On 10 October the world commemorates Mental Health Day – an annual event which raises awareness of mental health issues across the globe and mobilizes efforts in support of mental health. The theme for this year is: “Psychological First Aid”.
Psychological first aid (PFA) covers both psychological and social support and involves humane, supportive and practical help to fellow human beings who have suffered a serious crisis event. When distressing events occur such as war, natural disasters, accidents, fires, interpersonal violence and loss of loved ones, the affected persons go into a distressed state. PFA is aimed at reducing the initial distress caused by traumatic events and to foster short-and long-term adaptive functioning and coping.
It is usually offered by someone in the distressed person’s social network (such as family, friend or a work colleague) or someone working in a human service occupation, e.g. a health worker, a teacher, police officer or even an employment agency worker. Training in PFA enables responders to respond in a natural, supportive and practical manner. PFA during crises should be complemented with other essential mental health and psychosocial supports. The mental health and psychosocial response to crisis events should be multi-sectorial.
In the African Region, due to poor investment and limited professionals in the area of mental health, PFA is not always available when a crisis arises. However in other parts of the world, psychological first aid has been incorporated into disaster preparedness. Building on this experience, national disaster management authorities are encouraged to consider having teams ready who could travel to disaster-affected regions to orient local first responders in psychological first aid when disaster strikes.
Since 2011, WHO has been conducting training courses in PFA and has developed a manual to guide countries as part of efforts to strengthen preparedness and response to humanitarian crises.
As we commemorate World Mental Health Day, I urge countries to use these manuals to train more people to be able to perform psychological first aid during emergencies. Indeed the investment in psychological first aid is part of a longer-term effort to ensure that anyone in acute distress due to a crisis is able to receive basic support.
I also call upon countries to ensure improved access to mental health and social services for those who need more than psychological first aid.
Thank you