Mental health and psychosocial support

Eritrean refugees perform at the JRS talent show in Mai Aini refugee camp.
Eritrean refugees perform traditional dances at the JRS talent show in Mai Aini refugee camp, Ethiopia. (Denis Bosnic/Jesuit Refugee Service)

JRS recognises that the most effective mental health and psychosocial supports are implemented through layered, complementary services capable of meeting a variety of complex experiences and needs. Together we heal.

Forced displacement can disrupt relationships and practices that foster resilience and healing in individuals, families, and communities. In the wake of such disruptions, displaced persons may require additional psychological and social support as they adapt to new, unexpected circumstances.

JRS recognises that the most effective mental health and psychosocial supports are implemented through layered, right-based, complementary services capable of meeting a variety of complex experiences and needs. To this end, the psychosocial programmes provided by JRS aim to strengthen community and family supports through emphasis placed on building hope, restoring human dignity, and strengthening social cohesion. JRS staff provide safe spaces and activities for vulnerable groups, case management services, individual and group counselling, and training and supervision of non-specialists recruited from the communities we serve. Much of JRS mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) is integrated into all JRS programmes.

A cornerstone of the JRS mission is to offer holistic human services through companionship, warmth, and recognition of human dignity; through this mission and JRS’s lens of accompaniment and justice, we provide psychosocial support to those in need.

Building hope, restoring human dignity through a rights-based approach, and strengthening social cohesion is at the heart of JRS’s MHPSS services. Together we heal.

Learn more about our MHPSS activities

Together we heal: JRS's MHPSS programmes