In 2007, Stevan Hobfoll published a key article on post-disaster psychosocial support with a team of international experts “Five essential elements of immediate and mid-term mass trauma interventions: Empirical evidence.“. Accordingly, psychosocial support after disasters or other traumatic events should promote five essential principles:
1) a sense of safety
2) calming,
3) self- and community efficacy
4) social connectedness
5) hope.
In the 10 years following their publication, the five essential principles have been extremely influential among practitioners, researchers and policy makers around the world.
But how have the five principles been used, or misused? Are they useful and appropriate in measuring outcomes of psychosocial interventions? And what is next for MHPSS research?
Red Cross Red Crescent Research Network on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support is proud to present a one hour webinar on 17 May 2018 16:00 to 17:00 CET (UTC +2)
Online audiences will have an opportunity to ask questions and discuss with the panel. A recording will be made available a few days after the webinar.
The panel includes:
Stevan E. Hobfoll, PH.D. is an internationally recognized clinical psychologist with over 30 years experience working in mental health. He has published over 300 journal articles and book chapters, and several books on stress and trauma, including the leading article from 2017: on the five essential elements of post-disaster psychosocial care. He has done the largest prospective studies on civilian distress in zones of high conflict and helped guide policy on disaster relief, terrorism response, and refugee crisis on 5 continents, integrating cultural context. Dr. Hobfoll currently serves as the Judd and Marjorie Weinberg Presidential Professor and Chair of the Department of Behavioral Sciences at Rush Medical Center and is active in seeing trauma patients at the Rush trauma center
Leslie Snider, MD, MPH received her medical and psychiatry training in the northeast USA and her MPH in international health from Tulane University SPH&TM, where she directed a programme of study for 10 years in International Mental Health and Medical Anthropology. In addition to clinical work in public mental health, she has over 20 years experience in international programs for children and families affected by disasters, conflict, HIV/AIDS, poverty and exploitation, and provided training and care to humanitarian aid workers in crisis settings. She developed the PFA: Guide for Field Workers (WHO and partners, 2011) and related materials, and recently conducted a five-year retrospective review of Psychological First Aid for Church of Sweden.
How to join:
You need to log in at https://app.mhpss.net/ and then access the webinar by clicking here. If you don’t have Skype for Business (not the same as regular Skype) installed on your computer, you may be asked to install the “Skype for business web app plug-in”. If you have problems accessing, please try using a different browser (not Firefox) or read more here
The webinar is organised by the Red Cross Red Crescent Research Network on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support. Please contact Cecilie Dinesen (cedin@rodekors.dk), for further information.