MHPSS and EIE Toolkit

IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

The IASC Guidelines is a key reference document for MHPSS in emergencies. It provides essential guidance for multi-sectoral essential minimum responses to protect and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being in emergencies. It offers an overall framework for the integration of MHPSS activities and services in humanitarian settings across different sectors such as health, protection and education. As well as recommending essential minimum responses, it gives guidance on what should be included in a more comprehensive response for each sector. Detailed recommendations for key actions to strengthen access to safe and supportive education in emergency settings are given in action sheet 7.1 (p148-156).

Community-Based Approaches to MHPSS Programmes: A Guidance Note

This brief guidance note explains community-based approaches to Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in emergencies, and the importance of viewing emergency-affected people as active participants in improving individual and collective well-being. It highlights the importance of community-based approaches for encouraging recovery and resilience, and for contributing to restoring and/or strengthening collective structures and systems essential to daily life and well-being. It gives brief guidance on how to assess, plan, implement and evaluate community-based approaches to MHPSS. It highlights ethical dilemmas and practical difficulties and presents ethical guidelines for implementation.

IASC Reference Group Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Assessment Guide

This guide provides key assessment questions for rapid assessments of MHPSS in humanitarian emergencies and questions for integration in other sector assessments. It gives an overview of essential elements in performing MHPSS assessments that are: (a) relevant for all phases of the emergency and (b) generally applicable to all emergencies. It discusses ethics and guiding principles for conducting MHPSS assessments. In the annexes it provides templates for conducting desk reviews and participatory assessments. For more detailed guidance on conducting ethical research see the IASC’s Recommendations for Conducting Ethical Mental Health and Psychosocial Research in Emergency Settings.

Operational Guidelines on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Humanitarian Settings: Three-Tiered Support for Children and Families

These detailed guidelines offer practical information and tools to implement community-based MHPSS interventions to address the protection and psychosocial support needs of children and families, in parallel with tailored mental health interventions for those most in need. They help agencies working with children to support and promote safe, nurturing environments for children’s recovery, psychosocial well-being, and protection. They provide a framework for engaging actors at all levels (children, caregivers, families and community service providers) to design and implement MHPSS strategies that are locally relevant, comprehensive and sustainable. The Operational Guidelines are accompanied by a Compendium of Resources (see Linked Resources section). This document has been replaced with a new version: Global Multisectoral Operational Framework for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support of Children, Adolescents and Caregivers Across Settings [Field Demonstration Version] (see Linked Resources section).

Who is Where, When, doing What (4Ws) in Mental Health and Psychosocial Support: Manual with Activity Codes

The 4Ws tool maps MHPSS activities in humanitarian settings across sectors. It is for MHPSS coordination in emergencies where there are numerous MHPSS actors. The tool consists of two parts: (a) a manual describing how to collect the data; and (b) a Data Collection Spreadsheet. This 4Ws tool provides an overview of the scope of the MHPSS response; helps identify gaps in the response and enables coordinated action. It can support referrals by making information available about who is where, when, doing what. Specific activity codes are given for categorising activities related to Psychosocial support in education and Safe spaces (see p14-15).

Compendium of Resources - A Supporting Document to UNICEF’s Operational Guidance: Community Based Child Protection

This detailed compendium supports UNICEF’s Operational Guidance on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (see Linked Resources section). It provides a set of resources for the four different MHPSS intervention levels as well as a section on Monitoring and Evaluation Resources. For each resource there is: a description; notes on appropriate use, scope, training requirements for using the resource and key inputs required; links to the resource itself and information about key tools contained within it; and notes about applications and further references. The compendium provides resources to inspire program development across a broad spectrum of approaches within the frame of the IASC Guidelines for MHPSS in Emergencies.

Assessing Mental Health and Psychosocial Needs and Resources: Toolkit for Humanitarian Settings

This toolkit provides a detailed guide for assessing MHPSS in humanitarian crises. It describes tools for different kinds of assessment, and recommends tools for assessing MHPSS through the health sector and through community support and other sectors. It gives a structured process and good practice principles which are helpful for conducting assessments in any sector.

Manual on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergencies and Displacement

This manual aims to facilitate IOM MHPSS experts and managers and partners in designing, implementing and evaluating community-based MHPSS programmes, projects and activities for emergency-affected and displaced populations in humanitarian settings. It consists of 16 chapters and two annexes covering: theories, describing processes (e.g. training, technical supervision, assessment and community mobilization), instructing on how to organize activities (e.g. sport and art-based activities, community-based supports for people with severe mental disorders), and tackling the operational dimension of linking MHPSS to other sectors, like protection, conflict transformation and livelihood support. It provides links and references to wider resources. Chapter 9 focuses on non-formal education and informal learning.

A Compendium of Tools for the Assessment of the Mental Health and Psychosocial Wellbeing of Children in the Context of Humanitarian Emergencies

This compendium helps practitioners in humanitarian contexts select a measure for assessing the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children. It provides details of 48 assessment measures and approaches that have been used in different contexts and guidance to select which is relevant. For each measure it presents: an overview/description; information about with whom and for what the assessment is suitable; examples of use; restrictions in use; and where it is available from. A decision-making guide in the form of a flow chart is provided at the end of the compendium to assist the process of matching the measurement approach to context and requirements.

Community-Based Psychosocial Support

This training kit provides resources for trainers and participants in key aspects of psychosocial support, including: understanding the impact of crisis events, supportive communication, protection issues and self-care. ### The kit features the following components: - Community-based psychosocial support - Trainer’s book - Community-based psychosocial support - Participant’s book - PowerPoint slides - ‘Strengthening Resilience’: A Global Selection of Psychosocial Interventions

Global Multisectoral Operational Framework for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support of Children, Adolescents and Caregivers Across Settings [Field Demonstration version]

UNICEF’s operational framework aims to help UNICEF staff and partners develop programmes across the social ecological model and the mental health continuum of prevention, promotion and treatment to improve the mental health and psychosocial wellbeing of children, adolescents and their caregivers globally. The strategies and approaches included in the framework will help in accelerating actions for children’s, adolescents’ and caregivers’ mental health and psychosocial wellbeing in national and regional development strategies. The framework can be used in development contexts, humanitarian contexts and within the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. This operational framework emphasizes engaging actors in the health, social welfare and child protection and education sectors at all levels of society to design, implement and evaluate MHPSS strategies that are locally relevant, comprehensive and sustainable.

A Common Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for MHPSS in Emergency Settings

This framework provides guidance on the assessment, research, design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of MHPSS programmes in emergency settings. Although designed specifically for emergency contexts (including protracted crises), the framework may also be applicable for the transition phases from emergency to development (including disaster risk reduction initiatives). It assumes familiarity with the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings.

Mental Health and Psychosocial Support for Children in Humanitarian Settings: An Updated Review of Evidence and Practice

This resource provides practitioners working with children in humanitarian settings with a detailed review of practice and evidence in the field of MHPSS. This version includes recent evidence updates (2015-2020), addresses gaps in the previous version, and includes additional evidence on child and community participation. It considers epidemiological studies that explored associations between risk and protective factors and MHPSS outcomes; peer-reviewed studies of interventions; and program evaluations. In relation to practice case studies and programme descriptions are reviewed. It is organised around thirteen risk and protective factors associated with the individual, the family/caregivers, education, community and multiple levels. This compilation of evidence and best practice complements UNICEF’s Guidelines on Community-Based Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Humanitarian Settings and UNICEF’s Compendium of Resources.

Guidelines: With Us & For Us: Working With and for Young People in Humanitarian and Protracted Crises

These guidelines provide a framework for working with and for young people throughout the humanitarian program cycle, complete with tips, examples, and case studies. In addition, humanitarian actors can use this guidance as reference to design programmes that respond to their context. These guidelines are for all humanitarian aid staff at the country level, including staff of civil society organizations (CSOs; including disabled persons organizations), local and national non-governmental organizations (NGOs), government agencies, international NGOs. It can and should be applied in all phases of humanitarian action (to inform disaster risk reduction, preparedness, response, transition and recovery), in the context of both rapid- onset and slow-onset emergencies, for natural hazards, conflicts, protracted crises, and during refugee and internal displacement situations, as well as in peacebuilding contexts.