Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Related Guidelines
IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings (2007)
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. The guidelines fucus on implementing minimum responses, that should be implemented as soon as possible in an emergency.
Technical Note Linking DRR and MHPSS: Practical Tools, Approaches and Case Studies (2021)
The IASC published a ‘Technical Note Linking DRR and MHPSS: Practical Tools, Approaches and Case Studies’ in 2021. This global guideline outlines key actions to promote MHPSS preparedness prior to emergencies and reduce risks to mental health and psychosocial well-being through risk reduction and management.
WHO Guidelines on Mental Health at Work (2022)
The WHO guidelines on mental health at work provide evidence-based recommendations to promote mental health and prevent work-induced mental health conditions. The recommendations cover organizational interventions, manager training and worker training, individual interventions, return to work, and gaining employment. The guidelines on mental health at work aim to improve the implementation of evidence-based interventions for mental health at work.
MHPSS Minimum Services Package (2023)
The MHPSS MSP is a comprehensive package, developed by WHO, UNHCR UNICEF and UNFPA and will be published as an IASC product in early 2023. It outlines a set of MHPSS activities that are considered to be of the highest priority in meeting the immediate critical needs of emergency-affected populations, based on existing guidelines, available evidence and expert consensus. The MHPSS MSP has been field tested in 5 countries experiencing humanitarian crisis and is being implemented in many others. Use of the MHPSS MSP is expected to lead to better-coordinated, more predictable and more equitable responses that make effective use of limited resources and thus improve the scale and quality of programming.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). (2020). Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support
The ICRC guideline outlines the organization’s approach to mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) during and after armed conflict and other situations of violence and provides a framework for harmonising MHPSS programmes within the organization, and an insight into its strategic processes and field practices.
