Mental Health
Workers Without Borders
Mental Health
Workers without Borders is an international, not-for profit, non-governmental network
of activist psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, counselors,
and other mental health workers. As individuals and as an
organization, we share knowledge and ideas about psychosocial assistance for
natural and man-made disasters, mental health and human rights, and treatment
and psychosocial rehabilitation for people with severe mental illness. Our
primary focus is primarily, although not solely, on the needs of developing
countries. MHWWB encourages family- and community-based,
psychosocial approaches to mental health problems, respectful of cultural variation,
drawing on local resources and healing traditions, and emphasizing community
revitalization and empowerment as well as individual treatment. MHWWB is a loose network of individuals, not a
membership organization. We do not provide or organize direct
assistance in disaster situations as an organization, although individuals
associated with MHWWB have participated in such activities and have
provided consultative services with respect to disasters, psychosocial
rehabilitation programs, and the like. MHWWB is not affiliated with Doctors Without
Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières)
New Book!
The
Humanitarian Companion, by John Ehrenreich, is a “field guide” for humanitarian aid
workers, development project workers, human rights workers, journalists, and others
whose work takes them into post-disaster and conflict and post-conflict
situations. Topics covered include preparing for an assignment; safety and
security in the field; taking care of your health in the field; managing
stress; issues in working with those who have experienced traumatic events; and
issues faced when returning home. Although the primary focus is on
international staff, much of the material is equally relevant to national staff
of humanitarian organizations. The
Humanitarian Companion is published by ITDG Publishing (
On-line Resources
Coping
With Disaster: The
revised MHWWB manual Coping With
Disaster
features expanded coverage of refugees, victims of chronic political violence, women
and disasters, and other topics. A Spanish language version of the
original MHWWB manual, Enfrentando
El Desastre,
is also now available.
Bibliography: An annotated Bibliography on managing occupational
stress, burnout, and vicarious traumatization in humanitarian aid workers,
health care workers, human rights workers, first responders to disasters, and
mental health workers who work with survivors of disasters is now available.