Ma. Lourdes A. Carandang - Doctor of Science, honoris causa 2015
Maria Lourdes “Honey” A Carandang, PhD, has devoted five decades of her life to ensuring the well-being of Filipino children and families. Her journeying with children and families began in the academe. Dr Carandang obtained her master of arts in psychology from Ateneo de Manila University in 1969, and went on to take her PhD in clinical psychology (1977) with specialized training in child and family therapy from University of California (Davis).
Dr Patricia Licuanan, former colleague and now chair of the Commission on Higher Education, describes Dr Carandang as “an unusual combination of teacher, practitioner, scientist, and advocate. She is a successful clinical therapist and works in an area that is very relevant, which is children and family. She is also a scientist—she uses her practice as her laboratory and while she is helping people, she is helping describe and theorize. As an advocate, Honey works with groups that are affected by bigger social phenomena. She blends micro and macro by choosing to help children and families who are disadvantaged—overseas migrant workers, streetchildren, disaster survivors. Beyond all these, what makes her so rare is that she is a great teacher who has [mentored] and continues to mentor many Filipino psychologists.”
Pioneering Work in Child and Family Psychology
As a practitioner, Dr Carandang pioneered play and family therapy in the Philippines. She is the founding chair and past president of the Philippine Association for Child and Play Therapy. In her words: “Play is the child’s most natural medium of expression. I dare say that it is the child’s natural way of being. The child has an innate ability to play. He does not have to learn it from anyone.... Play gives the child a sense of power over his environment. It is an antidote to helplessness and depression because it is empowering. Play is the time and space to be. Playing gives the glorious sensation of autonomy, of freedom. It is deeply satisfying. As it is with children, so it is with adults. Simply, we all need to play.”
Dr Carandang is the founding president of the MLAC Institute for Children and Families, Inc. MLAC aims to apply the scientific principles of psychology for the well-being of Filipino children and families—especially the poor, the disadvantaged, and the traumatized. The interventions and programs of the center focus on parenting, OFW families, family violence and child abuse, disaster and trauma healing.
Building Knowledge on Filipino Children and Families
A prolific writer, Dr Carandang has written 13 books on the situation of Filipino children and their families. These are used as important resources by practicing Filipino clinical psychologists and others in the helping profession as well as by parents.
Her book, Filipino Children Under Stress, was cited by the Catholic Mass Media Awards for “its fascinating probe of a sad social concern, written in lucid language for the lay reader who cares deeply about our children.”
Dr Carandang served as the overall research director of the pilot study on the in-depth profile of scavenger children of Smokey Mountain, Tondo, Manila (funded by the International Labor Organization) as well as the research director, clinical consultant, and training director for the psychological assessment of three groups of streetchildren—sexually-abused, children in conflict with the law, and substance-abusers (sponsored by the National Project on Streetchildren, UNICEF, and AUSAID).
She also served as the overall research coordinator for Asia of the study (sponsored by the International Catholic Child Bureau) on the in-depth profile of children in prostitution, starting with the Philippines and Taiwan. She was a past consultant of Bantay Bata Hotline Crisis Center, ABS-CBN Foundation, Inc.; Hirayamanawari; and the CENTEX Research Team, Ayala Foundation.
For her scientific work, Dr Carandang was honored in 1995 as a National Social Scientist by the Philippine Social Science Council, which cited her “for outstanding achievement in the discipline of psychology as demonstrated by her competence and ability at applying and translating scientific principles of psychology for the uplift of Filipino children in difficult circumstances; for her commitment and dedication to the community at large; ...for enhancing family life through educational use of mass media and contributing to training of future psychologists.”
Advocating for the Underprivileged
Dr Carandang’s research, services, and advocacy for children and families at risk have made a tremendous impact not just in the field of psychology but in the country. She has served as a spokesperson and advocate of children’s rights, served as a National Trauma Consultant of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and conducted workshops in trauma management in 16 regions of the Philippines.
She has also provided training for social workers and psychologists from 14 regions of the Philippines for the Department of Social Welfare and Development. She served as a consultant for the Children’s Rehabilitation Center (CRC) and has helped counselors in the rehabilitation of children and families of political detainees. As a consultant to the Population Center Foundation, she provided input for a manual for parents of adolescents and comments on counseling.
A Teacher and Mentor
Dr Carandang was a faculty of the Department of Psychology, Ateneo de Manila University from 1965 to 2002. Along with Jaime C Bulatao and Patricia B Licuanan, she founded two of the university’s PhD programs. She also taught as a professorial lecturer at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and Cardinal Santos Medical Center.
Dr Carandang continues to train psychologists and other mental health professionals in continuing professional education workshops. She is a sought-after speaker and resource person on children’s rights and well-being, and parenting. She has also trained social workers and psychologists from the Department of Social Welfare and Development and teachers of the Department of Education.
For seven years, she was a member of the board of directors and became president of the Psychological Association of the Philippines (1981–1983). She was part of the committee that drafted a bill that would later become RA 10029 or the Psychology Act of 2009, which professionalized the practice of psychology in the country.
For her various outstanding contributions to Philippine psychology, Dr Carandang has been conferred the Outstanding Psychologist Award by the Psychological Association of the Philippines (1988). In 2014, she was also given the first award for Outstanding Professional of the Year for Psychologists by the Philippine Regulatory Commission.
According to Josephine Perez, faculty of the Department of Psychology, Dr Carandang “brings excellence with a heart in the practice of psychology.... She has mentored most of the effective clinical counselors we have today and is known greatly for her cura personalis. Dr Carandang has shown selflessness in sharing her magis to others and to the country through her service and clinical practice, her books and her volunteer work.”
For dedicating fifty years of her life to lending her scientific knowledge and expertise for the well-being of Filipino children, especially those in difficult circumstances, through her pioneering work in child and family therapy; for her advocacy of children's rights; for her clinical practice and scientific research in clinical psychology; for her wide-reaching training of psychologists, social workers, and counselors from the country's various regions; the Ateneo de Manila University is proud to confer on Maria Lourdes A Carandang the degree of Doctor of Science, honoris causa.
