IASC guidelines on mental health and psychological support in emergency settings
Armed conflicts and natural disasters cause significant psychological and social suffering to affected populations. The psychological and social impacts of emergencies may be acute in short term, but they can also undermine the long term mental health and psychological well being of the affected population .One of the priorities in emergencies is thus to protect and improve peoples mental health and psychological well being. Achieving this priority requires coordinated action among all government and non governmental humanitarian actors.
The IASC guidelines aim at providing a multi-sectoral, interagency framework that enables effective and identifies useful practices and clarifies how different approaches to mental health and psychological support complement one another.
These guidelines provides:
- Insights of practioners from different geographical regions, disciplines, and sectors
- An emerging consensus on good practice among practitioners.
- Recommend selected psychological and psychiatric interventions for specific problems.
The publication covers:
- Core principles
- Frequently asked questions
- Matrix of interventions
- Action sheets for minimum response
- Establish coordination of intersectoral mental health and psycho social support
- Monitoring and evaluation of mental health and psycho social support
- Protection and human rights standards
The guidelines do not give details for implementation but rather contain a list of key actions with brief explanations and references to further resources regarding implementation.
