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Training of Trainers on Psychological First Aid (PFA) – Application Form (123.5Kb)
Training of Trainers on Psychological First Aid (PFA) for Crisis Events in
Sri Lanka: 14th – 17th June 2012 (Sinhala) and 7th-10th July 2012 (Tamil) in Batticaloa
Please refer ‘Training of Trainers on Psychological First Aid (PFA) – Call for Applications’ which is uploaded to this group separately, for further information regarding the training.
Training of Trainers on Psychological First Aid (PFA) – Call for Applications (149Kb)
Training of Trainers on Psychological First Aid (PFA) for Crisis Events in
Sri Lanka: 14th – 17th June 2012 (Sinhala) and 7th-10th July 2012 (Tamil) in Batticaloa
Applications are invited for a Training of Trainers programme on
“Psychological First Aid (PFA) for Crisis Events in Sri Lanka”. This
training is designed to equip participants to deliver training in
Psychological First Aid in Sinhala or Tamil to a wide spectrum of
potential responders to large and small scale crisis events in community
settings. The training content is based on the international field guide
published by WHO, War-Trauma Foundation and World Vision International in 2011, which is currently being translated and adapted for use in Sri Lanka
by The Good Practice Group, in collaboration with World Vision Australia.
This programme is relevant for trainers of emergency workers, humanitarian
personnel, health and education staff, community workers and community
members.
Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an evidence-supported approach for
immediate post-crisis psychosocial care, recommended by the IASC
Guidelines for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency
Settings (2007), the current Sphere Guidelines (2011) and the WHO Mental
Health GAP Intervention Guide (2010). PFA covers both social and
psychological support and involves the provision of humane, supportive and
practical help to people suffering from serious crisis events. It is the
expert-recommended alternative to immediate psychological therapies -
which are not supported by available evidence to be appropriate in an
acute crisis.
This is the detailed call for applications, which provides
background information to the training process and its contents. An application form for prospective participants is uploaded separately.
There are only 30 places available (15 in each language group) and
applications will be processed on a ‘rolling’ basis. Therefore please do
encourage interested candidates to apply as early as possible to avoid
disappointment. Applications close on 18th May 2012.
For further information, please contact Gayathri Jayasooriya: 0777-574826
/ gayathri@goodpracticegroup.org .
- Discussion guide 4: Non-western concepts of mental health (321.6Kb)
Author: Dr Alcinda Honwana
UNHCR.(1998).Refugee children:Guidelines on
protection and care.Geneva:UNHCR.
This discussion guide examines non-western concepts of mental health, specifically from Mozambique and Angola.It looks at the ways in which mental health and illness can be understood outside the framework of western biomedical paradigms.It discusses how mental health is understood by local people,how it relates to war and other social crises,and what kinds of therapeutic strategies people use to deal with the social and emotional problems caused by deep social crisis. - Community Based Psychological Support Training (2Mb)
IFRC and Red Crescent Societies, 2003
Principal author: Lise Flindt Simonsen, Psychological Support Officer, International Federation
Co-author: Gilbert Reyes, Disaster Mental Health Institute, University of South
Dakota, USA
Critical events, such as disasters, conflicts, wars, accidents and health epidemics bring with them social and psychological consequences that often undermine people’s ability to carry on with their lives. Traditional approaches to disaster and emergency assistance have often neglected the psychological impact of crises on affected populations.
This training manual builds on the experience of psychological support gathered in many different critical events over the last decade by National Societies, and covers more recently developed technical areas as well as recommended methodologies. The manual contains information on the skills and techniques required to provide the kind of support which helps people function under the extraordinary level of stress found in most disaster or critical event situations.
- Communication and Helping Skills for Humanitarian Workers (325.1Kb)
This training manual focuses on the skills required by humanitarian workers in order to communicate effectively in the challenging situations in which we work. Its aims are twofold: to improve the quality of our working relationships, and to enhance our effectiveness as helpers. It concentrates on skills of particular significance to humanitarian workers
operating in situations of conflict or post-conflict. It is written in an interactive style, with participative exercises, and can be used both by a training group or by individuals applying the processes to their specific work environments. - How can the skills of professionals working with children be improved? [EN / FR] (16.8Kb)
A new manual developed by Terre des hommes (Tdh) answers pressing questions: which are the skills needed by professionals working with children? How can they be improved and afterwards assessed? Because today we know that special skills are required to best help vulnerable children develop their self-confidence and autonomy.
http://www.tdh.ch/en/documents/manual-of-psychosocial-skills - Psychological first aid pilot: Haiti emergency response (161.7Kb)
Schafer, A, Snider L, and M. van Ommeren (2010), Psychological first aid pilot: Haiti emergency response, Intervention, Volume 8, Number 3, Page 245 - 254
Psychological First aid (PFA) is an approach for providing basic psychological support to people in acute distress. It is now viewed as one of the primary early psychosocial interventions during, or immediately following, a crisis.WorldVision International, War Trauma Foundation and World Health Organisation have developed a PFA guide for low and middle income countries (LAMIC) following acute emergencies. After the Haiti earthquake, World Vision International (WVI) undertook a pilot orientation to test the draft PFA guide and to provide some basic information on PFA for those assisting in an acute emergency. This paper documents lessons learned fromthe pilot within the Haiti context, including the use of brief PFA materials. The staff found PFA to be a useful, empowering approach to providing psychosocial support to people affected by the earthquake. One key lesson was that the full version of the draft PFA guide could serve as a comprehensive model (adapted to context), while a shorter version can be used as a generic resource in the immediate aftermath of an emergency. The draft PFA materials designed for LAMIC show promise as a resource for Haiti, and potentially other humanitarian contexts in the future.
- Systematic Review of Psychological First Aid (98.8Kb)
Jonathan I Bisson and Catrin Lewis, Cardiff University Commissioned by the World Health Organisation. 31 July 2009.
PFA continues to be described as an evidence-informed approach but has not yet been subjected to a formal systematic review of its effectiveness. In order to address this, the World Health Organisation commissioned us to conduct a systematic review to determine the current evidence base. As we were not aware of any randomised controlled trials of PFA we decided to consider any data containing study regarding its effectiveness. We also conducted a systematic review of predictors of PTSD and depression to determine if there were other sources of research that could inform its potential effectiveness. - Anthology of Resources WVI & WTF (2.9Mb)
ANTHOLOGY OF RESOURCES: PSYCHOLOGICAL FIRST AID FOR LOW AND MIDDLE INCOME COUNTRIES PROJECT 2009-2010
World Vision International and the War Trauma Foundation
The following is a collection of resources gathered in 2009-2010 for the project to develop a Psychological First Aid Guide for low and middle income countries. Resources were reviewed to inform the project, and included for their interest and relevance to the theme. - Five Essential Elements (248.6Kb)
Hobfoll et al. 2007. Five essential elements of immediate and mid-term mass trauma intervention: Empirical evidence. Psychiatry: Interpersonal and Biological Processes. 70(4), 283-315.
Given the devastation caused by disasters and mass violence, it is critical that intervention policy be based on the most updated research findings. However, to date, no evidence–based consensus has been reached supporting a clear set of recom-mendations for intervention during the immediate and the mid–term post mass trauma phases. Because it is unlikely that there will be evidence in the near or mid–term future from clinical trials that cover the diversity of disaster and mass violence circumstances, we assembled a worldwide panel of experts on the study and treatment of those exposed to disaster and mass violence to extrapolate from related fields of research, and to gain consensus on intervention principles. We identified five empirically supported ntervention principles that should be used to guide and inform intervention and prevention efforts at the early to mid–term stages. These are promoting: 1) a sense of safety, 2) calming, 3) a sense of self– and community efficacy, 4) connectedness, and 5) hope. - Psychological first aid: Guide for fieldworkers (1.4Mb)
World Health Organization, War Trauma Foundation and World Vision
International (2011). Psychological first aid: Guide for field workers. WHO: Geneva.
"Psychological first aid has been recommended by many international and national expert groups, including the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) and the Sphere Project. Psychological first aid is an alternative to psychological debriefing. In 2009, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) mhGAP Guidelines Development Group evaluated the evidence for psychological first aid and psychological debriefing. They concluded that psychological first aid, rather than psychological debriefing, should be offered to people in severe distress after being recently exposed to a traumatic event.
This guide was developed in order to have widely agreed upon psychological first aid materials for use in low and middle income countries. The information we have given here is a model only. You will need to adapt it appropriately to the local context and the culture of the people you will help.
This guide – endorsed by many international agencies – reflects the emerging science and international consensus on how to support people in the immediate aftermath of extremely stressful events." - Nancy Baron / Prepared for Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), Facilitator’s Guide / Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings: Skills for Emergency Response (413Kb)
This is the FACILITATOR’S GUIDE for a 3 days workshop in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings. It provides a day-by-day description of modules that can be used for training emergency responders, who are not mental health professionals, about how to utilize the key principles of the IASC MHPSS Guidelines in their response. - Communication & Helping Skills for Aid Workers (325.1Kb)
This training manual focuses on the skills required by humanitarian workers in order to communicate effectively in the challenging situations in which we work. Its aims are twofold: to improve the quality of our working relationships, and to enhance our effectiveness as helpers. It concentrates on skills of particular significance to humanitarian workers operating in situations of conflict or post-conflict. It is written in an interactive style, with participative exercises, and can be used both by a training group
or by individuals applying the processes to their specific work environments. - PSS Programs for Children and Youth in Complex Emergencies (163.5Kb)
This module is intended to lay a basis for understanding both the usefulness and potential problems in current thinking with regard to developing and implementing psychosocial programs for children and youth in complex emergency settings. It is not intended to provide the “truth” in the form of recipes that can be applied across situations and across cultures without thought. Rather, the intent is to offer principles that can be discussed and amended, so that their application will be unique to the people involved, the situation, the time, and the available resources. Most important, it is intended to invite an attitude of positive psychosocial intervention that offers hope and possible futures for the beneficiaries and for the psychosocial workers. - PSS Programs for Children and Youth in Complex Emergencies (163.5Kb)
This module is intended to lay a basis for understanding both the usefulness and potential problems in current thinking with regard to developing and implementing psychosocial programs for children and youth in complex emergency settings. It is not intended to provide the “truth” in the form of recipes that can be applied across situations and across cultures without thought. Rather, the intent is to offer principles that can be discussed and amended, so that their application will be unique to the people involved, the situation, the time, and the available resources. Most important, it is intended to invite an attitude of positive psychosocial intervention that offers hope and possible futures for the beneficiaries and for the psychosocial workers. - 30hr Aid Wkers PSS Train Guide-01 Intro (211.6Kb)
This contains a 30-hour psychosocial training module and associated resources to facilitate the training of humanitarian assistance workers in response to the psychosocial needs of refugees.The module is targeting the development of critical competences in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of psychosocial programmes. - Nancy Baron / 6 IASC MHPSS Orientation Seminars (605Kb)
This guide contains detailed outlines for 6 Orientation Seminar that you can facilitate to disseminate and implement the IASC MHPSS Guidelines in Emergency Settings. It includes workshops for:
Food security staff
Water, sanitation and hygiene staff (WASH)
Education staff
Donors
Media
General aid workers
- Nancy Baron / Training refugees to assist refugees in urban setting (23.5Kb)
In Cairo, Egypt there are refugees from Eritrea, Ethiopia, Iraq, Somalia and Sudan. We are training refugees to provide community-based MHPSS to refugees within this urban metropolis of 20 million people. Please look at: http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/international/2010/11/23/ia.help.egypt.refugees.bk.a.cnn?iref=allsearch - Nancy Baron / Lessons learned in community-based MHPSS intervention (1.3Mb)
Psychosocial Wellbeing Series / Published by REPSSI with TPO Uganda
Mainstreaming Psychosocial Care and Support / Facilitating Community Support Structures: Lessons learned in Uganda about community-based psychosocial and mental health interventions - Nancy Baron / Training health workers in conflicit and emergency settings (520.8Kb)
Psychosocial Wellbeing Series / Published by REPSSI with TPO Uganda
Mainstreaming Psychosocial Care and Support / Trainer’s Guide For Training Health Workers in Emergency Settings: Guide to Recommended Training Materials to Facilitate the Integration of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support into Health Care
