Psychosocial support is part of many emergency response operations. Psychosocial support intervention may vary depending on the nature of the emergency and response, but is almost always part of the operation.

In 2016 and 2017 a high number of psychosocial support delegates have been deployed to emergencies as part of FACT, ERU’s and in other capacities. Parallel to that National Societies also have a growing number of staff and volunteers involved in providing psychosocial support.

This means that a wealth of experiences and lessons learned are being accumulated, but not always shared as widely as could be wished for.

The PS Centre and the Community Health and Emergency Unit in the IFRC Secretariat has arranged a series of webinars collecting lessons learned from various emergencies in recent years. The webinars are short and focused and after the webinar a recording will be made available on the PS Centre’s website.

10 January: Psychosocial support as part of a FACT mission

7 February: A large International response as seen by the hosting National Society

28 February: Setting up and running the psychosocial services in an ERU  

14 March: The added value of psychosocial support for coordinators of emergency operations