Our Tele-Mental Health Network connects, mobilizes, and empowers mental health practitioners, experts, and advocates around the world to provide specialized and gendered mental health care and psychosocial support to the people of Yemen.
Yemen suffers from an acute shortage of specialized mental health professionals. In January 2016, the World Health Organization (WHO) recorded the presence of only 40 psychiatrists in all of Yemen, mostly based in the capital Sana’a. There are even fewer psychologists.
Accessing mental health support is vital, especially when dealing with the trauma of war and violence. These resources serve as the necessary foundation for sustainable peace and development. Yet currently, international organizations are focused solely on humanitarian responses, providing for the survival needs of 75% of Yemeni civilians and attempting to avoid widespread famine and cholera.
The BPS Tele-Mental Health Network helps to fill this gap by:
- Supporting local mental health practitioners, students of psychology, and community mental health workers, with continuing education and training, supervision, and mentoring
- Providing mental health care for extreme cases requiring specialized treatment; and to frontline health and mental health workers, human rights defenders, and peacebuilders to enhance their resilience as they cope with primary and secondary trauma from working amidst compounding crises
- Raising awareness in Yemen about mental health, reducing stigma, and opening a door for the many Yemenis who suffer from trauma and other conflict-related mental health challenges to receive the psychological care they need and deserve
Through this remote platform, we will provide online counseling, group sessions, training, workshops, lectures, psychoeducation courses, and materials and videos.
