Faith-sensitive MHPSS
Resources for practitioners of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in humanitarian settings.
What is MHPSS?
Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) describes any type of local or outside support aimed at protecting or promoting psychosocial well-being and/or preventing mental disorder, particularly during humanitarian crises.
The provision of MHPSS services is a well-established component of humanitarian best practice.
While definitions vary, the UN Inter-Agency Standing Committee guidelines remainthe main point of reference for humanitarians working in this field (IASC, 2007).
What is ‘Faith-Sensitivity’?
The pursuit of religious life is a central factor in mental health and psychosocial wellbeing, and is protected by international humanitarian law.
However, it remains a neglected component of most MHPSS interventions.
‘Faith-sensitivity’ refers to an awareness and competence of MHPSS providers of faith, religion and spirituality, and how these intersect with the provision of MHPSS.
The term ‘faith-sensitive’ was coined by in 2018 by leading humanitarian organisations. Unlike the term ‘faith-based‘, the place emphasis on the “faith of the people affected by conflict, disaster and displacement, rather than on the faith allegiance (or non-faith allegiance) of humanitarian organisations and agencies.” (French & Fitzgibbon, 2018, p. 5).
Photograph on the cover of the UNHCR memorandum of partnership with faith-based actors.
The image shows internally displaced peoples from Abyei in Mayen Abun, Sudan, sheltering in a church for the night.
©UNHCR/A. Zevenbergen
Recent developments
Both MHPSS, and the recognition that MHPS cannot omit religious life, has evolved over the past 40 years.
Four periods may be identified in this development:
1980s – 1990s
Lacuna
Humanitarian aid mostly focused on logistical aspects of food, shelter, hygiene and camp management. Psychological suffering was rarely a priority. Where available, it tended to focus on the medication of severe psychiatric illness.
1990 – early 2000s
Emergence of MHPSS
Amidst armed conflict in Europe and Africa, and an influx of refugees of the Kosovo War, the notion of ‘trauma’ became increasingly prominent in public discourse. Towards the late ’90s, attempts to provide psychosocial care proliferated, but were often unprofessional.
early 2000s – mid-2010s
Professionalisation of MHPSS
Catalysed in part by the work of the Psychosocial Working Group (PWG) and the IASC guidelines, MHPSS was developed as an evidence-based and increasingly professional domain of humanitarian practice.
Mid-2010s – Present
‘Faith-sensitive’ MHPSS
In search of ‘locally appropriate’ MHPSS interventions which build on existing resources in a community – rather than attempting to operate on Western psychological assumptions – the notion of ‘faith-sensitivity’ emerges.
About this Website
Many MHPSS providers report being confronted with spiritual needs and religious complexities in their work. However, due to the relatively recent emergence of ‘faith-sensitivity’ in this field, humanitarian organisations often find it difficult to locate and access relevant research and guidance.
Likewise, the fields of professional spiritual care and healthcare chaplaincy are regularly confronted with patients who have recently migrated from a country affected by conflict, disaster or displacement.
On this website, we gather and disseminate the most important resources on ‘faith-sensitivity’ for MHPSS practitioners, humanitarian organisations and providers of spiritual, mental or pastoral care.
This website is provided by the Professorship of Spiritual Care at the University of Zurich. More about us.