Humanitarian emergencies such as outbreaks and socio-environmental disasters can significantly affect the mental health and psychosocial well-being of an individual, child or adult, and particularly of groups in situation of vulnerability.
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) aims to protect or promote psychosocial well-being and prevent or treat mental health conditions and should be considered a cross-cutting issue amongst all sectors and emergency pillars involved in the response.
The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Coordination in Humanitarian Emergencies Course concluded with a successful attendance of 38 participants (mental health professionals, social workers, educators, humanitarian workers, emergency experts) from 14 countries of the Caribbean Region.
This course provides guidance on how to establish, organize and facilitate MHPSS coordination and strengthen current adjunct applicable skills for use in complex humanitarian emergencies and relief operations, such as needs assessments, monitoring and evaluation, understanding the humanitarian context, and self-care.
Dr. Claudina Cayetano, PAHO’S Mental Health Regional Advisor, explains: “This course has been able to pilot a structured capacity-building program across the Region to train participants in the necessary steps for integrating MHPSS into their respective contexts. The course highlights that the population’s well-being is the responsibility of all, primarily including the affected community itself, an understanding that breaks the traditional view, that MHPSS is the responsibility of mental health professionals only, such as psychologists or psychiatrists.”
This course promotes and supports leadership and work on MHPSS with other sectors to respond to the technical needs of countries affected by humanitarian emergencies. Participants have engaged in 8 online modules, group work and in-depth oriented studies, covering a range of topics from humanitarian architecture and principles, up to high level discussions on complex MHPSS response coordination operations.
Dr. Marcio Gagliato, MHPSS expert and PAHO Academic Coordinator responsible for the course design and implementation, explains that the course has made important and timely contribution to the Region. “In this sense, I would highlight some important achievements; first, what I would call the MHPSS Advocacy, which is the capacity to understand that MHPSS should be at the onset of an emergency response; second, that MHPSS is not only about treating MH conditions, but it is actually the responsibility of all actors responding to the emergency – what they do, and most importantly, the way the aid is provided, have a significant impact on the well-being of the population; and third, that the course has been able to demonstrate practical steps on MHPSS operationalization and coordination when a major emergency occurs.”
Participants submitted a final project applying all the knowledge gained over the course into their own countries’ realities, analyzing the situation and planning actions to follow until the end of 2021. PAHO will continue supporting participants and countries in the implementation of their action plans, providing MHPSS Technical Supervision to all those willing to continue receiving the support.