Starting CYA in Your Country

Being a Regional Director

From all of us here at CYA, we want to welcome you into our free mental wellness program that helps thousands of members across the world. This program began in June of 2020 and the astronomical growth in a short amount of time proves that kindness, love and compassion is needed in this world. As a Regional Director, or you’re considering becoming one, not only are you helping break the stigma within your country, you are playing a big part in normalizing a global conversation about mental health. We believe that change starts from within and we want to thank you for being a part of the change we want to see in this world.

Our Mission

Change Your Algorithm’s mission is to provide free mental health support across world with the help of volunteer, certified mental health professionals. Not charging a fee is a big part of our mission as we believe that it should not have to cost anything in order to change or save a life. Our program exists online via virtual classes so that attendees have a high sense of safety especially during this time with COVID-19. Our community of therapists, facilitators, peers and Regional Directors such as yourself, must uphold compassion and a judgement-free mentality at all times. We believe that there is nothing wrong with talking about mental health, and that the more we speak about it, the less people will feel so alone. Change Your Algorithm provides a safe space where all are accepted.

Community

The diversity we have within our community is something we are all very proud of. We do not judge anyone based on their race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political party or age. At CYA, all are accepted and we ask that all members treat each other with kindness, compassion, and respect in our judgement-free classes. We do not shame or make others feel guilty in this community. We encourage all members to keep in contact with each other outside of classes to maintain friendships that support good mental health.

What We Teach

This program was created because of our Founder Joel Relampagos’ experience in a rehabilitation facility where he was learning how to overcome addiction with alcohol caused by struggles with his mental health. During his 50-day experience at the facility, Joel was able to work with numerous mental health professionals that taught him how to take care of his mental health. This transformational experience changed Joel’s life and he understood how valuable and necessary therapy really is. Joel then decided to create Change Your Algorithm so that many more across the world can receive healing no matter what their mental health struggles may be, and at no cost. The reason the program is called “Change Your Algorithm” is because much like an algorithm in the tech world, we “abide” by what we think our algorithm is. Whether it’s “I’m always going to be sad”, “I’m always going to be a failure”, or “It’s never going to get better”, many people think that life is always going to be negative. However, when we reprogram our subconscious minds and start telling ourselves a new, empowering story, the algorithm of our lives begins to change. That’s what happened to Joel and that is also what is happening to our thousands of members that are thankful for this program.

We do not promote medication at CYA, but rather, we focus on providing our members with the coping skills and applicable tools that are given by our certified mental health professionals. All of these tools are designed to help our members reprogram their subconscious minds so that they can create a new belief system about their lives. The key topics that we cover in our CYA classes are:

  • Overcoming Negative Self-Beliefs
  • Strategies for Anxiety
  • Coping Tools for Depression
  • How to Set Boundaries
  • The Power of Gratitude
  • Connecting With Your Inner Child
  • Healing From Grief & Loss
  • Mindfulness Techniques
  • How to Heal From Traumas
  • The Practice of Forgiveness
  • Stress Management
  • How to Find Forgiveness
  • Meditation Classes
  • Women’s Group
  • Men’s Group
  • Yoga and Overall Fitness
Joel Relampagos speaking

Short Form Videos of Our Teachings:

Below are short-form videos from Founder Joel Relampagos which we use to share with our community. This will give you a good idea of what we teach the members of our program:

Gratitude

80% of our daily thoughts are considered to be negative. 95% of those thoughts are repetitive. Remember that while we can’t control our thoughts, we can control how we respond to them. Remember that you are not your thoughts, you are the observer. Here’s something you can control, your amount of gratitude! Count your blessings, not your problems.

Reuniting with your inner child

80% of our daily thoughts are considered to be negative. 95% of those thoughts are repetitive. Remember that while we can’t control our thoughts, we can control how we respond to them. Remember that you are not your thoughts, you are the observer. Here’s something you can control, your amount of gratitude! Count your blessings, not your problems.

Forgiveness

Stress Management

We all experience stress, but most of us don’t know how to manage it. Here are some helpful tips on how you can manage stress when it surfaces. To learn more about how you can take care of your mental health during a time of fear and uncertainty, visit changealgorithm.com

Toxic Relationships

Ditch the toxic people in you life. You deserve better! Here are some tips on how to do it and why. Check out changealgorithm.com for more information on how to take care of your mental health.

Letting Go Meditation

At ‘Change Your Algorithm’ we believe that meditation keeps us balanced, present and aligned with our truth. Here’s a 5-minute meditation about “Letting Go.” Whether it’s a regret, insecurity, past relationship or something we’re shameful of, the secret to letting go is by simply letting it be. The things we try to run away from are the same things that haunt us. By letting things be, by finding acceptance and compassion, you will find that it becomes easier to let things go. Try out this 5-minute meditation and make sure to check out our mental health classes and even more meditations on our website: changealgorithm.com

The Role of Our Therapists

It’s important to know that our certified therapists are guest speakers in our classes and that these classes are NOT considered official therapy sessions. We are not held liable for what happens after these classes as all we can do is provide the tips and tools necessary for our members to take care of their mental health; and we hope that they apply that into their lives outside of CYA classes. While we encourage members to stay in contact outside of classes, CYA is not a 24/7 service in the event of emergencies.

Steps to Launching CYA in Your Country

As a Regional Director, there are  steps to starting a CYA in your country. Remember that this whole program started with one person and that community builds from there.

  1. BUILD YOUR TEAM OF THERAPISTS: Start to reach out to certified therapists in your country and see who would be interested in leading virtual classes for CYA. There is no time commitment for any of our therapists and they can volunteer as much or as little as they would like. Having 3 therapists as volunteers is a great start.
  2. BUILD YOUR TEAM OF FACILITATORS: Our Facilitators help us keep the program running and their job during classes is to accept members in our virtual space as well as moderate questions for the therapists. While working on bringing Facilitators into the program, we encourage Regional Directors to be the facilitators during the launch of CYA in your country. This helps others see that the program works which then encourages them to get involved and want to be a Facilitator.
  3. CREATE CLASSES: Once you have volunteer therapists, you can start choosing dates and times for classes. We will provide you with a ZOOM ACCOUNT LOGIN where you can create zoom link for your classes. It’s important to have the following in the zoom information for a class: (1) Class Title (2) Description including indicating the name of the therapist leading the class (3) Class Time w/ Time Zone. Once you have the zoom link for this class, you will be able to share this with others however way you would like whether it’s through email or social media.
  4. CONSISTENCEY: Patience is a big part of starting CYA in any country. Remember that we can’t eat the fruit the same day that we plant the seed. It takes time to build community and have others join CYA classes. My maintaining consistency, you are showing others that this is a free program that works and it is worth them being a part of.
  5. COMMUNITY: Once you have a solid community for your CYA, it’s important to encourage others to spread the word about our free mental wellness program. By doing so, they are being living proof that what we have to offer at CYA is free mental health support and that we accept all into our judgement-free community.
4 individuals wearing Change Your Algorithm hoodies looking up
Change Your Algorithm Flyer collage

Creating Digital Class Flyers

HAVE FLYERS CREATED FOR YOU:

CYA has a member focused on creating Digital Class Flyers for our International classes. If you would like Digital Flyers made for your classes, please email Paul Marcelo at: paulanthonymarcelo@gmail.com

Make sure to provide:

  • Class Title
  • Date & Time
  • Time Zone
  • Zoom Meeting ID

IF YOU WANT TO CREATE YOUR OWN FLYERS:

Here are easy to follow steps if you want to create your own flyers for classes.

1. Download a photo from the “CYA Photos” link below. Please make sure the photo you downloaded applies to the class topic. For example, if the class is about “Depression”, you may not want to use a photo of someone who looks very happy.

Here is the “CYA Photos” link: 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11-jT_i2ksOgeHlM_y_gGChkzx34YD_kF

2. Download the Canva App. Once you have the App, you will use it to create digital flyers for CYA Classes.

3. Use the following Template provided in this link for Canva:

https://www.canva.com/design/DAEtLabZTaQ/erzLJzYxfgiBYvxrtFHtrA/view?utm_content=DAEtLabZTaQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link&utm_source=sharebutton&mode=preview

4. Using this template, you will be able to change: (1) Name of the country at the top left underneath the logo (2) Class Title which has two lines (3) The date and time, make sure to indicate the time zone (4) Zoom Meeting ID

5. To replace the photo, simply tap on the photo and hit the “Replace” button at the bottom of the screen. You will be able to select the photo you like which must be downloaded from the “CYA Photos” link.

6. Once finished designing, hit the “Save” button at the top right of the screen. Once the digital flyer is saved, you will be able to share it and promote the class!