Evidence from the Frontline: Mental Health in Crisis Affected Contexts is a six-episode podcast mini-series produced in a collaboration between the MHPSS Hub and Elrha.
In this fourth episode, Sarah Harrison, Director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement MHPSS Hub, speaks with Dr Waood Afara, Senior Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Officer at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Yemen, and Dr Elisabetta Dozio Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialist at Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger- AAH) in France. Dr. Waood and Dr. Elisabetta are experts in both the research and practice of the Thinking Healthy (TH) intervention.
Together we examine why dealing with maternal depression is important in humanitarian settings and explain how the intervention works in programming, including how to integrate TH in the workload of already overburdened community health workers. The link between caring for mothers and improving outcomes for children is explored, as are the cultural adaptations required to implement TH and measure its effectiveness. Key insights include importance of empathy and understanding from community and family members to support mothers in recovering, and the critical role that community health workers can play in improved maternal mental health if trained, supervised, and empowered.
TH is a brief psychological intervention that can be delivered by trained and supervised community health care workers. It uses simple cognitive behavioural techniques to provide mothers with support and to improve mental health outcomes for the mother and new-born infant.
The six episodes of Evidence from the Frontline: Mental Health in Crisis Affected Contexts is published through the Heartbeat of Humanity podcast.
Listen to the podcast here or subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast or wherever you find your podcasts.
