Psychological First Aid: Guide for field workers

Psychological first aid: Guide for fieldworkers, released by WHO, the War Trauma Foundation (WTF) and World Vision International (WVI). Psychological First Aid (PFA) is an approach recommended in the IASC Guidelines for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (IASC, 2007), the current Sphere Guidelines (2011) and WHOs Mental Health GAP Intervention Guide (2010). PFA covers both social and psychological support and involves the provision of humane, supportive and practical help to people suffering from serious crisis events.

This guide – which can be taught to humanitarian workers within one day for immediate use – was developed in order to have widely agreed upon psychological first aid materials for use in low and middle income countries. It reflects the emerging science and international consensus on how to provide basic support to people in the immediate aftermath of extremely stressful events. Endorsed by many international agencies, this guide gives simple, practical guidance for supporting people in ways that respect their dignity, culture and abilities. This guide will enable humanitarian and emergency workers from all over the world to provide basic but vital psychosocial support to people in acute distress, including helping distressed relief workers themselves.

This publication is also available in Chinese, Dutch, Farsi, Japanese, Korean, Romanian, Russian, Sinhala, Tamil, Turkish and Urdu via the WHO website.