Support Community Mental Health
Psychologist Karla Flores (R) speaks with a client who left Honduras with her family, traveling through Mexico until they eventually found refuge at Pan de Vida Migrant Shelter in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, December 2021. (Paul Ratje for HIAS)
Overview
The HIAS Foundation supports HIAS’ community-based mental health programs and psychosocial services, which promote the well-being of individuals, families, and communities affected by crisis and conflict so they can heal and rebuild their lives.
A supportive environment is essential to healing and recovery. HIAS programs strengthen existing relationships, networks, and practices that communities use to cope and heal. HIAS trains key community members to recognize emotional distress as a result of crisis or emergency, and how to respond with empathy and respect. By developing community support and peer groups, facilitating opportunities for connection in a safe environment, and linking people with necessary services, HIAS promotes a culturally sensitive approach to help people cope with adversity.
105,653
people reached directly and indirectly through HIAS' mental health and psychosocial services in 2022
Countries
Aruba
Chad
Colombia
Costa Rica
Ecuador
Panama
Greece
Guyana
Honduras
Kenya
Mexico
Moldova
Peru
Poland
Romania
Ukraine
United States
Venezuela
Strategies
As the scale of humanitarian crises reaches historic proportions, an unprecedented number of individuals are experiencing the emotional and psychological impacts of forced displacement. The HIAS Foundation is investing in supporting mental health, which can in turn enable social and economic development.
HIAS supports community mental health by:
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Strengthening community-based care for individuals, families, and communities impacted by crisis and conflict.
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Building skills and competencies of key stakeholders to promote mental health and well-being.
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Contributing to research and learning about mental health in humanitarian settings.
Video
Caring for the Whole Person
At HIAS, we believe in caring for the whole person, and to do that we offer refugees access to free mental health and psychosocial support services.
Impact stories
Thinking About Safety as Part of Mental Health Service
HIAS Kenya is focused on getting basic necessities to clients because taking care of those basic needs helps give refugees the sense of security they need to successfully work on other issues, like mental health.
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(Brian Otieno for HIAS)
Cell Phones Are a Mental Health Lifeline
Cell phones, chat apps, and social media are the lifelines many HIAS clients count on to stay in touch with counselors and peers — lifelines that are even more important as the pandemic leaves many without steady jobs, money, housing, or safety.
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Asylum seekers charge their mobile phones at an immigrant camp in the border town of Matamoros, Mexico, on December 8, 2019.
(John Moore/Getty Images)
Protecting Refugees in Both Body and Mind
HIAS workers around the world are there for refugees in their darkest moments: counselors who help refugees abused because they are women, support specialists who help asylum seekers through their long battles to regain dignity, and psychologists who hold the hands of children traumatized by violence.
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Benigo Diaz (C), a mental health and psychosocial support specialist in HIAS Mexico, leads a group session. September 2021. (HIAS Mexico)