Global Tool Kit of Orientation and Training Materials: Used to disseminate and implement the Inter-agency Standing Committee Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings

The Inter-Agency Standing Committee Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC MHPSS Guidelines) were launched globally in the Fall of 2007. This product was the result of a worldwide collaborative effort by organizations and individuals coming together to develop principles and guidance for providing immediate minimum as well as comprehensive mental health and psychosocial responses in emergencies. Efforts are now underway to disseminate these IASC MHPSS Guidelines and put them to practical use country by country and emergency by emergency. This toolkit has been developed to accompany the IASC guidelines on mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings. 

IASC MHPSS Guidelines: “The primary purpose of these guidelines is to enable humanitarian actors and communities to plan, establish and coordinate a set of minimum multi-sectoral responses to protect and improve people’s mental health and psychosocial well-being in the midst of an emergency.”

During the Fall of 2008, approximately one year after the launch, a request was made to a global network of service providers associated with the IASC Reference Group asking them to share the initiatives they have undertaken to disseminate and integrate the guidelines including a request to share their orientation and training materials. This package was then prepared with materials collected from Belize, China, Colombia, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Peru, Philippines, Kenya, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Syria, Uganda and the South, East and West Africa Regions.