Mental health is a core component of protection programming – Mental Health and Protection. The deployment of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services is growing in humanitarian settings. MHPSS services support affected communities and individuals to better cope with the trauma and distress that are often caused by the humanitarian crisis in which they find themselves. The growth of MHPSS services responds to the needs of populations where the supply of cash, NFIs and in-kind assistance only meets physical needs, but populations also have unmet mental health needs.   

Mental Health and Protection includes psychological first aid, community engagement, information, counselling and also serves a multifaceted protection purpose – for the individual, the family and the community.

In sudden onset humanitarian emergencies, mental health support services are often overwhelmed. This means innovative approaches to access, psychological first aid, counselling and training are required at scale.

MHPSS services are also difficult to monitor and evaluate without careful MEAL design and protection-focused protocols. The Humanitarian Impact Institute will work with your program to design and implement these protocols in order to assess outcomes and impacts of MHPSS services.