[Reader-list] Fw: [feministsindia] Mental Health & Psychosocial Support in Conflict

[kabi cubby sherman]

From: ponni arasu <mailponni at gmail.com>
To: feministsindia at yahoogroups.com; youthforsocialchange at googlegroups.com; Young 
activists <youngactivists at lists.riseup.net>
Sent: Fri, 5 November, 2010 11:31:40 PM
Subject: [feministsindia] Mental Health & Psychosocial Support in Conflict

  
A course run by friends in Sri Lanka who are committed activists and 
practitioners working in the area of Psychosocial support in the context of 
conflict. Would be a good oppurtunity for organisations and individuals in the 
field or with interest, to learn, exchange strategies and experiences and just 
meet one another. An oppurtunity to establish regional solidarities and working 
partnerships in the area.  And for a change, it is not the big brother India 
telling everyone else, what and how to do things! :)

Do consider applying. 

Warm Regards,

Ponni. 

TRAINING COURSE
Mental Health & Psychosocial Support in Conflict
15-21 December 2010, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Course Concept and Programme

OVERALL OBJECTIVES
By the end of the course, participants will be able to:
· Contextualize Mental Health & Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) approaches within 
developments within
the wider sector, both globally and in the South Asia region.
· Apply MHPSS conceptual frameworks and tools for analysis of community and 
individual level concerns
and for planning interventions
· Respond to common institutional, management and operational challenges arising 
within MHPSS
interventions in situations of conflict.

COURSE PROGRAMME
This seven-day course targets South Asia-based MHPSS practitioners working with 
mental health or
psychosocial programming, and combines classroom-based training, field visits 
and case study work in a postconflict
implementation setting in the East of Sri Lanka. The course will be most 
appropriate for practitioners with
a minimum of 2 years of experience in programme management and technical 
leadership roles, as well as for
field-based MHPSS coordinators and supervisors. It will be led by Ananda 
Galappatti and Maleeka Salih, and
is run in collaboration with The Good Practice Group, Sri Lanka.
The course focuses on sharing, questioning, exploring and debating ‘what works 
in practice’ so that participants
are equipped with a working knowledge of diverse approaches and best practices 
in the MHPSS sector, and are
encouraged to explore those which they feel might work best in their current 
work contexts. It aims to enable
participants to reflect on current challenges, constraints and questions, and to 
work towards synthesizing
learning to guide practice following the course. The material will be drawn from 
both South Asian and global
resources, with participants' own work experiences and course fieldwork being 
central to the learning approach
taken. The participants will be required to prepare for the course by 
communicating their interests and gathering
data relevant to MHPSS interventions in their respective countries prior to the 
start of the course.

BACKGROUND
Over the past two decades, the field of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support 
(MHPSS) has grown to become
a key dimension of humanitarian and development work during and after 
emergencies. This has also been the
case in South Asia, where MHPSS interventions have been developed in response to 
conflict, disaster and other
forms of adversity. There is considerable diversity within the field of MHPSS 
intervention, with a range of
approaches being used by service providers. In the region, there has been 
relatively weak cross-country
exchange despite there being similar programmatic interventions by humanitarian 
agencies and government
bodies in most countries in South Asia. The findings of a recent review of MHPSS 
approaches across South
Asia (Sonpar, 2008) suggests that there is much that be gained from learning and 
cross-fertilization of
approaches within the region.
Over the past decade, the influence and capacity of in-country resource persons 
has increased in many South
Asian conflict-zones, as on-the-ground experience and investment in local 
skill-building has accumulated.
However, knowledge flows have usually been from academic centers and 
humanitarian headquarters in the
global North, rather than from other countries in the region. This course aims 
to address this gap, and bring
together MHPSS practitioners and managers from South Asian conflict and 
post-conflict zones for structured
exchange, co-learning and engagement with recent developments in the field 
within the region and also globally.
It also acknowledges the intersection between violence, disaster and poverty 
that often characterizes the
challenges to the psychosocial wellbeing of people and group affected by recent 
conflicts in the South Asian
region.
The PDI-SL is supported by CordAid and International Alert.

MODULES
1. Defining the Field
Topic 1: Mapping the MHPSS Sector in South Asia
Objective: To gain a comparative perspective on the development of the MHPSS 
sector across South Asia and a
better understanding of participants respective relationships to these.
Topic 2: Understanding & Measuring Psychosocial Suffering and Wellbeing
Objective: To learn about diverse conceptual frameworks for understanding 
wellbeing and suffering and explore their
relevance for practice, to use the conceptual frameworks for understanding 
well-being and suffering, and to share
tools for measuring these.
2. MHPSS in the Real World
Topic 1: When the Conflict is Everywhere and in Everything...
Objective: To share and systematize experiences of what it means to do mental 
health and psychosocial support
work in conflict situations.
Topic 2: Help to Helpers and Self-Care
Objective: To engage individual and institutional strategies for strengthening 
supportive working environments
for MHPSS workers.
3. MHPSS Interventions During Conflict and After
Topic 1: Integration within Mainstream Relief, Reconstruction & Development
Objective: To examine frameworks relevant to the integration of MHPSS into 
mainstream relief, reconstruction and
post-conflict development, and to discuss promising practices and ongoing 
challenges.
Topic 2: Healing Rifts, Reconciliation and Peacebuilding
Objective: To apply relevant theoretical frameworks to issues of reconciliation, 
healing and peacebuilding, examine
approaches and implications of different practices in relation to conflict 
experiences, and to examine ongoing
challenges.
4. Building Human Capacity and Developing the MHPSS Sector
Topic: Training and Human Capacity-Building
Objective: To define content for training programmes in MHPSS work that build 
relevant and necessary skills for
frontline workers, supervisors and managers of MHPSS services, to reflect on 
best forms and methods of training for
frontline workers, supervisors and managers, and on developing an ethic and 
culture of ongoing learning and
networking.
5. Engaging with Practice In-Situ
Content : Field Visits Interwoven within each of the other modules.
Objective: To engage with selected MHPSS services, interact with management and 
staff on issues of developing
and implementing these services in-situ, and to share and compare participants' 
experiences in their own
contexts.

APPLICATIONS & FEES
To apply online please go to www.pdisl.org or email frances at pdisl.org or 
info at pdisl.org
Application deadline: Thursday 25th November 2010
Course fee: International organizations and institutions: $600.00
National organizations and institutions: $300.00
Early Bird rate (apply by Monday November 15th): discount of $50.00

'I am really glad I made it to the course - it was extremely useful. The course 
has made me think of my
work, my role, my profession and its place in [the] overall psychosocial context 
in a different way.
Thank you!'
- Rubeena Kidwai, Psychologist (Pakistan), 2009
http://www.pdisl.org/courses/specialised_courses/mental_health_and_psychosocial_work_in_conflict

The PDI-SL is supported by CordAid and International Alert.
-- 

in the dark times
Will there also be singing?
Yes, there will also be singing
about the dark times. 

- Bertolt Brecht
www.kafila.org

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