International Conference on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Crisis Situations – Amsterdam, 7 & 8 October 2019

As a seven-year-old boy in South Sudan, Majok Peter Awan was recruited by a rebel group. More than thirty years later, the former child soldier is promoting the importance of psychosocial support for children. 

Mohamed Elshazly is the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) officer with UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. He and his team are mainstreaming mental health interventions within the humanitarian response, taking into account the Rohingya’s cultural background.

Hurricane Dorian, which tore through the Bahamas in early September, left a trail of total destruction in its wake. Dozens of islanders lost their lives and hundreds of people are still missing. We spoke to a Red Cross public health coordinator about offering psychosocial support in the immediate aftermath of natural disasters.

When Ebola broke out in Liberia in 2014, people needed more than only healthcare: they also needed mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS). Janice Cooper, a native Liberian and health services researcher, was one of those in charge of the efforts in this field.

One of the honoured guests at the international MHPSS conference on 7-8 October in Amsterdam was Sir Mark Lowcock, the world’s chief humanitarian advocate. In his address to the conference attendees, Mr. Lowcock set out from the personal stories of people he meets everywhere he goes. He stressed the enormous importance of, and need for, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in emergency situations all over the world.

Heba Alibrahim, daughter of a doctor, was forced to flee the Syrian war at 15. Now, seven years later, she is studying psychology in Amsterdam, determined to return and support other war survivors.

When ISIS seized the northern Iraqi city of Sinjar on 3 August 2014, among those Yezidi captured were Nofa Zuroo, 36, and Jamila Haji, 41. Their sufferings didn’t end when ISIS was eventually ousted. ‘I am crying in my mind most of the time because of what we went through.’

Aweng Chuol is a world-famous model. Of South-Sudanese origin, she was born in a Kenyan refugee camp. As a child, she never imagined that she would one day walk the catwalks at fashion shows.

‘One day, a father and daughter came to sign up for our music lessons,’ says Annita, one of the music teachers. ‘According to her medical notes, the daughter had tried to commit suicide. She had stopped talking and the father made it very clear that she was not to be left alone. Once she started music lessons, she gradually came out of her shell.