and reinforce the foundation on which Thai society will continue to thrive.” 

The seminar gathered findings and extracted important lessons from the process of driving positive psychology through community mechanisms led by Change Agents in pilot areas. Activities and forums covered topics such as “The Science of Happiness and Development of Quality of Life in a Disrupted World” and “4 Learning Stations for Positive Psychology.” The event also featured activities to exchange best practices for local development in the future and informative booths on welfare innovation and services. The success stories and resulting guidelines at the community level shared during the event serve as important models for promoting psychological wellness in other localities, in the form of parallel projects in collaboration with related policymaking agencies—an endeavor that will continue to reduce downstream impacts from psychiatric problems in a growing number of communities.