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IASC Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

 The experience of an emergency can significantly impact the mental health and psychosocial well-being of a person. It can have immediate as well as long-term consequences for individuals, families and communities. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in Emergency Settings (IASC, 2007) were developed through an inclusive process, with input from UN agencies, NGOs and Universities. The Guidelines help to plan, establish and coordinate a set of minimum multi-sectoral responses to protect, support and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in the midst of an emergency.

The IASC MHPSS Reference Group was established in December 2007. Its main task is to support and advocate for the implementation of the Guidelines. The Reference Group consists of more than 30 members, and fosters a unique collaboration between NGOs, UN and International Agencies and academics, promoting best practices in MHPSS. 
 

» The aims of the Reference Group are:

  1. To facilitate integration of the core principles of the Guidelines into all sectors of emergency response;
  2. To foster collaboration amongst agencies and diverse stakeholders (such as governments and communities) for MHPSS in emergencies;
  3. To support interagency coordination and activities for MHPSS at global, regional and national levels;
  4. To develop relevant tools linked to the Guidelines and share these with relevant actors in the field;
  5. To encourage individual agencies to institutionalise the Guidelines;
  6. To promote and support ongoing capacity development to enable effective use of the Guidelines and related tools;
  7. To share experiences of Guidelines implementation among MHPSS actors;
  8. To interface with the UN Cluster System to include MHPSS in policies, tools, capacity building and planning processes;
  9. To facilitate language translations, printing and dissemination and of the Guidelines.

» IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings:

The IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (English) have been disseminated widely and translated into several languages including Arabic, Chinese, French, Japanese, Nepali, Spanish, Tajik, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Korean and Russian. Responding to needs indicated by humanitarian actors, the Reference Group has published tools related to the Guidelines almost every year since 2007.

» Related IASC materials and tools:

  • IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support: Checklist for Field Use (2008)
  • IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support: What should Protection Programme Managers Know? (2010)
  • IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support: What should Humanitarian Health Actors Know? (2010)
  • IASC: Who is Where, When, doing What in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (2012)
  • IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support: What should Camp Coordinators and camp Management Actors Know? (2013)
  • IASC Reference Group Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Asessment Guide (2013)
  • Review of the Implementation of the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings. How are we doing? (2014)
  • IASC Recommendations for Conducting Ethical Mental Health and Psychosocial Research in Emergency Settings (2014)

In 2017 the group published A Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for MHPSS in Emergency Settings.

For other 2017 initiatives please refer to the IASC RG MHPSS 2017-work plan. The Reference Group shares work in progress and resources also via mhpss.net

For further information on the Reference Group or on the IASC Guidelines, please kindly contact one of the Co-Chairs (see contact details on this page)

Building Sustainable Mental Health Systems During and After Emergencies

Created by World Health Organisation (WHO)

Upcoming meetings

Apr
19
2021

Humanitarian Partnership Network Week (HNPW) Session on Establishing an interagency rapid deployment mechanism for mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings: what did we do and what did we learn?

Geneva
15:00 to 16:00
Apr
19
2021

Humanitarian Partnership Network Week (HNPW) Session on Establishing an interagency rapid deployment mechanism for mental health and psychosocial support in humanitarian settings: what did we do and what did we learn?

Geneva
15:00 to 16:00
Apr
21
2021

HNPW Session on Inter-Agency Response to Mental Health and Psychosocial Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic

Geneva
15:00 to 17:00
Apr
21
2021

HNPW Session on Inter-Agency Response to Mental Health and Psychosocial Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic

Geneva
15:00 to 17:00
Apr
23
2021

Disrupting power and organizational culture – taking gender equality and women’s empowerment beyond protection

Geneva
15:00 to 16:00
Apr
23
2021

Disrupting power and organizational culture – taking gender equality and women’s empowerment beyond protection

Geneva
15:00 to 16:00
View all meetings

Past meetings

Nov
17 - 18
2020

Annual meeting of the IASC’s MHPSS Reference Group

Virtual
(All day)
Jun
26
2020

IASC briefing on "The Integration of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in the COVID-19 Response"

Webex - Online webinar
15:00 to 16:15
Jun
26
2020

IASC briefing on "The Integration of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in the COVID-19 Response"

Webex - Online webinar
15:00 to 16:15
Jun
15 - 17
2020

Global Country Level MHPSS Technical Working Group Chairs Retreat

Kiev
(All day)
Jun
15 - 17
2020

Global Country Level MHPSS Technical Working Group Chairs Retreat

Kiev
(All day)
Oct
29 - 31
2018

IASC MHPSS RG Annual Meeting

Amman, Jordan
(All day)
More past meetings

Recent news

  • NEW: Living with the Times, A Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Toolkit for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic
    15 March 2021
  • Adapted from the IASC Children's Book, The Animated Film of "My hero is You" is now Available!
    20 August 2020
  • IASC Guidance on Operational considerations for Multisectoral Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Programmes during the COVID-19 Pandemic
    25 June 2020
  • António Guterres (UN Secretary-General) on COVID-19 and the need for action on mental health
    13 May 2020
  • My Hero is You, Storybook for Children on COVID-19
    9 April 2020
More news
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support - Resources for COVID-19
Photo from the storybook My Hero is You! A mother and a daughter.

 

MHPSS Achievements 2019-2020

infographic

Psychological Support to Displaced Families in IDP Camps

Created by OCHA

Co-Chairs

  • Carmen Valle Trabadelo
    Dr. Carmen Valle Trabadelo
    IFRC Reference Centre for Psychosocial Support
    IFRC
    City: Copenhagen
    Email
    mhpss.refgroup [at] gmail.com
  • Dr. Fahmy Hanna
    Technical Officer, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse
    WHO
    City: Geneva
    Email
    hannaf [at] who.int

Sections

  • Documents
  • Meetings
  • News

Recent documents

  • Living with the Times, A Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Toolkit for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic
    Published Date
    15 March 2021
  • Technical Note, Linking Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS): Practical Tools, Approaches and Case Studies
    Published Date
    15 March 2021
  • Actions for Heroes, A Guide for heart-to-heart chats with Children to accompany reading of My Hero is You, How kids can fight COVID-19!
    Published Date
    5 February 2021
  • Joint Interagency Call for Action on MHPSS 2020
    Published Date
    16 December 2020
  • MHPSS Achievements 2019-2020
    Published Date
    16 December 2020
View all documents
Products
  • Living with the Times, A Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Toolkit for Older Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic

         15 March 2021

  • Technical Note on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS): Practical Tools, Approaches and Case Studies :

         15 March, 2021

  • Interim Briefing Note Addressing Mental Health and Psychosocial Aspects of COVID-19 Outbreak (developed by the IASC’s Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support)

          March 17, 2020

  • My Hero is You, Storybook for Children on COVID-19

          March 31, 2020

  • IASC Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Programmes in Emergency Settings, 2017

    April 12, 2017

  • IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, 2007

    June 1, 2007

Terms of Reference
  • Terms of Reference IASC Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support

    January 22, 2018

Work Plans and Progress Reports
  • Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in Emergency Settings, Progress Report, April-October 2019

    October 25, 2019

  • Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, Work Plan, 2018

    November 6, 2018

  • 2017 Progress Report - IASC Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

    March 10, 2017

  • RG MHPSS Progress report (September 2015)

    October 5, 2015

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