Disaster response: Improved psychosocial services stressed
Participants at seminar highlight plight of flood victims, discuss NGO study recommendations.
There is an urgent need to improve psycho-social support services for disaster-affected communities and for collaborative efforts to integrate such services into all disaster preparedness programmes. This was the consensus emerged at a seminar on psychosocial interventions and disaster response held at a local hotel on Tuesday.
The seminar was organised by Rozan, an Islamabad-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) working on mental health and violence, a press release issued by the NGO said.
Speakers discussed challenges and lessons learnt from psychosocial work while sharing recommendations to explore ways to address gaps.
A study titled, “Improving psychosocial support services for disaster-affected communities in Pakistan: A needs analysis and review after the 2010 floods in Pakistan,” conducted by the NGO was also shared at the seminar.
The study highlights existing psycho-social issues of men, women, adolescents and children including stress, anxiety, grief, need for privacy, frustration due to slow pace of rehabilitation, uncertainty about the future and how these factors impact the ability of communities to rebuild their lives after the devastating floods.
The study recommends a holistic approach to addressing psychological and social needs of the community. The study reveals that not only are psychosocial initiatives insufficient in number, many are vertical programmes addressing either mental health needs or are social community activities that do not adequately meet the community’s psychological needs. It stresses that this work needs to be integrated and intervention needs to address both dynamics.
Social support
Since many people affected by the disaster do not necessarily need specialised psychiatric or psychological services, mental health-focused models must also expand their work to include some social and development activities whether through building the capacity of one’s own staff or by collaborating with other NGOs who are able to provide social support.
Other key recommendations included the need for development and empowerment based work with communities on gender and rights, the need to address issues of gender based violence, introducing work with boys and men as part of psychosocial interventions as well as building staff capacities in psychosocial issues and programming etc.
The study pointed out that in Pakistan, disaster situations are exacerbated by the fact that regions most susceptible to damage caused by natural and man-made disasters are typically also the most disadvantaged; rural Sindh, Balochistan and K-P are the poorest, remotest and least developed in the country. These regions are also the most traditional and conservative, with strong family structures, well-knit communities and strongly entrenched gender segregation, the ‘purdah system’ and gender-based discrimination. Socioeconomic development and support services are already severely limited.
The concept of psychosocial support is as diverse and broad as the communities in which it is applied. Collaborations between different organisations with varying levels of expertise - such as psychological support, social support, community development, gender and human rights - access and experience are essential to effectively meet the psychosocial needs of a disaster-affected community.
The government and NGOs must work together to develop strategies to better understand, manage and access funds for psychosocial support. Steps to develop minimum psychosocial support standards guidelines in the NDMA framework to assist aid organisations in incorporating basic psychosocial support as part of all post-disaster planning work are needed.
Speakers included Prof Fareed Minhas, Zehra Kamal, Maria Rashid, Wajahat Farooqi, Devana, Sameena Nazir and others.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 1st, 2011.