In Haiti, a country suffering from high levels of violence, poverty and instability – including a recent period of heightened unrest – mental health issues are widespread. SOS Children’s Villages Haiti, the UK and Italy are collaborating on a new Elrha-funded project to provide mental health and psychosocial support to young people and their caregivers.
Haiti is currently facing multiple compounded crises. Political volatility, significant armed gang violence, food shortage and frequent natural disasters, all take their toll on the mental health of the population. To add to this, there is very little mental health support available, with only one psychologist for every 75,000 people.
Children and young people, particularly those without parental care and those living in the most deprived areas, are especially vulnerable to psychological distress and mental health problems such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“When you see kids living in that situation, that’s a very difficult situation. Kids seeing their parents, their own parents or their neighbour, being killed in front of them, people being burned in front of them. You know that in the future those kids will have big mental health problems.”
Faimy Carmelle
Loiseau National Director, SOS Children’s Villages Haiti
Additionally, many caregivers are experiencing high levels of trauma themselves. The mental health of a parent or caregiver directly correlates with their ability to look after the children in their care, which is why mental health is a key priority for SOS Children’s Villages.
This initiative, Introducing PM+ to Haiti, is designed to help people in Haiti to tackle the trauma they have experienced and continue to face, to achieve greater resilience in the future.
The project uses Problem Management plus (PM+), a mental health support model developed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).PM+ is specifically designed to help people over 16 years of age who experience distress in communities that are exposed to adversity. The approach, which is proven to be effective in reducing depression and anxiety, trains non-mental health experts in how to help people experiencing trauma.
Despite recent volatility, a series of training sessions for SOS Children’s Villages’ staff was successfully conducted online due to security concerns and participants being unable to travel. The participants trained felt that the training was particularly relevant for Haiti given the constant crises and trauma experienced by so many people, and they felt it would equip them to better manage the challenges facing their country.
“Every day I had the opportunity to learn and grow thanks to your teachings and support. Your educational approach was remarkable, promoting an environment conducive to learning and to the exchange of ideas. I am convinced that the knowledge acquired on PM+ during this training will have a significant impact on my work and my future career.”
Training Participant
Introducing PM+ to Haiti is funded and supported by Elrha’s Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) programme, a grant making facility which improves outcomes for people affected by humanitarian crises by identifying, nurturing and sharing more effective, innovative and scalable solutions.
HIF programme is specifically funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Elrha is a global organisation that that finds solutions to complex humanitarian problems through research and innovation. Visit www.elrha.org to find out more.