This document presents a brief overview of how UNHCR adapts its activities for mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) to the changing context of the pandemic. Staff of UNHCR and partners, in... country offices in all regions of the world, have developed innovative field practices to continue providing essential MHPSS services to refugees. The examples in this document are testimony to the commitment and creativity of our staff and can serve as inspiration and encouragement for others to continue integrating MHPSS in the humanitarian work during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Key highlights from January to April 2020 (Syria situation)
Across the MENA region, UNHCR is receiving alarming reports of increasing mental health issues among the forcibly displaced. ..."attribute-to-highlight medbox">Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) activities are being stepped up by UNHCR and partners to address this new dangerous trend.
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Available in different languages: English, French, Arabic, Russian
Core Knowledge for Emergency Preparedness and Response
International Journal of Mental Health Systems2011,5:17http://www.ijmhs.com/content/5/1/17
A broad range of UNHCR’s key priorities overlap with MHPSS issues – for example, child protection and sexual and gender-based violence [SGBV] prevention and response.
Despite all these existent synergies, UNHCR’s current policies and guidelines do not sufficiently link with MHPSS principles.... For example, the Community Services section, which is closely aligned to the principles of MHPSS and could be well-positioned to guide the implementation of related programs, has not adopted the MHPSS language or approach.
There are opportunities for UNHCR to engage more strongly and clearly in this field. However, this requires a vision for how the organisation as a whole, and particular sectors within the organisation, will engage within the field of MHPSS activities. For a start, UNHCR can work to improve its understanding and framing of mental health and psychosocial issues, and how these issues fit within its broader mandate.
While the majority of MHPSS activities are delivered by implementing partners, UNHCR staff require familiarity with core principles in the field, such as the Intervention Pyramid contained in the IASC Guidelines, in order to support and monitor quality MHPSS activities.
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JOURNAL OF THE ASSOCIATION OF NURSES IN AIDS CARE, Vol. 28, No. 2, March/April 2017, 186-198
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jana.2015.09.003
The magnitude and complexity of these mental health conditions caused by prolonged and extensive trauma requires a diagnosis fitting the unique context of the Syrian conflict. Over half a million pe...ople have been killed since the beginning of the conflict in 2011, and more than 6.4 million are internally displaced with over 5 million living as refugees. SAMS documents the multi-dimensional nature of mental health disorders afflicting Syrians, including accounts of refugee experiences from Eastern Ghouta, Idlib, and beyond. This qualitative report seeks to raise awareness about increasing mental health needs, while sharing personal stories of those who have been affected by the trauma of the conflict.
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Discussion Paper "Mental health, poverty and development", July 2009
Mugisha et al. Int J Ment Health Syst (2017) 11:7 DOI 10.1186/s13033-016-0114-2
Policy and systems. Global Mental Health(2017),4, e7, page 1 of 6. doi:10.1017/gmh.2017.3
Indian Journal of Psychiatry 56(3), Jul‐Sep 2014; DOI: 10.4103/0019-5545.140615
Special issue: Mental Health Challenges in Lithuania
Nos. 1-2 '11