Report on – 33rd IC Resolution 2: Addressing mental health and psychosocial needs of people affected by armed conflicts, natural disasters and other emergencies (33IC/19/R2) – Irish Red Cross Society

¿ Ha incorporado el Estado/la Sociedad Nacional/la institución los empeños contenidos en esta resolución en los planes estratégicos u operativos pertinentes?

Los compromisos han sido incorporados en
estrategia
política
plan operativo

A internacional, nacional nivel

Explicación:

• Irish Red Cross has PFA in its current strategic plan that comes to an  end this year. We are currently developing a new strategic plan which will have as one of three objectives “health and well-being” with  a sharpened focus on mental health support.
• Irish Red Cross have a policy that all staff and volunteers are encouraged to attend training in Psychological First Aid.
• Irish Red Cross have been invited by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to participate on the national steering groups on emergency planning. The Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is the lead agency for emergency response in Ireland under the Framework for Major Emergency Management. The framework is a framework of policies, structures and arrangements for preparedness and response to major emergencies at the local and regional levels. Irish Red Cross will use our presence on the national steering groups on emergency planning to raise the importance of PFA at this forum.
• The Voluntary Emergency Service Guide is due to be reviewed and this is another opportunity for the Irish Red Cross to lobby for the importance of mental health support (PFA) to front line responders as well as affected communities.
• Ireland’ emergency response is informed by the IFRC’s “Host Nation’s Support”. An updated version is about to be published. Irish Red Cross will support the department will its roll out.

Ha trabajado el Estado/la Sociedad Nacional/la institución con otros asociados para poner en práctica los empeños contenidos en esta resolución?

En asociación con:
gobierno y/o autoridades públicas
CICR/Federación Internacional
otras Sociedades Nacionales de la Cruz Roja y de la Media Luna Roja

Ejemplos de cooperación:

In May 2024, a 3 year proposal was submitted by Irish Red Cross to a consortium with 9 other European partners for the provision of psychological first aid after a crisis. The Department of Housing, as the lead in emergency response in the emergency framework, have agreed to partner with Irish Red Cross on this proposal. At the time of reporting we await outcome of this EU INTERREG proposal.

The project aims to strengthen the capacity of emergency services, such as emergency medical services, firefighters, Police, local authority to identify people who are exposed to mental stress or who need psychological support in disasters and critical situations. The project aims at improving disaster response capacities of emergency and volunteer organisations by strengthening Psychological First Aid and Psychosocial Support competencies of staff and volunteers. Disasters occur as a result of the actions that affect human lives in the long term and in the short-term lead to stress and psychological damage, which requires the readiness and preparedness of the community during and after catastrophic events. Caring for the injured, self-help, evacuation, identifying and monitoring the first indications of the need for further psychological assistance of people affected by emergency situations is one of the first goals to be met.

Overall, the project seeks to empower stakeholders and communities for more effective responses to natural and technical disasters by strengthening network of PFA and PSS experts. The project focuses on disaster risk prevention and resilience with special emphasis on Psychological First Aid (PFA) and Psychosocial Support (PSS).  In a large-scale crisis occurs, the priority is to mitigate its safety effects by empowering emergency services, volunteers, NGO’s, local and regional administration in order to improve their response on crisis situations caused by natural or technical disasters in order to be able to identify people who are exposed to psychological stress or who need psychological support.

¿Ha habido dificultades para poner en práctica los empeños contenidos en esta resolución?

Dificultades en relación con:
conflicto de prioridades

Describa detalladamente estas dificultades:

The pandemic from March 2020 to end of 2022 followed swiftly by our response to the influx of Ukrainians (March 2022) meant the members and staff existing capacity was overwhelmed and that systems and process required configuration to remote working. This means that much of the focus has been in both crisis.

However responding to the Ukrainian humanitarian in Ireland provided an opportunity to deepen MHPSS support for this cohort as well as increase our capacity internally to support the mental health need presenting (see below for further information).

¿Han incidido los empeños contenidos en esta resolución en el trabajo y la dirección del Estado/la Sociedad Nacional/la institución?

Tipo de repercusión:
fortalecimiento de la cooperación entre el gobierno o las autoridades públicas y la Sociedad Nacional
desarrollo y uso de herramientas o metodologías innovadoras
establecimiento o fortalecimiento de asociaciones con otros actores humanitarios
formación y capacidad de los miembros del personal y de los voluntarios (en el caso de las Sociedades Nacionales);

Describa detalladamente las repercusiones:

In response to the Ukrainians arrival in Ireland, and the levels of support for metal health in particular trauma, as well as the fact that Ireland’s Health Services Executive was overwhelmed, Irish Red Cross  conducted a gap analysis exercise. Identified was the need for enhanced mental health support to complement existing psychological first aid efforts and community assistance initiatives.

Recognizing this need, the organization has facilitated the accreditation of Ukrainian therapists by national bodies, enabling them to provide therapeutic-level care. In parallel, narrative exposure therapy (NET) was identified as a recommended service to address of the prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder symptoms among Ukrainian arrivals. The above mentioned therapists were trained in NET and have been implementing it since their accreditation.

By actively engaging in psychological first aid, establishing narrative exposure therapy services, and provision of other mental health related activities, the Irish Red Cross has emerged as a vital mental health service provider for Ukrainians in Ireland, demonstrating a strong commitment to Mental Health and Psycho Social Support (MHPSS).

For 2024 Irish Red Cross plan to add further to the package of mental health supports by including:

• Self Help plus (SH+) for individuals.
• External resources from the Centre of Mind and Body Medicine (CMBM) are being employed to alleviate suffering.
• Broadening out the Narrative Exposure Therapy beyond Ukrainian to support International Protection Applicants

By taking early action to address PTSD symptoms, particularly through this comprehensive support system, we can have a considerable positive impact on the exchequer by reducing future costs on the Irish mental health system.

Regarding creating partnerships with humanitarian actors, we have delivered a PFA training for  Spirasi the charity that provides rehabilitation, education and advocacy for asylum seekers and refugees who are survivors of torture. Our intention is to offer of PFA  training and train the trainer at cost to community organisations (homeless and local groups given that it is community groups focusing on integration of Ukrainians etc) and humanitarian organization, and at a profit to commercial organisations to sustain offering to more.

Irish Red Cross has fully embraced the concept of psychological first aid and extensive numbers of staff and volunteers have been trained. Since 2019 812 people  have been trained in Psychological First Aid.

Irish Red Cross volunteers are actively providing psychological first aid throughout the COVID lockdowns in Ireland. When Ukrainian refugees started arriving on Irish shores, Irish Red Cross volunteers match them in the airports and ports to provide support through in kind donation and psychological first. As part of the domestic Ukraine response, Irish Red Cross has taking the lead role in providing psychological first aid training to local authority staff, community volunteers and staff of other NGO’s supporting Ukrainians in Ireland.

The PFA training are provided in English, Ukrainian and in Russian. This is achieved by weekly trainings that are provided both online and on site. Regular online the sessions are also arranged for participants of the training to practise their PFA skills under the supervision and coaching of the Irish Red Cross PFA trainers. One strong feedback received through these practise sessions is the request for self help training to be provided in addition to psychological first aid. Irish Red Cross are taking action too develop and implement this training using the same methodologies mentioned above.

Actions have been taken to support the well-being of staff by providing a mental health support service which can be accessed at any time online.

In addition, Irish Red Cross has lobbied the competent authority to integrate psychological first aid into the national emergency framework.

5. Han incidido los empeños contenidos en esta resolución en las comunidades a las que el Estado/la Sociedad Nacional/la institución presta servicios?

Describa las repercusiones:

Although early stages, the narrative exposure therapy that offers 10 session or 1 hour online individual support by a  trained therapist in Ukrainian, data so far indicates up to 30% improvement in PTSD symptoms from baseline to endline. We are gathering data to produce a peer reviewed journal on same.