Psychological first aid (PFA) is a method of helping people in distress so they feel calm and supported to cope better with their challenges. It is a way of assisting someone to manage their situation and make informed decisions. The basis of psychological first aid is caring about the person in dis...tress and showing empathy. It involves paying attention to reactions, active listening and, if needed, practical assistance, such as problem solving, help to access basic needs or referring to further options for assistance. PFA helps normalize worry and other emotions, PFA also promotes healthy coping and provides feelings of safety, calming, and hope.
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Infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, can have a significant impact on children’s and their caregivers’
wellbeing beyond the disease itself. In terms of child protection, there are three main potential
secondary impacts:
- Neglect and lack of parental care.
- Mental health and Psychosocia...l distress.
- Increased exposure to violence, including sexual violence, physical and emotional abuse.
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A new story book that aims to help children understand and come to terms with COVID-19 has been produced
With the help of a fantasy creature, Ario, “My Hero is You, How kids can fight COVID-19!” explains how children can protect themselves, their families and friends from coronavirus and how to... manage difficult emotions when confronted with a new and rapidly changing reality.
Available in more languages
The book – aimed primarily at children aged 6-11 years old – is a project of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Reference Group on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, a unique collaboration of United Nations agencies, national and international nongovernmental organizations and international agencies providing mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings.
Available in different languages
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The Washington Group/UNICEF Module on Child Functioning, finalized in 2016, covers children between 2 and 17 years of age and assesses functional difficulties in different domains including hearing, vision, communication/comprehension, learning, mobility and emotions. To better reflect the degree of... functional difficulty, each area is assessed against a rating scale. The purpose is to identify the subpopulation of children who are at greater risk than other children of the same age or who are experiencing limited participation in an unaccommodating environment. The set of questions is intended for use in national household surveys and censuses.
Available for ages 2-4 and 5-17 in English, French, Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, Brazilian, Khmer
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The training manual consists of: (i) Tools for communication, reassurance and comfort for staff working directly with distressed children; (ii) Advice and guidance for staff working with parents and primary care-givers; (iii) Suggestions for ways to support a distressed child. It provides a non-i...ntrusive skills set of communication and actions that can be used by staff working with survivors of distressing events. The training programme develops skills for providing physical and emotional comfort by modeling calmness and enables a constructive format through active listening that allows survivors to voice their concerns and needs. It also helps to connect survivors to practical assistance through referral networks and information on positive coping strategies.
The manuals are available in Englisch, French, Spanish, Arabic and German
Additional training aids download directly from the website. https://resourcecentre.savethechildren.net/library/save-children-psychological-first-aid-training-manual-child-practitioners
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The Perinatal Mental Health Project (PMHP) provides training to health
workers and community-based workers involved in caring for mothers. This
handbook is intended as a supplement to this training programme and as a
resource to anyone involved with mothers and mothers-to-be.
The handbook should... be used in an active way: use it and add to it as best
suits your local setting. The intended outcome of this handbook is to improve
the quality of service offered to women in emotional distress and to
meet the needs of maternal health workers, like you, who want to be better
equipped in this task.
The handbook covers a range of topics. Each chapter has a clear set of
learning objectives and a summary. Some chapters include practical activities
which should help with linking the theory with your practice.
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Sexual abuse perpetrated against children is one of the most significant crises of our time. Child sexual abuse is a significant risk factor for children, in common with other forms of child maltreatment. Sexual abuse can have severe short- and long-term consequences on the physical, mental, social,... emotional and economic well-being of children, families and communities. In emergencies, the threat of all forms of child abuse and gender-based violence (GBV), including child sexual abuse, is acute and widespread.
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WHO-OHCHR launch new guidance to improve laws addressing human rights abuses in mental health care
Ahead of World Mental Health Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) are jointly launching a new guidance, entitled "Mental health, h...uman rights and legislation: guidance and practice", to support countries to reform legislation in order to end human rights abuses and increase access to quality mental health care.
Human rights abuses and coercive practices in mental health care, supported by existing legislation and policies, are still far too common. Involuntary hospitalization and treatment, unsanitary living conditions and physical, psychological, and emotional abuse characterize many mental health services across the world.
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Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a global epidemic with significant morbidity. Diabetic
retinopathy (DR) is the specific microvascular complication of DM and affects 1 in 3 persons with DM. DR remains a leading cause of vision loss in working adult populations. Patients with severe levels of DR are report...ed to have poorer quality of life and reduced levels of physical, emotional, and social well-being, and they utilize more health care resources.
Epidemiological studies and clinical trials have shown that optimal control of blood glucose, blood pressure, and blood lipids can reduce the risk of developing retinopathy and slow its progression. Timely treatment with laser photocoagulation, and increasingly, the appropriate use of intraocular administration of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) inhibitors can prevent visual loss in vision- threatening retinopathy, particularly diabetic macular edema (DME). Since visual loss may not be present in the earlier stages of retinopathy, regular screening of persons with diabetes is essential to enable early intervention.
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Frauenhäuser, Schutzwohnungen und Fachberatungsstellen bieten Frauen, die Gewalt in ihrem privaten Umfeld, im Berufsleben oder in der Öffentlichkeit erlebt haben, Schutz vor weiterer Gewalt. Gewalt bedeutet in diesem Arbeitsfeld nicht zwangsläufig körperliche Gewalt. Damit sind alle Verhaltenswe...isen gemeint, die darauf abzielen, die Betroffenen zu unterdrücken, zu beherrschen oder zu kontrollieren. Gewalt ist jedes Verhalten, das sich auf körperlicher, seelischer, sexueller, sozialer und emotionaler Ebene schädigend auswirkt und die Betroffenen daran hindert, ihr Leben selbstbestimmt zu gestalten. Frauenhäuser und Fachberatungsstellen helfen Frauen, die Folgen von Gewalt und Missbrauch zu überwinden und ein gewaltfreies Leben aufzubauen.
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Health workers participating in pandemic response are exposed to many different occupational risks to health and safety. These include: COVID-19 infection, illness, and transmission to others; fatigue from working longer hours and heavy workload, insufficient sleep or rest, dehydration, and inadequa...te nutrition; musculoskeletal injury from handling of patients and heavy objects, prolonged work while using personal protective equipment which can cause heat stress, skin and mucosal damage; workplace violence and stigma, and a variety of mental health problems, emotional distress and occupational burn-out.
All health workers require knowledge and skills to protect themselves and others from the occupational risks they encounter, so that they can work safely and effectively. This course consists of five sections in response to these needs: Module 1: Infectious risks to health and safety
Module 2: Physical risks to health and safety
Module 3: Psychosocial risks to health and safety
Module 4: Basic occupational health and safety in health services.
This course is also available in the following languages: македонски - Português_ Spanish
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COVID-19 is stretching formal and informal aspects of community life. The pandemic is overwhelming health systems. Country economies are reaching a breaking point, with particularly significant impact for the livelihoods of vulnerable families and those dependent on daily wages. COVID-19 is also aff...ecting community relationships and trust. Lack of trust in government leaders or health officials can lead citizens to be unwilling to accept essential health messages and take the necessary steps to combat the spread of the disease. The stress, fear and emotional vulnerabilities of children and their caregivers can be particularly acute, especially in light of prolonged school closures and the uncertainty about their health system’s capacity to withstand the pandemic or how long community and household quarantines will last.
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Going to work during this COVID-19 pandemic has placed frontline workers under immense and unprecedented pressure, putting their physical, mental and social well-being at risk. Exposure to excessive stress, for prolonged periods can have many harmful consequences on the emotional and mental well-bei...ng of frontline workers. This document outlines some actions that frontline workers can take to cope with stress and take care of themselves during COVID-19.
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The target audience for this training course is non-clinicians such as Home Based Carers, Community Caregivers, Youth Care Workers, Peer educators, Community Health Workers etc. primarily those who will be providing adherence counselling to clients with HIV, TB, Hypertension and Diabetes. This group... of non-clinicians play a vital role in helping to reduce the workload of nursing staff. Amongst others, non- clinicians educate clients and provide emotional support in a manner that makes each client feel like they are receiving focused, individual attention. Non-clinicians are often in close contact with communities and, therefore, able to understand and play a role in alleviating health service barriers in the community.
Facility managers may also be part of the target audience in order to ensure that they understand the components of the minimum package of interventions to support linkage, adherence and retention in care.
Further, their attendance seeks to ensure that non-clinicians receive necessary assistance and support when they have to implement what they have learned back into their workplaces.
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Helping Children Live with HIV offers a holistic approach by building on the existing knowledge of parents and caregivers and respecting the importance of other local resources. It integrates health care, illness prevention, and psychosocial support for children and families coping with poverty, foo...d insecurity, emotional trauma, loss, as well as stigma and discrimination.
This guide is intended for broad use by parents, family members, and health workers in home settings and throughout community-based health programs.
To learn more, view the table of contents and a sample chapter, and to buy your copy of this essential new resource from Hesperian.
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Working in partnership with international agencies and experts in the field, we exist to support and unite the global effort to promote mental health. We are all passionate about catalysing greater action on mental health and many of us have first-hand experience of living with a condition ourselves....
We provide advocacy, campaigning and financial support to global institutions, businesses, communities and individual changemakers seeking greater action on global mental health.
Do you need mental health support?
Talking about mental health is really important. However it can be difficult for some and can trigger a strong emotional response. United for Global Mental Health is not a provider of mental health support services or guidance. If you feel you need support with your mental health please ensure you seek the appropriate support from your local health care facility, local community group that specialises in mental health or (if available) a national helpline. (Countries: UK; India; Nigeria; South Africa; New Zealand; Australia)
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In der ALMHAR-App erhalten Betroffene auf Farsi, Englisch oder Arabisch Aufklärung über psychische Symptome, wie Angstzustände, Stresssituationen, Schlafprobleme und Aggressionen.
Die Projektidee entwickelte sich aus der gestiegenen Nachfrage im Zuge der hohen Anzahl belasteter Geflüchteter aus... Kriegsgebieten. Es gibt einen großen Bedarf insbesondere an arabischsprachigen psychoedukativen Angeboten. ALMHAR bietet Übungen, die selbständig bearbeitet oder in die laufende therapeutische Arbeit eingebunden werden können
(verfügbar auf: English | العربية / Arabisch | فارسی / Farsi)
ALMHAR is designed for refugees who had to flee from their homes and who are may be living in exile.
Fleeing your home is an incredibly overwhelming, frightening and life-changing experience. Many refugees who had to leave their homes and countries develop some sort of emotional or physical problems due to their experiences. If this is the case for you, it does not mean you are weak or crazy. Such problems are mostly normal reactions of normal people to abnormal experiences!
The app explains the most common emotional problems you might experience as a refugee and offers first support in dealing with them. It offers background information on 12 common problem areas and gives practical and easy to-do tips.
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Background. Children and adolescents can develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after exposure to a range of traumatic events, including domestic, political or community violence, violent crime, physical and sexual abuse, hijacking, witnessing a violent crime and motor vehicle accidents. This... is particularly critical given the substantial challenge that PTSD poses to the healthy physical, cognitive and emotional development of children and adolescents.
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How can parents and other adults help children and teens living with undiagnosed, untreated PTSD find the help they need? An understanding of the symptoms of PTSD is a good place to start. Some of the symptoms in children and teens are the same as those for babies and toddlers. These include hypervi...gilance, emotional distress when reminded of the initial trauma, fear or avoidance of places that remind them of the event, nightmares, and other sleep issues.
But other symptoms are more common in children over the age of 3 and into the teen years. This article focuses on those symptoms.
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The mental health of women not only adversely affects them, but its impact on their
developing infant is also severe. If the ability of women to take care of their baby is
compromised, the survival and development of the infant is jeopardized. Maternal
depression in resource-constrained settings ...is linked directly to lower infant birth
weight, higher rates of malnutrition and stunting, higher rates of diarrhoeal disease,
infectious illness and hospital admission and reduced completion of recommended
schedules of immunization in children. It also adversely affects physical, cognitive,
social, behavioural and emotional development of children (1).
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