Symposium - Session 1.6
Friday, June 13, 2025 |
10:00 - 11:15 |
Meeting Room 4 (90T) |
Speaker
Mrs Cansu Alözkan Sever
PhD Candidate
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Scalable Mental Health Interventions for Refugees and Communities Affected by Trauma: Feasibility, Adaptation, and Supervision in Humanitarian Settings
Symposium Outline
Disasters, violence, and forced migration significantly impact mental health, increasing the risk of mental health problems such as PTSD and depression. However, access to care is often hindered by stigma, cost, and limited availability of culturally relevant and language-accessible services. In these challenging contexts, scalable interventions that mostly rely on task-shifting—where trained nonprofessionals deliver care—have emerged as a promising solution. This symposium explores the potential of these interventions through findings from four studies: feasibility trials of PM+ for refugee youth in the Netherlands and Sweden, an adaptation and feasibility study of EASE for children affected by community violence in Sweden, and an evaluation of supervision’s role in supporting mental health workers providing psychosocial care after the Türkiye-Syria earthquake. Together, these studies demonstrate the adaptability and effectiveness of scalable interventions in diverse, high-stress settings, emphasizing the importance of tailored approaches and supervisory structures for sustainable delivery.
