This article is about a community based intervention program in the Netherlands. In this program,, asylum seekers and refugees are trained to provide psycho-education and psychosocial support to fellow groups of refugees and asylum seekers. These trained refugees work in their own language and culture, with a professional coach from a local mental health institute. The group courses consist of psycho-education, psychosocial support and empowerment. On the one hand, they raise awareness of problems like trauma, mourning, stress, feelings of guilt, acculturation, alcohol and drug abuse.

To date, no research has been conducted on the field of music therapy within international humanitarian aid. The aims of this study are to explore the situation in more detail and to include descriptions of organisations and projects that are involved in the psychosocial aid of trauma survivors in areas of post-conflict using music therapy. The article will give an outline of programmes, describe their work,, and serve as an information source for other organisations involved in international mental health aid.

This article will aims to provide insight into the learning process connected to a long-term psychosocial intervention with children in Kosovo. In this intervention, creative activities and sports are fundamental. Information was collected through semistructured interviews with the national teams, and by direct observation of their practical work. It is argued that drawing upon the experiences of national staff in this way, is a good, necessary, additional tool for assessing the impact and effectiveness of a psychosocial programme.

The term ‘counselling’ is often used to describe psychosocial interventions. The concept appears to have different meanings to different people. In this contribution to this journal, we will describe an attempt to introduce a classical type of counselling, ‘individual talk-therapy’, in a psychosocial and mental health program in Cambodia. We use this example to explore two different aspects. First, we show how talk-therapy can be effective in a cross-cultural setting.