What is needed when helping a child with panic attacks. How to deal with hyperarousal and panic attacks. Що потрібно робити, щоб допомогти дитині при панічних атаках. Як впоратися з гіперзбудженням і панічними атаками. PowerPoint is available in English and Ukrainian.
Cultural competency means that, as a provider, you are able to interact effectively with people of different cultures, by incorporating their unique beliefs, behaviors, and needs into their diagnosis and treatment plan. Simply put, a culturally competent mental health care provider is able to consider how someone’s culture, race, and ethnicity may influence their mental health, and the best way to treat them.
An ethnic, religious or linguistic minority is any group of persons which constitutes less than half of the population in the entire territory of a State whose members share common characteristics of culture, religion or language, or a combination of any of these.
In the mental health arena, unlike general health, health care disparities predominate over disparities in mental health per se. Strategies to improve health care in general, such as improving access to care and improving the quality of care, would do much to eliminate mental health care disparities. However, a diverse mental health workforce, as well as provider and patient education, are important to eliminating mental health care disparities.
Sexual, gender and ethnic minorities have faced significant health-related difficulties, especially in terms of mental health. In the past decade, many studies have been published focusing on the mental health scenario for these groups. There is a need to develop and implement various initiatives, including social support groups, to provide discrimination-free assistance.
This paper aims to review immigration trends in Europe and identify problems and needs of immigrant and ethnic minority children and youth with respect to mental health services.
The call for cultural competence in mental health practice has been a frequent theme voiced by the four major ethnic minority psychological associations. In an effort to address concerns and provide assistance to service providers, these four associations have produced this booklet, Psychological Treatment of Ethnic Minority Populations.
Evidence regarding the presence and persistence of ethnic inequalities in mental healthcare is well established. The reasons for these inequalities and lack of progress in diminishing them are less understood. This meta-ethnography aims to provide a new conceptual understanding of how ethnic inequalities are created and sustained; this is essential to develop effective interventions. Specifically, we sought to understand why people from ethnic minority groups are underrepresented in primary care mental health service provision and overrepresented in crisis pathways and detention.
UsTooNK This publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence, with the exception of all photos and graphics. You may copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt this publication, except for its photos and graphics, provided that you attribute the work to the Korea Future Initiative and its author and it is used for non-commercial, educational, or public policy purposes. Korea Future Initiative welcomes requests for permission to translate this publication, in part or in full. Applications and enquiries should be addressed to the contact information found on the website. The full licence terms are available from: Recommended citation Burt, J. (2018). Us Too: Sexual Violence Against North Korean Women and Girls. London: Korea Future Initiative. Published by Korea Future Initiative, London, United Kingdom. Author James Burt Research Assistants Jaeyoung Wee; Nah-Yeon Kim; Heejin Choi; Young Sun Song; Nayoung Ahn; Sohyeon Song; Suyeon Yoo; Mira Shin; Younghoon Jo. Designed by Alex Howell Cover Photograph Songdowon International Children s Union Camp. Wŏnsan, North Korea by Stephan. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. Available at
On 21 March 2013, at its 22nd session, the United Nations Human Rights Council established the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). Resolution A/HRC/RES/22/13 mandates the body to investigate the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, with a view to ensuring full accountability, in particular for violations which may amount to crimes against humanity.
In September 2015, the Japanese government announced its first national action plan (NAP) to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1325, just ten days after forcefully legislating controversial security bills that would effectively lift the constitutional restrictions on overseas exercise of military force. Why did the conservative administration embrace Resolution 1325 while propelling militarization? This paper examines the formulation process of Japan’s NAP, focusing on gendered struggle over remilitarization and war memory, especially that of the “comfort women,” or Japanese imperial military sexual slavery during World War II. I will examine how post–Cold War remilitarization in Japan was closely intertwined with the struggle over war memory and the gender order of the nation, and how the conservative administration embraced international gender equality norms in an attempt to identify itself as a powerful liberal democracy engaged in maintaining the international security order, and to erase the memory of imperial military sexual violence in the past.
In this perspectives article, we consider the potential that digital technology holds for supporting non-specialist health workers in delivering evidence-based mental health care. Specifically, from our search of the academic literature, we identified seven promising examples from primary care settings in different low-income and middle-income countries (including India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, Peru, China, and Nigeria) where digital platforms are being used to support delivery of mental health care from a variety of non-specialist providers by offering training, digital tools for diagnosis, guiding treatment, facilitating supervision, and integrating services. We summarize these examples and discuss future opportunities to use digital technology for supporting the development of a trained, effective, and sustainable mental health workforce. We also consider the potential to leverage these technologies for integrating mental health care into existing health systems in low resource settings.
Save the Children warns that children make up the majority of victims of sexual violence in world’s conflict and post-conflict zones. In the report ‘Unspeakable Crimes Against Children’, figures and testimonies are collated from a range of countries affected by conflict over the past decade, including Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia and Colombia. Reliable data on the issue is limited, as much sexual abuse goes unreported, but taken together, the figures collated in the report indicate that children frequently make up the majority of sexual abuse victims in war and its aftermath. Despite this, programmes to prevent children falling victim to sexual violence and help them recover from attacks remain chronically underfunded. The most recent complete global figures show that less than a quarter of the budget needed to protect children and women in emergencies was available. During its leadership of the G8, the UK government has vowed to prioritise the issue of sexual violence in conflict
After several years of working with the manual on sexual violence against women in war and conflict situations, we at MHHRI are proud to introduce these two new manuals. These manuals represent an important tool for helpers and caregivers working with children, boys and men who have survived sexual abuse in war, conflict, humanitarian crises and contexts with limited resources.
Our aim with the manuals is to provide practical guidance for helpers on how best to support and help boys, men and children who have experienced sexual violence in various challenging situations. The manuals deal with different aspects of these topics, how traumatic events affect the mental health of those exposed, as well as practical approaches and tools that can be used to meet their psychological needs.
This well being guide is for individual self-care, and for peers and teams who work together. Each section can be tested or incorporated within regular meetings with a focus on caring for the carers. Humanitarians and people working in helping professions need to take care of themselves in order not to burn out and to be effective in their work. The exercises in this guide are for all humanitarian staff, volunteers and for recipients of mental health and psychosocial support services. If practised and used regularly, this catalogue of tried and practised tools can regulate stress, calm when distressed, promote sleep, and strengthen inner resilience. This guide is available in Ukrainian, Arabic, Portuguese, Bosnian and French.
The Psychological First Aid Training Manual for Child Practitioners (PFA) was developed by Save the Children Denmark for the Child Protection Initiative, to facilitate training in psychological first aid with a focus on children. It is aimed at developing skills and competences that will help child protection staff reduce the initial distress of children who have recently been exposed to a traumatic event. The training targets Save the Childrens staff, partners, and professionals such as teachers, educators, health and social workers etc., and volunteers working directly with children in emergencies or in the aftermath of conflicts, natural disasters and critical events. It is available in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic.
The PFA II, Dealing with traumatic responses in children manual provides guidance for staff working with children who are severely affected psychologically by acute crisis. It is not a clinical tool and does not in itself qualify staff to engage in clinical interventions. Save the Children’s Psychological First Aid Training for Child Practitioners, which is currently being rolled out in several regions, lays the foundation for providing PFA as a basic psychological support. The manual is available in both English and Arabic.
The PFA one-day programme manual is a condensed psychological first aid training based on the original two-day Psychological First Aid Training for Child Practitioners. It builds on adaptations of this manual in Japan, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. This training offers child practitioners skills and competencies to reduce the initial distress of children caused by accidents, natural disasters, conflicts, and other critical incidents. The program is available in both English and Arabic.
Psychological First Aid for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has been developed for the staff and volunteers of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and other organizations working in situations where psychological first aid (PFA) may be relevant. Psychological first aid is a direct response and set of actions to help someone in distress. It is an approach to helping that is particularly well-suited for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, as it is based on the fundamental principle of humanity and the intention to help prevent and alleviate human suffering. (In English, Dari, Arabic, French, Japanese, Chinese, and Ukrainian)
Psychological First Aid for Schools (PFA-S) is an evidence-informed intervention model to assist students, families, school personnel, and school partners in the immediate aftermath of an emergency. PFA-S is designed to reduce the initial distress caused by emergencies, and to foster short- and long-term adaptive functioning and coping.
Traumatized students are especially prone to difficulty in self-regulation, negative thinking, being on high alert, difficulty trusting adults, and inappropriate social interactions (Lacoe, 2013; Terrasi & de Galarce, 2017). They often haven’t learned to express emotions healthily and instead show their distress through aggression, avoidance, shutting down, or other off-putting behaviors. These actions can feel antagonistic to teachers who don’t understand the root cause of the student’s behavior, which can lead to misunderstandings, ineffective interventions, and missed learning time.
Neurobiologically, students can’t learn if they don’t feel safe, known, and cared for within their schools (Aupperle et al., 2012). When teachers are proactive and responsive to the needs of students suffering from traumatic stress and make small changes in the classroom that foster a feeling of safety, it makes a huge difference in their ability to learn.
We also know that in times of crises and disaster there is an increased level of violence, in particular gender-based violence (GBV). GBV is a serious problem in the context of complex emergencies and natural disasters where normal structures of society are seriously affected and alternative safeguards not yet in place. Women and children are often targets of abuse and are the most vulnerable to exploitation, violence, and abuse simply because of their gender, age, and status in society. Women and girls that are displaced from their homes will often experience multiple traumatic experiences.
Guideline by the International Committee of the Red Cross. Rates of mental health problems often increase during natural disasters, war and conflict, and pre-existing disorders may also resurface or be exacerbated by conflict or violence. Although people with mental health disorders constitute a particularly vulnerable group, they are often neglected. Chapter 7 concerns people affected by emergencies.
An evidence-informed modular approach for assisting people in the immediate aftermath of disaster and terrorism: to reduce initial distress, and to foster short and long-term adaptive functioning. It is for use by disaster responders including first responders, incident command systems, primary and emergency health care providers, school crisis response teams, faith-based organizations, disaster relief organizations.
These pages cover the impact of floods on Children and Families with headlines such as Readiness, Response, and Recovery regarding floods.
Situation reports are the main reporting tool to monitor UNICEF’s humanitarian response. They provide an update on the situation and needs of children in a country or region, as well as information on UNICEF’s response and funding requirements.
This toolkit is a compilation of a range of several practice guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in humanitarian contexts, to enable easy access to key multi-lingual resources. The aim is to provide MHPSS practitioners, policy and decision-makers easily-accessible information on resources and tools related to mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) that are useful in the case of an emergency.
Offers day-to-day information about the situation in Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh provinces, and the surrounding areas. Says something about the situation and the coming risk. PDF of the full report here.
The HumanitarianResponse.info platform is provided to the humanitarian community by OCHA as a means to help responders coordinate their work on the ground. Here you will find updated information on Pakistan.
Better Learning Programme 1: Supporting Students’ Recovery in Emergencies. The handbook Better learning programs is created by NRC, UiT and Jon-Håkon Schultz, Helen Norheim, Sonia Gomez, Annelies Ollieuz. This handbook is for teachers working with children in the demanding conditions of emergencies – war, conflict, natural disasters, and other types of crises – and their aftermath.
ICAR Foundation based in Romania. Support for Ukrainian migrants. Through its teams near the border-crossings with Ukraine, ICAR supports the Ukrainian migrants with medical assistance, social and psychological counselling services.
Psychosocial support to people in Ukraine and impacted countries
The IFRC PS Centre provides a resource library with guides, manuals, and training material to assist the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement in psychosocial support to the millions of people who have left their homes in Ukraine and crossed into neighbouring countries.
ICMP works with governments, civil society organizations, justice institutions, international organizations and others throughout the world to address the issue of people who have gone missing as a result of armed conflict, human rights abuses, disasters, organized crime, irregular migration and other causes. Their mission is to ensure the cooperation of governments and others in addressing the issue of missing persons, including provisions to build institutional capacity, encourage public involvement and address the needs of justice, and to provide technical assistance to governments in locating, recovering and identifying missing persons.
In helping refugees, asylum-seekers, detainees, and torture survivors, a major challenge is quickly locating resources that fit the situation and the individual. This website (set up by a clinical psychologist) collects over 130 useful links to help torture survivors and asylum seekers to find information on guidelines, networks, legal services, etc.
The International Cities of Refuge Network (ICORN) is an independent organisation of cities and regions offering shelter to writers and artists at risk, advancing freedom of expression, defending democratic values and promoting international solidarity. ICORN member cities offer shelter to those at risk as a direct consequence of their creative activities. Their aim is to be able to host as many persecuted writers and artists as possible in ICORN cities and together with our sister networks and organisations, to form a dynamic and sustainable global network for freedom of expression.
The UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture is a unique and universal humanitarian tool available to the UN and OHCHR providing direct assistance to victims of torture and their family members wherever torture occurs – as outlined in its Mission statement: E | F | S (PDF) and Q&A on the Fund. The Fund aims at healing the physical and psychological consequences of torture on victims and their families, thus restoring their dignity and role in society.
The Trust Fund for Victims envisions a world where the rights of individuals are fulfilled and where survivors of the gravest human rights violations are empowered to live a life of hope, dignity and respect. The Trust Fund for Victims responds to the harm resulting from the crimes under the jurisdiction of the ICC by ensuring the rights of victims and their families through the provision of reparations and assistance.
Working in: Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Northern Uganda.
For adult survivors of trauma, violence, and loss through an innovative, clinically-proven model of comprehensive care, advocacy, and outreach. The goal of the organisation is to eliminate barriers to healing and inspire survivors to embrace hope. Based in San Francisco, USA.