Increasing suicide awareness this World Mental Health Day
With people uniting all over the globe to mark this year’s World Mental Health Day, we have been running our own campaign within IDP and refugee camps to promote the importance of psychological wellbeing.
As part of the initiative, which is in conjunction with our partners Zarok and Khaima, our team of trained psychologists have been offering information and awareness around a range of topics relating to mental health.
The campaign is taking place running at Rwanga, Domiz 2 and Essyan camps, and issues being covered include suicide – which has become an increasing concern within refugee and IDP communities in the past 18 months. Since the start of the pandemic, cases of suicide and those reporting suicidal tendencies have risen sharply, especially in young people who often feel they have nowhere to turn for support. With many stuck in their basic accommodation with little to do, feelings of isolation and despair have become all too common.
Using large boards that highlight specific issues, our psychologists are asking questions such as, ‘what causes someone to have suicidal thoughts?’ and distributing information and support – including numbers for vital hotlines – which anyone affected can access.
While mental health support is a huge priority of the Lotus Flower, there is huge inequality when it comes to service provision for refugee and IDP communities. Not only is support often limited and hard to access, but cultural and social challenges mean there are negative attitudes around mental illness, and the fear of stigma is recognised as one of the biggest barriers for treatment in the region.
During the early phase of the pandemic, we conducted our own needs assessment with more than 300 respondents. Within this, 86% of women we consulted had experienced increased mental health difficulties, due to loss of income, increased isolation and GBV. It was no surprise to us that 80% of respondents also said that access to a mental health therapist would be helpful. With many women and their families continuing to suffer a critical lack of food and medicine as well as increasing debts, our work in this area is more needed than ever…