Support Community Mental Health
Psychologist Karla Flores (R) speaks with a client who left Honduras with her family, traveling through Mexico until they eventually found refuge at Pan de Vida Migrant Shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, December 2021. (Paul Ratje for HIAS)
Overview
HIAS’ community-based mental health programs and psychosocial services promote the well-being of individuals, families, and communities affected by crisis and conflict so they can heal and rebuild their lives.
A supportive environment is essential to healing and recovery. Our programs strengthen existing relationships, networks, and practices that communities use to cope and heal. We train key community members to recognize emotional distress as a result of crisis or emergency, and how to respond with empathy and respect. By developing community support and peer groups, facilitating opportunities for connection in a safe environment, and linking people with necessary services, HIAS promotes a culturally sensitive approach to help people cope with adversity.
137,000
people reached directly and indirectly through services and activities in 2021
Strategies
As the scale of humanitarian crises reaches historic proportions, an unprecedented number of individuals are experiencing the emotional and psychological impacts of forced displacement. HIAS is investing in supporting mental health, which can in turn enable social and economic development.
We support community mental health by:
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Strengthening community-based care for individuals, families, and communities impacted by crisis and conflict.
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Building skills and competencies of key stakeholders to promote mental health and well-being.
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Contributing to research and learning about mental health in humanitarian settings.
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Caring for the Whole Person
At HIAS, we believe in caring for the whole person, and to do that we offer refugees access to free mental health and psychosocial support services.
Impact stories
Thinking About Safety as Part of Mental Health Service
HIAS Kenya is focused on getting basic necessities to clients because taking care of those basic needs helps give refugees the sense of security they need to successfully work on other issues, like mental health.
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(Brian Otieno for HIAS)
Cell Phones Are a Mental Health Lifeline
Cell phones, chat apps, and social media are the lifelines many HIAS clients count on to stay in touch with counselors and peers — lifelines that are even more important as the pandemic leaves many without steady jobs, money, housing, or safety.
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Asylum seekers charge their mobile phones at an immigrant camp in the border town of Matamoros, Mexico, on December 8, 2019.
(John Moore/Getty Images)
Protecting Refugees in Both Body and Mind
HIAS workers around the world are there for refugees in their darkest moments: counselors who help refugees abused because they are women, support specialists who help asylum seekers through their long battles to regain dignity, and psychologists who hold the hands of children traumatized by violence.
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Benigo Diaz (C), a mental health and psychosocial support specialist in HIAS Mexico, leads a group session. September 2021. (HIAS Mexico)
Resources
Jan 30, 2023
Children and Families MHPSS Resource Collection
Jan 30, 2023
The Children and Families MHPSS Resource Collection offers access to a wide range of key materials that are relevant to mental health and psychosocial support work with children and families across humanitarian and development settings. HIAS has partnered with the MHPSS Collaborative and MHPSS.net to provide resources to MHPSS practitioners responding to the crisis in Ukraine.
Sep 13, 2022
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Curriculum
Sep 13, 2022
Oct 18, 2022
Community-Based Participatory Design of a Psychosocial Intervention for Migrant Women in Ecuador and Panama
Oct 18, 2022
This paper describes a community-based participatory approach to MHPSS intervention design incorporating processes to promote local adaptability and fit while maintaining standardized elements of existing MHPSS interventions.
Oct 18, 2022
Evaluating the Feasibility of a Group Psychosocial Intervention for Migrant and Host Community Women in Ecuador and Panamá: Protocol for a Multi-site Feasibility Cluster Trial
Oct 18, 2022
This study will evaluate the appropriateness, acceptability, feasibility, and safety of intervention and research procedures for a cluster randomized comparative effectiveness trial conducted in Ecuador and Panamá with migrant and host community women.
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