Training in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support

Two humanitarian workers of the Fraternity – International Humanitarian Missions(FIHM) participated in the course on Coordination Mechanisms in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHAPS), offered by the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), an agency that acts as the regional office of the World Health Organization (WHO) for the Americas and is the agency specializing in health in the Interamerican system.

Among the objectives of the course are: gather and facilitate a collaboration among diverse actors who are active in the operational response to humanitarian emergencies, and develop mental health and psychosocial support activities at local and national levels; and provide technical support for participating organizations, in line with the guidelines and the principles that guide the approach to mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings.

According to the participants, Mother Teresa and Sister Maria de Lourdes, “it was a course with a high level of knowledge which included the participation of different organizations, from different regions of Brazil, that are in some way connected to humanitarian responses, and it had excellent speakers and facilitators.”

Done in an online modality, according to the humanitarian workers, it made available “very useful materials in the elaboration of projects.” In the last meetings, they were asked to produce of a final paper for the course, which Mother Teresa and Sister Maria de Lourdes carried out together with two colleagues from the Doctors Without Borders Organization, who work in Pacaraima, Roraima, with the migrant and refugee indigenous population.

The group formed during the training was kept as a Collaborative Network in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, the objective of which is to exchange information, possibilities for intervention in the area, and offer support to groups that may be carrying out interventions of humanitarian response in MHAPS.

Training in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support