Mental Health and Psychological Support in Disaster Settings Training

About This Course

Disasters — whether natural, conflict-driven, or public health emergencies — leave deep psychological scars on affected communities and on the frontline workers who serve them. Despite growing recognition of this reality, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) remains chronically under-resourced and poorly integrated into emergency response frameworks. Workers deployed to disaster settings frequently encounter acute stress, grief, trauma, and complex protection concerns without adequate training to respond effectively or to safeguard their own wellbeing.

This course addresses that gap directly. Drawing on the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) MHPSS Guidelines, Psychological First Aid (PFA) principles, WHO's Mental Health Gap Action Programme (mhGAP), and the Sphere Minimum Standards, it provides a comprehensive, practical foundation for delivering psychological support in resource-constrained, high-pressure environments. Participants examine the spectrum of psychosocial needs that emerge after disasters, learn how to layer community-based and clinical responses appropriately, and develop the facilitation skills to train others on the ground.

Beyond individual intervention techniques, the course addresses the systemic dimensions of MHPSS — including coordination with the MHPSS cluster, referral pathway design, cultural adaptation of interventions, and the management of secondary traumatic stress within humanitarian teams. Case studies from refugee crises, earthquake responses, conflict zones, and disease outbreaks bring these concepts to life, ensuring that learning is grounded in the realities participants will face.

TrainingComplex has designed this programme for professionals who need more than awareness — who need practical competence, ethical grounding, and the confidence to act under pressure. Whether you are new to MHPSS or looking to formalise and deepen existing experience, this course will strengthen your capacity to protect and restore the mental health of disaster-affected populations while sustaining your own resilience as a responder.

Who Should Attend

• Humanitarian aid workers and NGO field staff deployed in emergency response operations
• Public health officers and community health workers involved in disaster response
• Psychologists, counsellors, and social workers working in crisis or conflict settings
• Nurses, doctors, and clinical officers seeking to integrate MHPSS into medical response
• Protection officers and gender-based violence (GBV) case managers
• Disaster risk reduction (DRR) practitioners and emergency management professionals
• UNICEF, WHO, UNHCR, and UN agency programme staff working on humanitarian response
• Military and police mental health support personnel
• Red Cross/Red Crescent volunteers and staff with field responsibilities
• Senior responders responsible for managing team welfare and staff care programmes

Learning Objectives

• Explain the key frameworks and minimum standards governing MHPSS in humanitarian emergencies, including IASC guidelines and Sphere Standards
• Conduct a rapid psychosocial needs assessment using validated tools appropriate to disaster contexts
• Apply Psychological First Aid (PFA) principles safely and ethically with disaster-affected individuals and groups
• Differentiate between normal stress reactions and clinical mental health conditions requiring specialised referral
• Design a layered MHPSS response aligned with the IASC pyramid model, matching interventions to population needs
• Facilitate community-based psychosocial support activities that are culturally appropriate and inclusive
• Establish and manage referral pathways between community support, primary care, and specialist mental health services
• Integrate MHPSS considerations into broader humanitarian sectors including shelter, nutrition, child protection, and health
• Apply strategies to prevent and manage secondary traumatic stress, burnout, and compassion fatigue among response teams
• Coordinate effectively within the MHPSS cluster or working group and with multi-sector humanitarian actors
• Adapt evidence-based MHPSS interventions to low-resource, linguistically diverse, and culturally sensitive environments
• Design a basic MHPSS monitoring and evaluation framework to track programme quality and outcomes

Course Modules

Requirements & Prerequisites

Participants should have at least one year of professional experience in humanitarian response, public health, community development, social work, clinical practice, or a related field. Familiarity with the basic structure of humanitarian coordination systems is helpful but not mandatory. No prior formal MHPSS training is required, though those with existing experience in psychosocial programming will find the course deepens and systematises their practical knowledge.

Training Methodology

• Psychological First Aid (PFA) role-play simulations in which participants practise responding to survivors in acute distress using scripted disaster scenarios drawn from real field contexts
• Case study analysis of MHPSS responses to diverse emergencies — including the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Syrian refugee crisis, Ebola outbreak in West Africa, and COVID-19 pandemic — highlighting both successes and documented failures
• Small-group needs assessment exercises using standardised tools (Harvard Trauma Questionnaire adapted versions, UNHCR rapid assessment templates) with structured peer feedback
• Layered response design workshops where participant groups map population needs and construct a full MHPSS programme using the IASC pyramid model
• Guided cultural adaptation sessions in which teams modify evidence-based interventions (e.g., Problem Management Plus, Group Interpersonal Therapy) for specific cultural and linguistic contexts
• Referral pathway mapping practicals using blank humanitarian coordination templates, requiring participants to identify service gaps and design realistic referral chains
• Self-care and team resilience workshops including structured reflection on personal stress responses, supported by evidence-based self-care planning tools
• Video-based observation exercises using footage from real debriefing and community support sessions, followed by facilitated critical analysis
• Inter-agency coordination simulation in which participants role-play an MHPSS cluster coordination meeting, negotiating roles, data sharing, and joint response plans
• Participant-led micro-teaching sessions where each delegate prepares and delivers a ten-minute MHPSS topic to peers, building training facilitation capacity

Organisational Benefits

• Organisations field staff who are trained and confident in delivering MHPSS, reducing harmful improvisation during crisis responses
• Improved quality and consistency of psychosocial programming aligned with globally recognised humanitarian standards
• Stronger staff wellbeing practices that reduce burnout, secondary trauma, and staff turnover in high-stress deployments
• Enhanced coordination capacity with MHPSS clusters and inter-agency humanitarian working groups
• Better integration of MHPSS across health, protection, nutrition, and shelter sectors, maximising impact per programme dollar
• Reduced risk of re-traumatisation or harm to beneficiaries through ethically grounded, evidence-based practice
• Organisation-wide capacity to adapt and contextualise MHPSS tools for diverse cultural and linguistic settings
• Strengthened referral networks that connect community-level support to clinical care, improving outcomes for the most vulnerable
• Improved monitoring and accountability frameworks that demonstrate MHPSS programme quality to donors and partners
• A cadre of internal trainers equipped to cascade MHPSS skills across field teams and partner organisations

Where Is Mental Health and Psychological Support in Disaster Settings Training Offered?

This course runs in-person across: Pretoria, Naivasha, Kisumu, Accra, Dar es Salaam, Addis Ababa, Johannesburg, Kampala, Arusha, Abuja, Nairobi, Zanzibar, Kigali, Nakuru, Dubai, Cape Town, Mombasa, Riyadh, Lagos, plus Live Virtual (online) cohorts. Browse live dates for your city below.

Upcoming Schedules

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