Dans cet épisode du podcast Heartbeat of Humanity, Ahlem Cheffi, spécialiste SMSPS du Centre du Mouvement de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge pour la Santé Mentale et le Soutien Psychosocial, échange avec le Dr Fabrice Ouédraogo et Yahaya Diallo (Croix-Rouge burkinabè), ainsi qu’avec Hema Lacina (Croix-Rouge danoise).

Cet épisode a été enregistré au Burkina Faso lors de la formation régionale sur les soins de santé mentale communautaires (SSMC), organisée conjointement par le Centre du Mouvement de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge pour et la Croix-Rouge burkinabè pour la SMSPS, et basée sur les lignes directrices Community mhGAP de l’OMS.

La discussion aborde les soins de santé mentale communautaires comme une approche de renforcement des systèmes, ancrée dans la force collective des communautés, et positionnant celles-ci comme des acteurs clés de la prévention, de la réponse précoce et de l’accès aux soins. La conversation met en lumière le rôle essentiel des communautés dans la réduction de la stigmatisation liée à la santé mentale, le soutien au bien-être et le développement de réponses SMSPS durables, culturellement adaptées à travers l’Afrique.

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Community Mental Health in Africa: Strengthening communities and systems

In this episode of Heartbeat of Humanity, Ahlem Cheffi, MHPSS Hub Specialist, speaks with Dr. Fabrice Ouédraogo and Yahaya Diallo (Burkina Faso Red Cross) and Hema Lacina (Danish Red Cross).

This episode was recorded from Burkina Faso during the regional training on Community Mental Health Care (CMHC), jointly organized by the MHPSS Hub and the Burkina Faso Red Cross and based on the WHO Community mhGAP guidelines.

The discussion frames community mental health care as a systems-strengthening approach, rooted in the collective strength of communities and positioning communities as key actors in prevention, early response, and access to care.

The conversation highlights the power of communities in reducing mental health stigma, supporting wellbeing, and advancing culturally grounded, sustainable MHPSS responses across Africa.

This episode focuses on the potential of sports in supporting inclusion and mental health. Khalida Popal is an award-winning Afghan football pioneer and activist and the founder of the Girl Power organisation.

Khalida joined us for a training in Copenhagen under the Sport Coach+ initiative, implemented in a partnership between the MHPSS Hub and the Olympic Refuge Foundation (ORF). The initiative aims to create trauma informed and healing centered sports environments for young athletes between the ages of 10 and 24 with a focus on those with a background of displacement and adversities.

Khalida and the Girl Power team have vast experience and expertise in using sports as a tool for empowerment, inclusion and mental well-being with a focus on women from marginalized groups. We invited Khalida to share some of the insights and learnings from her work.

• Read more about Girl Power: https://www.girlpowerorg.com/
• Read more about Sport Coach+ : https://www.sportcoachplus.org/

“Too far, too fast?”

In this sixth episode, Sarah Harrison, Director of the MHPSS Hub, and Dan Amias, Senior Innovation Learning Adviser at Elrha, speaks with Mercy Githara, MHPSS Manager at the Kenya Red Cross Society, and Anne de Graaf, Technical Officer at the World Health Organization (WHO) about two chatbots: STARS, a non-AI chatbot developed by WHO, and Chat Care, an AI chatbot being deployed in Kenya by the Red Cross.

Key resources for practitioners:
Kenya Red Cross Society: Chat Care, AI Powered Mental Health Chatbot

WHO: Doing What Matters in Times of Stress evidence based self-help guide

WHO: STARS chatbot for more information contact psych_interventions@who.int

Red Cross Digital MHPSS pledge: Leveraging and facilitating technology-empowered pathways

MHPSS Hub resources on Suicide prevention:
Find infographics, videos, podcasts, guides and tools on suicide prevention

Read more about the research:
STARS chatbot (non-AI): de Graaff A.M, et al. Evaluation of a Guided Chatbot Intervention for Young People in Jordan: Feasibility Randomized Controlled Trial JMIR Ment Health

Keyan, D., et al. The development of a World Health Organization transdiagnostic chatbot intervention for distressed adolescents and young adults.

Akhtar, A., et al. Scalable Technology for Adolescents and Youth to Reduce Stress in the Treatment of Common Mental Disorders in Jordan: Protocol for a Randomized Controlled Trial.

Karim Chatbot: Madianou, M. Nonhuman humanitarianism: when “AI for good” can be harmful. Information, Communication & Society

Torous, J. et al. Assessing generative artificial intelligence for mental health, The Lancet.

Spencer SW, Masboungi C. Enabling access or automating empathy? Using chatbots to support GBV survivors in conflicts and humanitarian emergencies, International Review of the Red Cross.

Developing digital MHPSS resources:
Reach out to the MHPSS Hub: mhpsshub@rodekors.dk or Elrha: info@elrha.org for collaboration on developing digital MHPSS approaches.

Evidence from the Frontline: Mental Health in Crisis-Affected Contexts is a six-episode mini-series produced in collaboration between the MHPSS Hub and Elrha, designed for practitioners working in humanitarian and crisis contexts, the series highlights impactful interventions and practical insights from experts in the field.