About the webinar:
MHPSS.net will host a webinar on "Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR). The field of mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) in emergencies has been slow to engage with the growing global policy consensus around disaster risk reduction (DRR) as embodied by the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
However, there are encouraging recent efforts to harness the synergies that exist between the fields of DRR and MHPSS.
As these linkages between the fields of MHPSS and DRR are still in development, this webinar intends to discuss how the two fields may combine and integrate each other.
You can register for the webinar here. Please note there is a limited number of spaces for online participants and it is strongly recommended to complete the registration as soon as possible. Spaces will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis. This webinar will not be streamed live on the MHPSS.net YouTube Channel.
About the presenters:
Dr. Lennart Reifels, PhD (Public Health), Dipl.-Psych. (Germany), is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Mental Health, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, University of Melbourne and Visiting Research Fellow at the Disaster Research Unit, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Free University of Berlin. Dr Reifels has extensive research and work experience in academic and national mental health service settings in Australia and Germany, encompassing research, direct service and national training management roles. His key research areas include: population mental health, mental health systems and service research, disaster risk reduction, and strategic adaptation in view of the globally increasing impacts of extreme climatic events and disasters. Dr Reifels has previously led the evaluation of national mental health responses to major Australian bushfire and flood disasters, provided technical reports to Government, and collaborated and published with leading disaster experts in the field. As part of his PhD, Dr Reifels conducted the first systematic state-level survey of the disaster mental health workforce in the world.
Dr. Fahmy Hanna has more than a decade of experience in mental health services and its development in low and middle income settings. He previously served at the WHO office in Damascus /Syria as a Technical officer on mental health during the current crisis in the country, and previously worked at the WHO office in Libya from 2011 to 2014 as a mental health advisor providing technical support for designing and implementing a successful scale up program for mental health. He also served at WHO EMRO office as Technical officer on mental health and substance abuse during 2010-2011. In 2014, he moved full-time to WHO in Geneva, where his main areas of work include monitoring of global mental health plans and activities, and technical assistance to countries on mental health service development. He contributed to the development of a number key WHO products including WHO Mental Health Atlas 2014 and mhGAP Intervention Guide Version 2.0. Since July 2017, Dr Hanna is representing WHO as the co-chair of the Inter Agency Standing Committee for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergencies.
About the moderator:
Marcio Gagliato is Psychologist and Psychotherapist with Master degree in Social Psychology and PhD researcher in the field of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (MHPSS). Specialized in the management of multi-sectorial development and humanitarian assistance programs with special emphasis in MHPSS. Has worked in several countries and has recently managed ICRC Emergency Response in Gaza.