Tackling the complex issue of perinatal mental health.

Thinking Healthy (TH), a brief psychological intervention that can be delivered by trained and supervised community health care workers. It uses simple cognitive behavioral techniques to provide mothers with support and to improve mental health outcomes for the mother and new-born infant.

In this fourth episode, Sarah Harrison, Director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement MHPSS Hub, speaks with Dr Waood Afara, Senior Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Officer at the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Yemen‏, and Dr Elisabetta Dozio Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialist at Action Contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger- AAH) in France. Dr. Waood and Dr. Elisabetta are experts in both the research and practice of the Thinking Healthy intervention.

Together we examine why dealing with maternal depression is important in humanitarian settings and explain how the intervention works in programming, including how to integrate TH in the workload of already overburdened community health workers. The link between caring for mothers and improving outcomes for children is explored, as are the cultural adaptations required to implement TH and measure its effectiveness. Key insights include importance of empathy and understanding from community and family members to support mothers in recovering, and the critical role that community health workers can play in improved maternal mental health if trained, supervised, and empowered.

Key resources for practitioners

Thinking Healthy: A manual for psychological management of perinatal depression (WHO manual in multiple languages)

Thinking Healthy Training Guide for community health workers and volunteers (MHPSS Hub)

Baby Friendly Spaces: Holistic Approach in Emergencies (ACF Guide)

Read more about the research:

Dozio E, Wamba V, Pueugueu I. Adapting the Thinking Healthy Programme for Perinatal Depression: A Culturally Tailored Approach in Three Central African Countries. European Psychiatry. 2025;68(S1): S151-S151. doi:10.1192/j.eurpsy.2025.386

Tomlinson, M., Chaudhery, D., Ahmadzai, H. et al. Identifying and treating maternal mental health difficulties in Afghanistan: A feasibility study. Int J Ment Health Syst 14, 75 (2020).

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.

On 3 September 2025 the docudrama the Voice of Hind Rajab had its world premiere during the 82nd Venice International Film Festival. The movie directed by Kaouther Ben Hania received 24 minutes of standing ovation and won the Grand Jury Prize.

For our colleague Nisreen Qawas, MHPSS director for the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, the voice of Hind Rajab was the person at the other end of the emergency call she received on 29th of January 2024 – the day five-year old Hind was killed alongside her family members and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society team that was sent to rescue her.

This was not the first or likely the last time Nisreen was losing colleagues in the line of duty, and not the first or likely the last time she had to deal with the loss and the feeling of responsibility. MHPSS Hub Director, Sarah Harrison interviewed Nisreen about moral injury in the line of duty.

Find more information about the work of Palestine Red Crescent Society:

Website: Palestine Red Crescent Society

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/palestine-red-crescent-society-prcs-2083371b5/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PalestineRCS

Find more information about Hind Rajab:

The Voice of Hind Rajab official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_RC04CZpAY

Hind Under Siege official trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loucaVTr85k

The Killing of Hind Rajab Forensic Architecture: https://forensic-architecture.org/investigation/the-killing-of-hind-rajab

The podcast Heartbeat of Humanity is mainly for staff and volunteers in the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, especially staff and volunteers working in mental health and psychosocial support services.

Listen to the podcast here or subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcast or wherever you find your podcasts.

Find more episodes of Heartbeat of Humanity.

When is a transdiagnostic approach the best route to quality mental health care in crisis affected context, and how does it work in practice?

In this third episode, Sarah Harrison, Director of the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement MHPSS Hub, talks to three experts with extensive experience with CETA, the Common Elements Treatment Approach System of Care: Dr Laura Murray (Founder, CETA Global; Senior Scientist, john Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), Cherry Soemyint (CETA trainer, Myanmar) and David Mwanza (CETA trainer, Zambia).

Together they explore how CETA is adapted for different service-user groups and contexts; and CETA’s potential to be linked with different interventions for long-term impact, as well as approaches to supervision and cost-effectiveness considerations. They talk about how it can be flexibly implemented and adapted to diverse countries, communities and contexts in response to needs-with CETA clients ranging from people with HIV in Zambia, to pregnant and lactating mothers in the Thai Burmese border.

CETA is a transdiagnostic system of care; starting with a brief assessment that helps triage and create a clinical care pathway, along with ongoing monitoring and evaluation. It is evidence-based for all ages (children, youth and adults) and is built from evidence-based CBT-cognitive behavioural therapy elements. It is meant to streamline and simplify care – moving away from siloed assessments and treatments (or those that assess or treat only one problem area).

Key resources for practitioners:

www.cetaglobal.org

www.ceta-global.com

Read more about the research:

Evaluation of phone-delivered psychotherapy for refugee children

Integrating an evidence-based mental health intervention into non-communicable disease care (coming soon)

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.