The health impact of radiological and nuclear emergencies can last for decades. Lessons learned from past radiological and nuclear accidents have demonstrated that the mental health and psychosocial... consequences can outweigh the direct physical health impacts of radiation exposure. International radiation emergency preparedness and response standards outline provisions for mitigating these effects. Yet, practical guidance for addressing the mental health and psychosocial aspects of radiation emergencies remains scarce.
This framework aims to promote integration between the MHPSS and radiation protection fields. It is intended for officials and specialists involved in radiation emergency planning and risk management as well as MHPSS experts working in health emergencies.
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Experiences and recommendations from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Measures imposed by governments to prevent the spread of the disease, including lockdown restrictions, quarantines, physical distancing, and their economic ...and social consequences, further increase this distress and the risk of mental health problems.
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These ICRC guidelines outline the organization’s approach to mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) during and after armed conflict and other situations of violence. They provide a framewo...rk for harmonizing MHPSS programmes within the organization, and an insight into its strategic processes and field practices.
This publication is not intended to serve as a training manual for specific MHPSS techniques. In sharing these guidelines with an external audience, the ICRC aims to raise awareness of its approach among professionals and other interested parties.
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Mental health problems are common and cause great suffering to individuals and communities around the world. They have a significant impact not only on the physical and mental health of those affected but also on their families and the communities they live in. At the same time, all communities have... their own traditional mechanisms for support and contain a range wide of resources that can be helpful in preventing mental health conditions from developing, promoting positive mental health and supporting the recovery of people that are struggling with a mental health condition.
In the wider context, people living with a mental health condition are often excluded from their communities and experience various violations to their basic human rights (discrimination, violence, exclusion from employment opportunities). The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the mean prevalence of global mental health disorders is 10.8% while the prevalence in emergency settings is 22.1% in any conflict-affected population.
During emergencies and crisis, the stigma, exclusion and discrimination towards people living with mental health conditions is often higher, which can cause isolation and protection issues. Communities can play a crucial role in promoting mental health as well as enhancing primary care and access. Their role is to help reduce mental health inequalities by providing community resources that connect people to community-based resources and by providing mental health education. This also helps to reduce the massive mental health treatment gap.
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This guidance note is meant to assist humanitarian actors, youth-led organizations, and young people themselves across sectors, working at local, country, regional, and global levels in their response to the novel coronavirus pandemic. It begins diagnostically, exploring the impacts of coronavirus d...isease (COVID-19) on young people. It then proposes a series of actions that practitioners and young people can take to ensure that COVID-19 preparedness, response plans and actions, are youth-inclusive and youth-focused – with and for young people. Recommendations are structured around the five key actions of the Compact for Young People in Humanitarian Action: services, participation, capacity, resources, and data. Where available, the recommended actions are accompanied by resources and concrete examples, which can inform approaches and support implementation
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The guide is designed to help disaster managers in national Governments gain basic knowledge of how to use international tools and services. It aims to support the growing disaster response and disa...ster response preparedness capabilities that exist at national level across Asia and the Pacific.
The guide is for national disaster management organizations (NDMOs) and line ministries involved in disaster response and disaster response preparedness. It is also a reference document for representatives of intergovernmental organizations, civilsociety actors and disaster-affected people.
The guide concentrates on key tools and services that can be helpful to disaster managers during the response and response preparedness phases of the disaster programme cycle.
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PFA for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has several parts that can be used separately or together. It comprises this guide, a small booklet on PFA, and four training modules on PFA. This guide has general information about psychological first a...id. It can be used on its own for psycho-education and as a reference for the training modules that accompany it. The training modules include instructions, notes, and training resources for the facilitators.
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This guide is strongly practice -oriented and intended as an open resource when replicating similar methods of psychosocial care in other projects. It describes the steps in the development of our pilot project
"Low threshold ...lass="attribute-to-highlight medbox">psychosocial support for refugees and asylum seekers’ in Germany ", from the initial idea of the project to its practical implementation. It is to be understood as apractical report for transferring the working methods of MSF from project countries to the German context. A particular focus is the training and working methods of psychosocial peer counsellors. They are at the heart of our approach to low-
threshold psychosocial care
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The CB MHPSS operational guidelines were developed in response to emerging evidence on the determinants of children’s resilience, lessons learned from the evaluation of existing approaches, and the unique challenges that today’s crises pose for ...children’s safety, wellbeing and optimal development.
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Specific action sheets offer useful guidance on mental health and psychosocial support and cover the following areas coordination assessment monitoring and evaluation protection and human rights sta...ndards human resources community mobilisation and support health services education dissemination of information food security and nutrition shelter and site planning and water and sanitationthe guidelines include a matrix with guidance for emergency planning actions to be taken in the early stages of an emergency and comprehensive responses needed in the recovery and rehabilitation phases
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This operational guidance on MHPSS provides a practical orientation and tools for UNHCR country operations. It covers specific points of good practice to consider when developing MHPSS programming and offers advice on priority issues and practical d...ifficulties, while also providing some background information and definitions. Since MHPSS is a cross cutting concept this operational guidance is relevant for programming in various sectors, including health, community based protection, education, shelter, nutrition, food security and livelihoods.
The focus of this operational guidance is on refugees and asylum seekers, but it may apply to other persons of concern within UNHCR operations such as stateless persons, internally displaced persons and returnees. The guidance is meant for operations in both camp and non-camp settings, and in both rural and urban settings in low and middle-income countries with a UNHCR presence.
The guidance should be adapted according to different contexts. A standardized format for programme implementation cannot be offered because this depends to a large extent on existing national capacities and local opportunities.
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In the following you can find 51 Planning tools for Mental Health and Psychosocial support in disasters, that have been derived from an anylsis of ...282 Psychosocial Mental Health guidelines and 678 Tools. The single planning tools are structured according to the most relevant topics and can be used individually.
The purpose of the Action Sheets
Each Action Sheet is a planning tool in itself that can be used individually
Each Action Sheet is an entrypoint into the main recommendations for this specific topic and gives information on further readings, tools and practice examples.
Each Action Sheet gives advice on how to plan and enhance quality in the selected area and topic.
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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 guideli...nes 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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The MHPSS MSP is an easy-to-follow intersectoral package, which spells out the activities and actions that all humanitarian actors should put in place in all emergencies for an effective MHPSS response. It speaks to different actors at the global, r...egional, national, and local levels to plan, coordinate and implement an effective MHPSS response.
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Minimum standards of home care for older people in Red Cross Red Crescent volunteer-based programming in the Europe Zone