Mental Health Takes Center Stage

Launch of Guidelines Important Step Forward

September 14, 2007, Los Angeles, CA – International Medical Corps is proud to be one of the signatories on a new set of mental health guidelines aimed at providing the best possible care to survivors of conflict and disaster. The product of more than two dozen agencies coming together, the guidelines are a major step forward for organizations like IMC who are providing care on the ground, and for the communities we serve.

“This is an excellent example of collaboration around an extremely important issue to have 27 agencies sit down over two years, discuss all the possible ideas and come up with an agreed upon framework," says Mary Pack, IMC’s Vice President of Domestic and International Affairs. The comprehensive guidelines, put out by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee, are not just about treating mental disorders, but providing social support for the whole affected community.

IMC Psychiatrist Lynne Jones uses finger puppets as part of story-telling exercises with children at an IDP camp in northern Uganda.

“They say quite clearly that mental health and psychosocial support are cross-cutting issues that affect all aspects of humanitarian work,” says Lynne Jones, OBE, MRC Psych, PhD, IMC’s technical adviser in mental health. “For the woman in Pakistan who has just been involved in an earthquake, the camp manager now has guidelines on the psychosocial aspects of food distribution, the provision of shelter, water, education for her children, and other necessities. The whole way she’s provided with humanitarian support should be done in a way that actually reduces her stress and doesn’t increase it.”

Over the past several years, IMC has successfully integrated mental health services into primary care programs, reached out to affected communities, and helped reduce the stigma of mental illness. We have made mental health a flagship initiative and are dedicated to promoting the mental well-being of people in areas affected by disaster and conflict around the world.

	A drawing by an 11-year-old girl from Darfur, depicting the graphic violence he had witnessed. Art therapy in refugee camps like this one in Chad, is a crucial component of IMC’s psychosocial programs worldwide.

“I’m really pleased that our approach to mental health is in keeping with the agreed consensus from the wider community,” says Jones, who has extensive experience in the field. IMC has played a role, along with many other agencies, in creating the consensus, demonstrating that inter-agency cooperation is not just possible but can move things forward.

Among other things, the guidelines also address how best to handle pre-existing mental health conditions, which has been largely ignored in the developing world.

Read the multi-agency release

Download the complete guidelines

Read about IMC’s pioneering program in Uganda

Read a recent editorial on mental health in disaster settings published
in the British Medical Journal