Ghosts in the big city : surviving and adapting to internal displacement in Colombia, South America

The signing of the truce on 23 June 2016 and the finalisation of peace negotiations on 24 August 2016 marked the end of more than 50 years of continuous armed conflict in Colombia, South America and the transition to ‘post conflict’ status. According to annual reports from the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre based in Geneva, Switzerland, Colombia has ranked first or second in numbers of internally displaced persons every year for the past 12 years, making forced migration a defining characteristic of the country.

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In spite of the clarity of mental health and psychosocial core principles : the existence of a participation implementation gap

According to humanitarian minimal standards, humanitarian programmes should maximise participation of affected populations within their response. Participation has been a key point in proposals, evaluators are aware of it and every aid worker has heard of it. In theory, it is a perfectly implemented, well understood and a well respected construct. In the field of mental health and psychosocial support, participation is core principle number two.

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Integrated psychosocial and food security approach in an emergency context : Central African Republic

In the Central African Republic, a political crisis started in 2013 that greatly affected the population. They were exposed to traumatogenic factors causing the emergence of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder in large segments of the population. The situation of high food insecurity, combined with high levels of psychological distress, have significantly limited the population's coping strategies.

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Youth resilience makes a difference in mitigating stress : teacher mediated school intervention in Bethlehem

This study examined the implementation of the Enhancing Resiliency Amongst Students Experiencing Stress intervention, which is a teacher mediated, evidence based school intervention, targeting youth who have been exposed to ongoing conflict. Our hypothesis was that posttraumatic symptom levels can be reduced when youth have higher levels of ego resilience and that this can be achieved through a teacher mediated, school intervention. We found that ego resilience is negatively related to posttraumatic symptom levels, while anxiety levels and impairment in functioning are positively related.

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Perceived needs and daily stressors in an urban refugee setting : Humanitarian Emergency Settings Perceived Needs Scale survey of Syrian refugees in Kilis, Turkey

The largest number of Syrian refugees in the world are currently hosted in Turkey, with the great majority of them residing in urban settings. This paper presents the findings of The Humanitarian Emergency Settings Perceived Needs (HESPER) Scale survey conducted with the population of urban Syrian refugees in the town of Kilis in south-central Turkey in 2013. The high level and variety of perceived needs and daily stressors shows the magnitude and hardship in the urban Syrian refugee community in Kilis.

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Comprehensive mental health and psychosocial support case management and indicative care pathways within humanitarian settings

This article describes the approach, implementation and evaluation of a pilot mental health and psychosocial support case management programme that was developed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Syria. The aim was to provide a description of the programme approach, its implementation and outputs. The programme integrates different forms of case management approaches based on a multi-layered, stepped care model. Earlier results of mixed method monitoring and evaluation revealed improvement in wellbeing among programme participants.

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Not doing more, but doing differently : integrating a community based psychosocial approach into other sectors

A multi-layered approach to mental health and psychosocial support in emergencies includes the integration of psychosocial approaches into sectors with primary aims other than the enhancement of mental health and psychosocial support. This paper shares the experiences of Church of Sweden's psychosocial team in supporting its partner organisations (within the ACT Alliance) to integrate a community based psychosocial approach into programmes in sectors including: education, child protection, livelihoods, water and sanitation, and food security.

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Mainstreaming mental health and psychosocial support in camp coordination and camp management. The experience of the International Organization for Migration in the north east of Nigeria and South Sudan

This article examines the efforts of the International Organization for Migration to mainstream mental health and psychosocial considerations into camp coordination and camp management, through capacity building and provision of direct psychosocial support. It focusses on the activities carried out by the International Organization for Migration in South Sudan, in the Protection of Civilians Areas, and in the north east of Nigeria, with the aim to identify relevant challenges and best practices.

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Linking mental health and psychosocial support and disaster risk reduction : applying a wellbeing lens to disaster risk reduction

The field of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in emergencies has been slow to engage with the growing global policy consensus around disaster risk reduction (DRR) as embodied by the Hyogo Framework for Action and its successor, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. However, there are encouraging recent efforts to harness the synergies that exist between the fields of DRR and MHPSS.

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The integration of livelihood support and mental health and psychosocial wellbeing for populations who have been subject to severe stressors

This article aims to promote the integration of mental health and psychosocial support into livelihood programmes, presenting existing research within behavioural economics, humanitarian and economic fields that support the need and effectiveness of such integration. It presents examples of mental health and psychosocial support integration into livelihood programmes put in place by a grass roots organisation in the USA and the largest development institution in the world, the World Bank Group, respectively.

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